Collapsed Building Had ‘Undesirable’ Design`

An engineer has heavily criticised the design of a building which collapsed during last year’s devastating Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand, killing more than 100 people.

According to a report on New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz, structural engineering professor Nigel Priestley has told the Canterbury earthquake’s royal commission that the design of the Canterbury Television (CTV) building was ‘undesirable’ and that the building’s key support wall, or shear wall, would ideally not be on the exterior.

“It’s quite clear that from a seismic point of view that this is an undesirable building configuration and [that makes it] very difficult to make it perform well [in earthquakes],” Priestly says.

Priestly also says it could not be known whether or not better steel reinforcement in the joints would have prevented the building from falling, but points out that theoretical tests suggests this could well be the case.

“I can’t say that the structure would have survived but I can say the…time-history analysis would not have predicted failure,” he says.

Continue Reading