Building control managers from local authorities across Otago and Southland will today attempt to come up with a co-ordinated response for property owners whose buildings were designed by disgraced Invercargill-based design engineer Tony Major.
Mr Major, who designed the Southland stadium that collapsed in a snowstorm in 2010, has not been a registered professional engineer since December, 2010, and was this week expelled from the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (Ipenz) for incompetence.
Staff from councils in the lower South Island are trying to compile lists of the properties Mr Major has been involved with in their areas, and property owners have been advised to have the engineering components of their properties checked if they have any concerns.
Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) chief executive Adam Feeley yesterday said building control managers would meet in Alexandra today and talk about engineering work by Mr Major and how best to advise property owners.
Mr Feeley said at this stage the QLDC knew of two Queenstown buildings Mr Major had been involved with, one privately owned and the other council owned.
He declined to say what the council-owned building was but said it was constructed in the early 1990s.
He said an engineering report was done on the building some time ago because it was not up to current building codes, something he said was unrelated to it being designed by Mr Major.
''It is not up to current codes now, but it was at the time it was built, and I am sure every council has many, many buildings like that.''
The report showed the building was safe and ''was not in imminent danger of dropping on anyone'', he said.
Dunedin City Council building services manager Neil McLeod said staff had checked computer records and Mr Major did not appear as either the building owner or the applicant for any building consents in Dunedin.
Any further response would be determined after today's meeting.
