Building consenting - Kodiak Consulting Limited

Engineering designs under review

Hamilton City Council, along with more than 40 other councils in New Zealand, was notified a member of Engineering New Zealand, who is not a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng), has allegedly completed and signed producer statements using the sign-off of chartered professional engineers without their consent. Engineering New Zealand has identified the individual and company publicly, as John Beau Hall, of Kodiak Consulting Limited.

The producer statements of concern are PS1 (design) and PS4 (construction review).

Producer statements are generally provided by chartered professional engineers to councils to certify compliance with the Building Code and as part of the building consent process.

A producer statement is a professional opinion based on sound judgment and specialist expertise. It is not a product warranty or guarantee of compliance.

More information can be found at engineeringnz.org

Engineering New Zealand and New Zealand Police are investigating this matter.

What's the situation now?

When Council was notified, we immediately began a review of the extent of this issue for consented activities in Hamilton and sought legal and other advice.

We will communicate directly with property owners who are impacted by the issue once our review is complete.

This does not necessarily mean the building works do not comply with the Building Code or are unsafe.

We recommend affected property owners get independent advice from a chartered professional engineer about how their property might be impacted.

What does this mean for affected property owners?

1. For properties with an open building consent

If a property has an open building consent, and building work is already under way or doesn’t yet have a Code Compliance Certificate, we will contact the owner and applicant to advise them of the issue.

The owner will need to engage the services of a suitably qualified engineer and provide us with new calculations and producer statements to continue with the project.

2. For properties with a Code Compliance Certificate

If a property already has a building consent with a Code Compliance Certificate, we will contact the owner to advise them of the issue. We’re currently working to identify these owners and hope to contact all those affected directly.

We recommend those owners consider engaging a suitably qualified engineer to review the consent.

How many people/consents are impacted?

The total number of impacted properties across New Zealand is still being determined.

How are you letting affected people know?

Council is in the process of contacting property owners directly in writing. We are also recording the information on the property file to include on Land Information Memorandum (LIM) and property file requests.

Does this mean those buildings are unsafe?

This does not necessarily mean the buildings are unsafe. Affected property owners should engage a suitably qualified engineer to determine how their property might be impacted.

What process has Council taken to identify affected buildings?

Council staff have manually checked all building consents that have been designed by Kodiak Consulting Limited in the past six years.

What checks does Council do and why wasn’t this issue picked up sooner?

This is an unusual situation that has arisen due to alleged fraud. Council processes thousands of consent elements every year and its important Council and property owners can rely on the integrity and validity of information supplied by engineering professionals for building projects.

Council has checks throughout the consenting process, and we often seek further information from the applicant to clarify aspects.

I’m looking to purchase a new property; how do I know if it is impacted?

We recommend you request a Land Information Memorandum (LIM) for any property you are looking to buy.

Under section 44 a of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, Council is required to record certain information relating to building consents and Code Compliance Certificates on the LIM for the property.

Council is recording a notation on the LIM of affected properties. The specific wording will be reviewed depending on the property involved.

Council will review whether a LIM notation may be removed and/or modified. If you obtain an engineer’s assessment of your property in the meantime, this can be added to the property file and may be taken into account when reviewing the LIM notation.