A crisis meeting on the standard of quake-grade steel mesh, which is used in all new slab-floor houses, is being held today in Auckland.
A factory worker attaches steel mesh at a concrete reinforcement factory (file) Photo: Cultura Creative
All mesh makers as well as testing laboratories and officials from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will meet to try to find solutions, after steel mesh products failed ductility, or stretch, tests.
The meeting will only discuss mesh, and not other critical building products.
This is despite RNZ being told questions are now being raised about structural steel and how that is being tested as well as the bolts and fasteners.
Some industry insiders told RNZ that companies may not be sure where their bolts actually come from.
MBIE building system performance manager Derek Baxter will be at the meeting and he has the power to issue a guidance document on standards that steel mesh must meet.
RNZ News has heard a lot of mesh being tested is coming in at 8 percent ductility whereas 10 percent is the required standard.
"What I'm hearing now from within the industry is that questions are now being raised about structural steel" - Listen to RNZ's Phil Pennington