Questions have been asked about why a cordon was lifted around a damaged heritage building just days before it collapsed in the February 22 quake, killing an Israeli tourist.
Ofer Benyamin Mizrahi, 22, was eating lunch in a van parked outside Winnie Bagoes restaurant on Gloucester Street when the magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck.
Mr Mizrahi was crushed to death when the three-storey unreinforced masonry building collapsed.
Engineers and Christchurch City Council officials have been questioned on Wednesday at the Royal Commission of Inquiry hearing into the Canterbury earthquakes about why the cordon in front of the restaurant was lifted, despite the building being deemed "earthquake prone".
The building was badly damaged in the September 4, 2010, quake, but was only red-stickered when it suffered more damage in the magnitude 4.9 Boxing Day, 2010, quake, APNZ reports.
A barrier fence was put up at the front of the building.
The building's owner, Devonia Realty Ltd, was advised by engineering consultancy firm Beca that work to make the building safe was completed on February 11, 2011. The council removed the barricades on either February 15 or 16.
Steve McCarthy, Christchurch City Council Environmental Policy and Approvals Manager said correspondence from Beca, which said the building's dangerous features had been secured and it didn't pose a threat to the public, was "critical" in deciding to lift the cordon.
However, Beca denied actually recommending the removal of the cordon.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry also reviewed the collapse of 246 High Street on February 22, killing Christchurch City Council worker Joe Pohio, 40.
The property manager, Christopher Chapman of NAI Harcourts, admitted he failed to order an independent inspection of the building after the September and Boxing Day quakes and instead relied on city council inspections, which ruled the building was safe to occupy.
NZN