CTV Building

CTV Building
CTV Building in 2004
General information
Type	Office building
Location	Christchurch Central City
Address	243–245 Madras Street
Town or city	Christchurch
Country	New Zealand
Coordinates	43°31′58″S 172°38′33″E / 43.5328°S 172.6424°E / -43.5328; 172.6424
Completed	About 1986
Destroyed	22 February 2011
Owner	Madras Equities
Technical details
Floor count	seven
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Alun Wilke Associates Architects
Structural engineer	Alan Reay Consultants

The CTV Building was the headquarters of Canterbury Television (locally known as CTV) and other companies. Located on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets in Christchurch Central City, in New Zealand. It became one of the symbols of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake after 115 people lost their lives when the building collapsed during the disaster; the deaths made up about 60% of the earthquake's total fatalities.

The CTV Building was designed and constructed in about 1986. Christchurch City Council gave building consent in September 1986. Building codes for earthquake design changed frequently in New Zealand following the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake (in 1935, 1965, 1976, 1984 and 1992). A significant change in design philosophy was the change from non-ductile design of a reinforced concrete structure to a ductile approach, where it is expected that building joints yield in design earthquake events, which might make a structure uninhabitable but without it collapsing. A new reinforced concrete standard emphasising ductility came into effect in New Zealand in 1982. Stefano Pampanin, an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury who teaches in structural and seismic design, described the non-ductile philosophy as "an obsolete design based on the levels of knowledge and code provisions that existed before the mid-1980s". The structural design engineer was Alan Reay Consultants (named after the company's owner) and the architect was Alun Wilke Associates Architects, both of which are firms based in Christchurch.

In September 2012 it was discovered the man who supervised the building's construction had faked his engineering degree. Gerald Shirtcliff had stolen the identity of a retired engineer based in the UK, William Fisher. The pair had been friends in the 1960s, and Shirtcliff stole Fisher's degree by adopting his name. It was later discovered Shirtcliff's father had done most of the work on his masters in highway engineering.

The CTV Building was inspected by engineers after the 4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake and after the 26 December 2010 4.9 magnitude aftershock. On both occasions, the building was declared safe, having suffered only superficial damage. The building collapsed in the 22 February 2011 earthquake and due to its high death toll of over 100 people has become one of the symbols of the earthquake.