Phil Pennington

Many major buildings with combustible cladding are not being properly audited to make sure all their safety systems work properly.

The majority of Christchurch buildings that have the most combustible type of aluminium composite cladding are office blocks.

The Australian military was alerted to water contamination at New Zealand Defence Force bases months before the public here was told.

A heavy vehicle engineer kept quiet about deficiencies in his designs for years until a trailer snapped off a truck, according to NZTA documents.

The Health Ministry is rejecting any need for an inquiry into how Middlemore Hospital built a multi-million-dollar meetings' centre when it needs more operating theatres.

More people who were abused by a priest and Christian Brother in Otago when they were children have come forward to the Catholic Church.

A near-new Wellington hotel had to shut for months due to a kitchen fire spreading smoke into rooms, the Insurance Council says.

A Family Court judge alerted the head of Oranga Tamariki to an assault accusation that had not been investigated.

Engineers say most of the earthquake-prone buildings in small towns could be fixed relatively simply and inexpensively, without involving them directly at all.

Locals say the cost to fix earthquake-prone buildings in Marton is putting any potential buyers off, with existing owners desperately racing to beat tougher strengthening deadlines. Video

The Grenfell Tower blaze has exposed multiple failings worldwide, says a visiting UK fire expert who is pushing for international fire standards.

A small rebellion is brewing in two northern Horowhenua settlements, with moves to break away from their district council.

Contaminated water linked to firefighting foam has been discovered at a petrochemical site in a second region.

A Masterton trucker is pulling half a dozen rigs off the road at a cost of $10,000 a day to comply with a new and urgent safety alert.

A safety alert has gone out requiring urgent checks on the towing connections of almost 500 heavy vehicles, including truck-trailers.

The multinational company at one of the sites of firefighting chemical contamination in south Taranaki is refusing to release test results.

Oil company Shell has contaminated groundwater in New Plymouth using a firefighting foam banned in New Zealand 12 years ago.

Firefighting foam contaminants have been found at "elevated levels" in eels in two south Taranaki streams and in groundwater at five other sites.

Analysis - A reality TV show offers clues to what's wrong with New Zealand's building industry, writes Phil Pennington.

The Environmental Protection Authority says it is not aware of any firefighting foams containing banned chemicals that are still being used anywhere in the country.

The level of firefighting foam contamination in eels in south Taranaki is up to 80 times the proposed trigger level in an official food safety report.

A Hutt Valley grandmother says an Oranga Tamariki safety report recommends her grand-daughter should be in her care full-time, but she's not.

The Ministry of Education is being blamed for a badly leaking Auckland high school and for changing contracts so that builders can wait up to twice as long as usual to get paid.

A construction industry survey suggests a third of builders are not holding money in trusts for subcontractors even though it is against the law not to do so.

The grandmother of a teenage girl in the Hutt Valley says she fears her granddaughter will end up on meth, following months without intervention by social workers.