Fire safety boss Neil Gould sentenced for forging building compliance papers
Neil Gould was the sole director of Parallel Fire Protection Limited when the company was sub-contracted to install a fire hydrant system on the North Shore complex in 2023. Photo / File
A company boss forged documents to get around a fire-safety code of compliance for an Auckland apartment building.
Neil Gould was the sole director of Parallel Fire Protection Limited when the company was sub-contracted to install a fire hydrant system on the North Shore complex in 2023.
The company installs commercial fire protection systems as part of the requirements for approved building consents.
In July 2024, Auckland Council raised concerns with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) about the authenticity of a verification of compliance certificate provided by Gould, in connection to an application for the building’s code of compliance certificate.
MBIE launched an investigation, which subsequently uncovered his dishonesty.
It found Gould had falsified the verification of compliance certificate for the fire hydrant system, including the details of an independent qualified person.
He then emailed it to a company tasked with collating documents for the code of compliance certificate application.
Gould pleaded guilty to making a false document with the intent that it be used or acted upon by another person as if it were genuine.
He was recently sentenced in the North Shore District Court to three months’ community detention and ordered to pay $1000 reparations to Nova Flowtec Services, an independent fire hydrant testing company.
MBIE national manager of building regulatory delivery Sharon Threadwell said installations of fire hydrant systems must be certified as being compliant by a third-party independent inspection body.
Threadwell said MBIE encourages building professionals, consent authorities and consumers to verify and report any compliance concerns around certification to them.
“As a result of Mr Gould’s conviction, a referral may be made to the Registrar of Companies for the investigation of potential breaches of the Companies Act.”
Gould said he did not want to comment when contacted by NZME.
According to the company website, Gould has been working within the industry for more than 20 years and has extensive industry knowledge and expertise within the fire protection industry from installation to management and regulatory knowledge.
A list of projects on the site shows the company has worked on some big-ticket developments, including the Parks Residences, Sugar Tree Apartments, Queens Residences and Countdown Greenlane.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.