Designer wants Imax building made safer

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

The architect who designed the Imax cinema complex, where a teenager fell to his death, wants parts of the building made safer.

Danial Gardner, aged 16, fell from a window in the complex last Friday, landing on a table 30m below.

Ashley Allen, of Walker Co-partnership, said he was devastated when he heard of Danial's death and immediately visited the site.

"I felt really bad and went straight down there to have a look at the situation."

He was disturbed to find teenagers sitting on ledges similar to the one Danial fell from, but at even higher levels.

"One thing that really concerned me is that we noticed, on the level directly above the window where he fell out, there were two young boys sitting on the ledge.

"Because there are no chairs or sofas in the building it's very tempting to use this ledge as a seat."

When contacted by the Herald, a Force Corporation spokesman said the company was investigating but refused to comment further. Occupational Safety and Health is also investigating.

Mr Allen said he had immediately contacted Force Corporation to advise changing the ledges to stop people sitting on them, and to say seating should be provided.

"I've said to my client that even though they [the ledges] meet legal requirements, we must stop people using them as seats."

The Herald visited the Imax centre with independent building inspector Maurice Hinton, who found that although the barriers met legal standards, the area where Danial fell could have been made safer.

"The building code has minimum standards to cover most circumstances, but there is a case for looking at the use of the building and exceeding the standards," Mr Hinton said.

He would suggest changes to the building code.

Mr Allen said parts of the design of the open plan building gave a false sense of security.

"When you look out of the window where he fell from you see an escalator quite close to you and you don't get the impression there's a big drop behind it."

He said the contractor who built the centre had been instructed to start work on improving safety in problem areas.

"They have already been instructed - within a week from now I would be very surprised if it hasn't already been done.

"Obviously no one wants to have the thought, if only we'd done this, it could have saved somebody's life."

Danial Gardner was buried yesterday. His father, Noel, said about 600 people, many of them youngsters, attended the funeral at the Holy Cross Church in Papatoetoe. .