Christchurch City Council sued by owners of badly designed building

The eight-storey office block at 230 High Street. Photo / Supplied

By Phil Pennington of RNZ

The Christchurch City Council is being sued by the owners of a badly flawed building whose engineer has been sanctioned.

The council consented but then refused to give final sign-off on the eight-storey office block at 230 High St.

In the latest twist in a saga of seismic flaws, the building owners have filed High Court proceedings against the council and against several other parties involved in the design and construction, including the now deregistered structural design engineer Joo Cho.

Several reviews since 2017 found the design was substandard, and a 2020 engineering report to the owners said the building cannot be fixed and must be demolished.

"Council is defending the claim and does not accept that the building has to be rebuilt," its head of consenting Robert Wright said in a statement.

"MBIE determined there were 10 defects in the building's design and construction.

"Council is seeking expert advice on how those aspects can be fixed."

Rockwell Group has been reported previously to be the owner. It has not responded to calls.

RNZ is seeking more information from the court.

Wright said the council has not received any demolition consent applications from the owners.

The narrow building is unable to be occupied, and in 2019 Rockwell's managing director Soung Joon Kim asked for it to be cordoned off.

However, Wright said "Council has an engineering report prepared for the owners which does not identify any risks to public safety and a separate expert report prepared for MBIE also did not categorise the building as dangerous."

Last year, the Bank of New Zealand took court action to sue the Wellington City Council for more than $100m over the BNZ Harbour Quays building, irreparably damaged in the 2016 Kaikōura quake and recently demolished.