Alan Reay

Alan Michael Reay (born 1941) is a New Zealand structural and civil engineer with a career spanning over 45 years. Reay received his doctorate in civil engineering in 1970, and began working for Hardie & Anderson on inner-city buildings in Christchurch. In 1971, he started his consulting firm, Alan Reay Consulting Engineer (ARCE), which became Alan Reay Consultants Limited (ARCL) in 1988. Reay has worked on a variety of large projects including office towers and apartment buildings, and was known in the 1980s for low-rise tilt-slab buildings. In the 1990s, he was the first non-American to be awarded the engineering achievement award by the Tilt-Up Concrete Association of America. In 2002, Reay was elected a Fellow of IPENZ.

Reay's engineering firm, for which he was the sole principal and structural engineer, was responsible for designing the CTV Building in Christchurch. The building failed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and was the deadliest single incident in the disaster, resulting in the deaths of 115 people. Reay was investigated in a publicised inquiry; he was found responsible for breaching standards and ethics on the CTV Building project, by both a royal inquiry and Engineering New Zealand, and fined the maximum penalty in accordance with 1986 regulations. It was also found that Reay had interfered in the building permit process, persuading council engineers that their reservations were unfounded. Reay has vehemently denied responsibility for the collapse of the CTV Building and attempted to appeal the decision, placing much of the responsibility on David Harding, an employee who designed the building. An investigation to bring manslaughter charges against both Harding and Reay was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Reay started a new firm in 2012, which was renamed to Engenium in 2013, where he continued engineering work. His conduct was again the subject of criticism in 2015, when the foundation work Engenium had undertaken for Green Lane West apartments had to be redesigned. Reay believed he was used as a scapegoat due to his troubled reputation, and retired from engineering work in the late 2010s.

Early and personal life Alan Michael Reay was born in late 1941. Reay has been based in Christchurch for much of his life. he is married to his current wife, Barbara. Reay's PhD thesis was on the dynamic characteristics of civil engineering structures.

In the 2020s, Reay was retired and was reportedly suffering from ill-health. working as the consulting engineer on the Moorhouse Mazda building in 1983, and leading the project team for the expansion of the Christchurch Carpet Yarns building in 1986. During the 1980s, Reay also became notable for his work engineering low-rise, tilt-slab buildings. He designed the Bisley Industries building using the technique, which was considered an advance and novel approach at the time.

Reay acted as the sole principal and structural engineer during this time, and the firm had no more than 5 full-time employees at any one time. Others who worked at the consultancy included Harding, who worked as a structural engineer, and three draughtsmen, Terry Horn, Wayne Strachan, and Shane Fairmaid. and was involved in the redevelopment of Christchurch Hospital. In 1986, the firm took on the CTV Building project, a six-storey office block on Madras Street for Prime West Corporation. Reay was aware that the CTV Building would be Harding's first involvement in a structure of its scale, but had confidence in Harding, noting he had recently worked on the twelve-storey Westpark Towers and undertaken an intensive seminar on concrete structures. Reay was also confident in Harding's background and experience, however Harding was not experienced with multi-storey structures. Harding claims that the project was jointly designed by himself and Reay, and he would not have worked on it on his own; Reay disputes this, and claims the project was largely Harding's responsibility. That same year, Reay also designed the entertainment wing of The George Hotel. In 1988, Reay was the design engineer for the Noel Leeming head office, a two-storey structure on Montreal Street spanning 13,500 sq ft.

ARCL (1988–2011) In 1988, Reay renamed his company ARCL (Alan Reay Consultants Limited) and formally registered it as a company.

In 1995, Reay was the engineering advisor in a commission inquiry investigating the collapse of a viewing platform at Cave Creek, an incident which killed 14. An investigation by Stuff noted the company retained the same premises, contact details, and many of the same directors.

Other activities

Reay has been involved in a number of construction and property related companies including Tilt-Up Systems, Concrete Systems Limited, and as the director of Engineering Certifiers Limited, among other projects.

Reay is a member of the New Zealand Concrete Society, American Concrete Institute, and Tilt Up Concrete Association. He also had membership with the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand and New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineers.

Investigation outcome Multiple investigations have found that both Harding and Reay were jointly responsible for the failures in design of the CTV Building.

In 2012, the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission found the CTV Building had design flaws and should not have been built. Harding was described as "inexperienced" and "working beyond his competence." It was stated that Reay had left Harding unsupervised and pressured city officials to approve the building design, despite several members having reservations. which was labelled "seriously deficient". They fined him NZ$750 and costs of $1000, the maximum penalty as per the rules in 1986.

In 2024, Reay appealed the decision by Engineering New Zealand and requested a judicial review in December. The case is ongoing.