Stories by Phil Pennington

A huge bank based in Beijing says New Zealand is now in a good place to agree to a trailblazing infrastructure project in which China plays a bigger part.

A major supermarket chain which is taking action to stop heavy items falling from ceiling spaces in an earthquake says building regulations are being routinely ignored.

Analysis - Demand for a steel supply system New Zealanders can rely on matters more in the middle of a construction boom, writes Phil Pennington.

Bluff oyster fishermen are demanding that all farmed oysters in a Stewart Island bay be pulled up out of the sea as soon as possible to keep a lethal parasite at bay.

Chinese regulators have disqualified a steel-testing laboratory for using false accreditation, after being alerted by New Zealand investigators. Audio

A trucking boss says a near-miss for one of his drivers on the Picton-to-Christchurch highway route has forced him to take urgent safety measures as winter closes in.

Chinese labour could be the answer to Auckland's transport problems, the leader of a delegation of New Zealand engineers in Beijing says, but there could still be issues over labour laws.

A new wharf on remote Pitt Island in the Chathams has bashed holes in fishing boats, says a resident.

Three companies have moved out of a Wellington high-rise where the steel reinforcing bar stretched in the Kaikōura earthquake.

The tale of a hero who saved countless law books has emerged seven months after the Kaikōura earthquake.

It is outrageous Child Youth and Family has blanked out a crucial report relating to the death of a boy, his family says.

Giving high marks to private prison operator Serco shortly after a near-fatal attack on an inmate in Mt Eden jail was against Corrections own rules.

Guards sat for 20 minutes filing paperwork and eating sandwiches while a prison inmate lay near death in his cell after an assault, a prison inspector's report says.

Officials are still undecided over mandatory independent testing for steel, more than a year after the government ordered them to look into it.

Unrestrained heavy pipes, wires and air conditioning units that could be lethal in an earthquake are escaping proper scrutiny.

Rapid checks missed serious hidden damage in 11 buildings, according to a new report. Audio

The number of New Zealanders granted permanent residency in Australia has plummeted from 2500 five years ago to just 45.

Making New Zealanders in Australia pay to send their children to school is a real possibility, the government is being warned.

A structural engineering company has shut its doors while facing both an unresolved complaint and a call for a review of its seismic assessments and other work.

Horowhenua's mayor Michael Feyen has stared down his council - and the law - and put his old deputy mayor back into the job.

Tenants of a Wellington high-rise have no idea whether their building is safe after three engineering firms released wildly different seismic assessments.

A Wairarapa couple are locked in a battle with social workers over their two children, triggered by fractures one of them suffered. Audio

An engineer is defending his assessment of a Wellington building damaged in November's earthquake, despite it having floor supports the industry was warned to avoid.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are in talks to house hundreds of workers on a cruise ship off Auckland if they win huge rail contracts.

Child Youth and Family in Masterton has called in extra social workers after weeks of complaints that a backlog of cases is putting families in danger.