New Zealand quake-hit TV building was 'badly built'

A six-storey office building that collapsed and killed 115 people in New Zealand’s devastating earthquake last year was poorly designed, inadequately constructed and should never have been issued with a building permit, a government report said today.

The Canterbury Television (CTV) building crumbled to the ground during the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that rocked Christchurch on February 22 2011. The building’s collapse was responsible for nearly two-thirds of the 185 deaths from the quake.