Engineers looked at the approved, consented plans, not the warehouses themselves. Photo: 123RF
Warehouses that feature such poor engineering design they are a threat to people's lives are getting looked at more closely.
All of the country's councils are set to get a briefing on Wednesday about the investigation, by Engineering New Zealand.
It found almost half the 20 designs looked into had heavy concrete panel walls that might fall over in a decent earthquake, "presenting a potential risk to life safety".
"A key theme here was insufficient restraint preventing concrete panels from falling inwards or outwards."
The 20 were just a random sample, chosen to get an idea if design deficiencies detected in 2016 with six warehouses in Masterton were more widespread - and the results show they are.
Government regulator the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it was worth noting the engineers only looked at the approved, consented plans, not the warehouses themselves.
Engineers find almost half of warehouses poorly-designed
Each of the 20 is now undergoing an earthquake assessment, Engineering NZ chief executive Richard Templer said on Tuesday.
"If any warehouse is found to have a concerning seismic assessment, then we will contact the engineering firm, the building owner and the council responsible," Templer told Morning Report.
Engineering NZ said after Wednesday's briefing with councils, it will be discussing the findings with the Building Officers Institute.
"The aim of sharing findings with these groups is to make consenting authorities aware of the issues we have identified, so they too can support a better building system," it said.
It is unclear what the findings mean for the country's many thousands of warehouses that have not undergone any extra design checks, post-consent.
The ministry put the onus on councils, as the consenting authorities.
"Councils have a range of powers under the Building Act to address building quality issues, including powers to issue notices to fix," it said Monday.
A second, wider review of engineering seismic design sparked by the Masterton shortcomings is carrying on, Engineering NZ said.