Adrian Collis against The Press

The Press published an article on its website on December 2, 2025, titled Engineer to face trial over substandard work.

The article reported that Adrian Collis, an engineer who lost his certification over two years ago for substandard work, was likely headed for trial alongside his former boss and the Christchurch City Council. This followed a court ruling in which a judge denied a summary judgment which would have ended the case early.

Mr Collis was accused of negligence after a commercial property he worked on in 2018 was found to have seismic rating of less than 10 percent of the New Building Standard.

Mr Collis complained that the article was not balanced to include his side of the story, explaining how he had provided remedial calculations to prove the building was a satisfactory design.

In response The Press said the article was taken directly from the judgment and no extra comment was sought from any of the parties involved. It added that The Press was likely to cover the case next year when there would be capacity to go into more detail about the issues, including Mr Collis’ perspective.

The Media Council noted this appeared to be a straightforward report of a court ruling which declined an application for summary judgement. The ruling was on a legal point and while it outlined the broad case it did not go into details.

The Press was entitled to report the judgment. Mr Collis will have the opportunity to put his case when and if it goes to trial in the new year. That is the appropriate forum for all the parties to detail their arguments, and The Press has indicated they will likely cover it then.

Decision:  No grounds to proceed.