Editorial: Inquiry delays add to pain for CTV families

Last week, police announced the outcome of their CTV criminal inquiry was taking longer than expected. Photo / Geoff Sloan

In February, it will be five years since the collapse of the deficient Canterbury Television building in Christchurch. The anniversary of the disaster will no doubt be painful for the families and friends of the 115 individuals killed when the six-storey concrete tower failed during the magnitude 6.3 earthquake on February 22, 2011. If, as seems likely, no decision is made by then whether any charges will be laid, there also will be a justified sense of frustration no one has been held accountable for the tragedy - despite millions spent investigating it.

Last week, police announced the outcome of their CTV criminal inquiry was taking longer than expected. No decision was likely until next year. Given charges of manslaughter could result from the investigation, it is no surprise police are advancing cautiously. Their approach has included computer modelling and testing replicas of the flawed building. Detective Superintendent Peter Read said the work covered "complex technical matters involving outside experts". The task, Mr Read advised, had taken longer than anticipated.

This is regrettable. There have been a number of investigations since the catastrophic event. A Royal Commission moved to its conclusion in little over 20 months. Its final report - including translations in Thai, Korean, Japanese and Chinese - came out in December, 2012.

The commission found the CTV building collapsed because ground motion during the February earthquake was very intense and because of flaws in the engineering design and construction. The building relied on two walls to resist shocks generated by earthquakes. Shortcomings in its design and construction meant these two walls did not function as the designer intended.

The commission said structural engineer David Harding, employed by Alan Reay Consulting, designed the CTV building in 1986 but was left largely unsupervised by principal Alan Reay despite Harding's limited experience designing multi-level buildings. The commissioners found the design had non-complying aspects because Harding was working "beyond his competence" and Reay did not review the final plans. The report found this led in turn to a design that was "deficient in a number of important respects".

After the earlier 7.1 magnitude September 2010 earthquake, Christchurch City Council inspectors assessed the building as safe to occupy. That decision, as the families of the 115 victims know, was terribly wrong.

The former Department of Building and Housing investigated the structural failures of four Christchurch buildings, including the CTV building. Its experts, like the commissioners, made several recommendations in the months after the tragedy.

The events of February 2011 are imprinted on those who made contact with occupants of the tower who survived its collapse but succumbed to their injuries before rescuers could reach them. Who can forget the poignant sight of Alec Cvetanov illuminated by floodlights talking by cellphone to his wife Dr Tamara Cvetanova laying trapped under tonnes of rubble? The police investigation has now been running more than two years. Given all that has gone before, it would seem they too have had ample time to complete their job and spare the CTV families the pain of much further delay.