Engineer alleged to have ‘misappropriated’ information to sign off homes

There have been at least 1,000 completed homes across New Zealand signed off by an Engineering New Zealand member using forged signatures

It is alleged that Kodiak Consulting Ltd director Jonathan (Jon) Beau Hall has been “using the identities of various chartered professional engineers without their permission”, stated Engineering New Zealand.

Documents that Hall is alleged to have signed, using others’ identities and credentials without permission, include producer statements. According to Engineering New Zealand, a producer statement “provide[s] assurance to councils that a design meets Building Code and consenting requirements when signed by a Chartered Professional Engineer”.

Hall, who is not a Chartered Professional Engineer, was carrying out work as an engineering technologist doing structural designs for small-scale building projections, Engineering NZ Chief Executive Richard Templer told Waikato Times.

“He wasn’t signing them off, and what he should have done is pass those designs on to a chartered professional engineer who would review those designs and make sure they met the acceptable standards and sign them off,” said Templer.

“So, what he was doing was misappropriating the signatures and information of engineers.”

Nationwide problem

There are 69 authorities around New Zealand that can issue building consents. Of those 69 authorities, 42 councils are known to have concerns based on documents provided by Hall, which impacts over 1,000 properties.

“Our advice to councils now is to look at all designs in which Mr Hall has been involved, regardless of the sign-off process,” added Templer.

“We’ve heard from councils and I’m very aware this will be a significant task for all affected councils, as well as those engineers engaged in reviewing Hall’s designs.”

Engineering NZ is now working with councils to develop guidance to classify the likelihood and types of risk to impacted properties, and is also assisting New Zealand Police with its investigation into Hall.

New regulatory regime coming soon

Chartered Professional Engineer is a protected title and is reserved for engineers who have been assessed for a given level of competency. Engineers are currently not required to be registered, although many choose to do so.

A bill to make registration mandatory is being introduced to parliament in late 2023. It is hoped that a registration requirement “will lift the professionalism of the engineering profession and provide an avenue for addressing poor behaviour and performance”, stated MBIE. It will also hold engineers to a code of conduct and will ensure skills are kept up to date via professional development obligations.

“Improving the regulation of engineers will minimise the potential for things to go wrong, protect New Zealanders from the risk of unexpected remediation costs, and give the public greater confidence that professional engineers are all acting within their areas of competence,” said Amy Moorhead, Manager Building Policy at MBIE.

“The new regulatory regime for engineers will help minimise the possibility of further failures happening from new engineering work.”