Reports say an engineer in New Zealand has been working for years, even after he was implicated in a major stadium collapse.

It appears that Tony Major, the engineer behind the design of the collapsed Stadium Southland roof, was removed from the register of New Zealand’s Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) for incompetence but continued playing a key role in several projects.

He has now been expelled from IPENZ.

Mr Major is believed to have been de-registered when the Invercargill City Council and Southland District Council accepted building consent applications for Stadium Southland, but the councils took the plans anyway, saying that the engineering components would be peer reviewed and signed-off by a chartered professional engineer registered with IPENZ.

But even after that, poor design work led the roof to fall.

The cause of the collapse was deemed to be insufficient roof strength, inadequate workmanship and deficient design, though the structure met building standards at the time.

The collapse has seen Invercargill City Council make about $6 million in payouts so far.

Major has now been totally expelled from IPENZ, after a recent hearing found he had a “casual attitude to his professional engineering activities” during the construction of the stadium, and that his “attitudes and competencies remain below the current standards for a professional member”.

But in the years between his de-registration and the recent explusion, Major has enjoyed a prolific career as a designer.

He even bagged more projects in Invercargill, Southland and Queenstown over the years, working on drains, driveways, and extensions for houses, farm buildings, commercial buildings and public spaces.

Invercargill City Council now says it is concerned that IPENZ’s findings will mean there is a sub-standard level of safety in buildings designed by Major, and is seeking further advice from the engineering body.

IPENZ says operators of all designed by Major should consider an inspection of structural integrity.