Councils in Whanganui and Rangitīkei investigating possible building consent forgeries

Whanganui is one of 40 councils which have potentially been affected. Photo / Bevan Conley

The actions of one man and his pen are causing headaches for the Whanganui and Rangitīkei district councils.

It has been revealed that Taupō engineering technologist Jonathan (Jon) Beau Hall allegedly forged the signatures of engineers to sign off more than 1000 buildings around the country.

Whanganui and Rangitīkei are two of 40 councils that could be affected.

Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson said he was expecting a report on the situation from chief executive Peter Beggs.

Preliminary conversations indicated cases involving alleged “inappropriate use of signatures” in the district, he said.

“The first response is to look at the impacts of those decisions on individual property owners.

“My understanding from this whole debacle is there will be a very significant number of engineering reports that may well have to be re-looked at.

“It would be a tragedy for those involved. For instance, if they have built properties or industrial sites that don’t comply or could be at risk. That’s the worst-case scenario.”

Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford said staff had been made aware of the issue.

“We’re just going through now and having a look to see what, if any, implications [for the] council are.”

Langford said at worst, there would be a very small number of consents affected.

The alleged forgeries were “certainly not something you would expect to happen”.

“But, as with a lot of these kinds of systems, there is always a way for them to be abused if the person is motivated to do it,” he said.

Hall, the director of Kodiak Consulting Ltd, is alleged to have completed and signed documents using the identities and credentials of chartered professional engineers without their permission.

The documents include producer statements, which provide assurance to councils that a design meets Building Code and consenting requirements.

According to Engineering New Zealand, more than 1000 buildings were signed off using this method.

Watson said property owners would now face uncertainty as to their properties’ future and that wasn’t fair.

He didn’t want to comment on who would pay to fix the problems as it could end up being “quite a litigious process”.

Processes like building consents came with an element of trust, Watson said.

“I’m surprised this hasn’t been picked up before, to be honest, with the reported number of cases around Taupō.

It was reported on July 1 that Taupō District Council had been in touch with some property owners who may be affected, but believed the number of projects potentially affected to be “several hundred”.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.