File photo of 230 High Street, Christchurch Photo:
A company that owns a defective building in central Christchurch is continuing legal action against the city council and engineers.
The office block at 230 High Street has stood empty since it was consented by Christchurch City Council and built in 2018.
The eight-storey block has never been opened because it has earthquake design flaws.
After some ownership changes, an original joint developer of the block, Rockwell One, said it now owned all of the building.
Court records showed that last year Hyung Sun Kim was suing for $19m over the blighted office block at 230 High St.
Earlier, a previous plaintiff, Hyung Sun Kim said he had dropped legal action and sold the building.
This was not the case, Rockwell said.
"The legal claim against Christchurch City Council and multiple engineering professionals has not been discontinued or withdrawn," it said.
"Rockwell does not know how this building was consented and has passed multiple inspections when it was never capable of complying with the Building Code, particularly when it was designed and reviewed by multiple former senior Christchurch City Council engineers."
Rockwell One said it was continuing with suing the city council and engineering professionals for letting the building be constructed the way it was.
The council maintains the building can be fixed.
But Rockwell said it was only good for demolition, and that the council's possible remediation plan was "untested, unproved" versus its own comprehensive report.
"All Rockwell wants is a safe and usable building and it is deeply disappointed that after the earthquakes an engineering failure of this magnitude remains possible."
It wanted hoardings put up in the mall around the building, but the council had not followed up on that, the company said.
"Rockwell's primary concern is to ensure the safety of people and buildings in Christchurch," it said.
The city council said there had been no evidence provided by Rockwell's engineer, or anyone else, including independent engineers, which suggested the council "can (or should) erect a hoarding under the Building Act".
"The only risk Rockwell has presented to the council is that of falling glass in an earthquake, but that is not a risk unique to Rockwell's building or which triggers a requirement to erect a hoarding."
It had advised the company since late 2022 of minor changes it could make to the building, including the glass, but as far as the council knew it had not made those.
The council rejected criticism about the information it provided to Rockwell. The council said its information indicated the building did not have to be demolished.
