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Government welcomes calls for new building standards

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Government is welcoming a report from the Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission that calls for urgent changes to building standards.

Head of firm that designed CTV building accepts responsiblity

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The head of the structural engineering firm that supervised the design of the Canterbury Television building appeared yesterday at the Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes.

Overseas experts to give evidence at quake inquiry

The Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes continues today, with overseas experts critiquing a New Zealand report that calls for a two-billion dollar upgrade to strengthen earthquake-prone buildings.

Midday News for 7 December 2012

Audio, Radio New Zealand

West Auckland residents begin the cleanup after yesterday's tornado. The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission calls for the seismic grading of all non-residential buildings.

Quake inquiry looks at whether heritage outweighed safety

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Witnesses before the Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission have been questioned over whether preservation of heritage buildings was given more consideration than preserving human lives.

CTV designer blamed for collapse

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes has heard the CTV building collapsed because of the incompetence of the man in charge of designing it.

Midday News for 11 September 2012

Audio, Radio New Zealand

South Island motorists are warned to take care as snow falls and the Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission is told the engineering profession is in crisis.

Question of secrecy looms over mosque attack inquiry

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The question of secrecy looms large over the newly announced Royal Commission into the country's security agencies. Nigel Hampton QC is a lawyer with extensive experience of top-level inquiries, including the Royal Commissions in the Pike River disaster and the Canterbury earthquakes. He talks to Guyon Espiner.

Christchurch MPs want inquiry into possible CTV fraud

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission says it will not re-open its inquiry into the CTV building collapse, despite fresh allegations against the building's construction manager.

Structural engineer blasts engineering profession

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Royal Commission into the Canterbury earthquakes has been told illegal building techniques are being used in the Christchurch rebuild because the engineering profession is in crisis.

Lack of engineering assessments investigated

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A lack of building inspections and the engineers to carry them out has come under further scrutiny at the Royal Commission of inquiry into the Canterbury earthquakes.

PGC property manager defends lack of detailed assessment

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission has heard the property manager of the Pyne Gould building did not organise detailed engineering assessments after the first quake in September.

Engineering profession is in crisis - engineer

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A structural engineer has told the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission that illegal building techniques are being used in the Christchurch rebuild because the engineering profession is in crisis.

Quake hearing told building in use despite yellow placard

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A property manager has been questioned at the Royal Commission investigating the Canterbury earthquakes about why he didn't tell tenants the building they worked in was unsafe.

Midday News for 15 April 2013

Audio, Radio New Zealand

An Assistant Police Commissioner may have to give evidence in Kim Dotcom's compensation case and the Government accepts almost all the recommedations made by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.

PGC building owner says he did all he could to make it safe

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Pyne Gould building tenants in Christchurch have told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Canterbury Earthquakes hearing they didn't feel safe there after the September quake.

Overseas expert shocked at design of PGC building

Audio, Radio New Zealand

An American engineer has told the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission he was shocked at the failure of builders to properly fix the floors of the PGC building to its walls.

Families react to firm destroying CTV design information

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The director of the structural engineering company that designed the CTV building came under fire yesterday over documents missing from evidence his firm submitted to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.

Role of engineer in inspecting Chch building under spotlight

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A structural engineer who ordered a building green stickered though he'd failed to do another thorough check on it has defended his inspections at the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.

Questions over measure used to judge quake resistence

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes has heard evidence questioning the measure used to judge how resistant a building is to earthquake damage. It's come on the second day of hearings into why unreinforced masonry buildings collapsed in Christchurch during the February 22nd earthquake, killing 40 people.

Expert says developers should be required to submit soil rpts

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A geotechnical expert from the United States has told the Royal Commission into the Canterbury Earthquakes, developers should be required to submit soil reports before building on land prone to liquefaction.

Heritage order may have contributed to the deaths

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission has heard evidence that a heritage order on a row of dangerous buildings may have contributed to the deaths of a dozen people in the February quake.

GNS questioned on amount of warning given prior to quake

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The warnings, or lack of them from the government's scientists about the likely size of aftershocks following the first Canterbury earthquake have been a focus of the Royal Commission into the quakes.

Report into asbestos exposure during Canterbury Rebuild

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A report commissioned by the Ministry of Health has found Canterbury residents are unlikely to suffer any health risks from asbestos exposure during the canterbury earthquake repairs. The Report is a review of Scientific Evidence of Non Occuptional Risks - and was convened by the Royal Society and the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor. Sir David Skegg, president of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Dr Alistair Humphrey, Canterbury Medical Officer of Health.

Breakdown in communication - unsafe building collapsed in quake

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission has heard that a breakdown in communication between structural engineers, a property manager and owner led the tenants of a building to wrongly assume their shop was safe.

Man was killed by a falling concrete wall

Audio, Radio New Zealand

The Royal Commission investigating the Canterbury earthquakes has heard that the premises where a man was killed by a falling concrete wall was not inspected by structural engineers between the September and February quakes.

CTV collapse: Will there be corporate manslaughter charge?

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Justice Minister Andrew Little said on Thursday that "everybody involved in this has walked away scot-free. And that's not right." Nigel Hampton QC, who was counsel for the families at the Royal Commission in to the Canterbury earthquakes, joins us to discuss the outcome.

The Week in Review - week ending 2 March 2012

Audio, Radio New Zealand

A review of the week's main news: sex offender slips through net to teach in a number of New Zealand schools, government says it's not to blame for spreading industrial unrest, Turangi teen sentenced to 10 years jail for raping five year old, Rena captain and navigational officer plead guilty to altering ship's documents, government targets sole parents, unemployed teens, widows and women alone in welfare reforms, Otago Rugby Union fights to stave off liquidation, government promising clampdown on mistreatment and underpayment of foreign crews working on fishing boats chartered to New Zealand companies, structural engineer breaks down at Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission and Bret McKenzie earns an Oscar for a Muppet of a song.

Question Time for 11 December 2012

Audio, Radio New Zealand

DAVID SHEARER to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement "I am deeply concerned about every child in New Zealand who is in poverty"; if so, why has the number of children living in material hardship grown under his watch? TODD McCLAY to the Minister of Finance: What measures has the Government taken to support vulnerable New Zealanders through the aftermath of the domestic recession and global financial crisis? METIRIA TUREI to the Prime Minister: When he said "we don't want to see any New Zealand child suffer … children don't get to make choices, they're often the victim of circumstance" does that mean he will take tangible steps to ensure children don't suffer because of circumstances beyond their control? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in the Minister of Immigration? Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister of Finance: Compared to 2012, does the Reserve Bank forecast the New Zealand dollar (as measured by the Trade Weighted Index) to strengthen or weaken in the next two years, and does he believe this will make New Zealand exporters more competitive or less competitive? DAVID BENNETT to the Minister for Economic Development: How is the Government encouraging the sustainable use of natural resources to support jobs and grow the economy? Hon MARYAN STREET to the Minister of Health: Is he satisfied with the state of children's health in New Zealand; if not, why not? COLIN KING to the Minister of Energy and Resources: What recent announcement has he made about Block Offer 2012? EUGENIE SAGE to the Minister for the Environment: Does she agree with the New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society in relation to freshwater that "failure to act with decisiveness and urgency risks further environmental degradation and erosion of our international environmental reputation"; if not, why not? Hon LIANNE DALZIEL to the Minister for Building and Construction: How quickly will he respond to the building performance, assessment and construction recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Building Failure caused by the Canterbury Earthquakes? NICKY WAGNER to the Minister for Building and Construction: What is the Government doing in response to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission's full report? CLARE CURRAN to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements?