The structural engineer who designed Christchurch's ill-fated CTV Building has been suspended from the industry's professional body and ordered to pay $10,000.
David Harding was subjected to two inquiries into his work on the six-storey office block's design in the mid-1980s.
Today, the disciplinary committee of the Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng) said mr Harding breached its rules by failing to mention his role in the building's design - five months after it collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake, claiming 115 lives.
"By failing to disclose his involvement in the design of the CTV building, Mr Harding denied his peers the opportunity to make a judgement regarding the relevance of his involvement in the design of the CTV building when assessing Mr Harding's current competence as a professional engineer," the disciplinary committee's report concludes.
Along with his suspension, Mr Harding must pay the registration authority $10,000 toward the costs of the inquiry and disciplinary process.
"IPENZ does at times use the provision included in the Act to initiate its own inquiry into an engineer's conduct. This was one of those times and resulted in Mr Harding's suspension from the register," interim chief executive Kieran Devine said today.
In addition to upholding the complaint, the disciplinary committee has made a number of recommendations to improve the CPEng assessment process.
The disciplinary committee also heard a complaint about Mr Harding's conduct as a member of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) at the time of the CTV building's design.
A decision it yet to be released.
During the hearing in July, Mr Harding issued a heartfelt apology to families who lost loved ones in the collapse.
"No day goes by without me thinking about the CTV Building and the loss of life," he said.
He also accepted that his 40-year engineering career is over.
By Kurt Bayer of NZME. News Service
