The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has welcomed the sentencing of Neil Gould in the North Shore District Court for offending relating to the use of a forged document to support a building project’s Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) application.
Gould is the sole director of Parallel Fire Protection Limited, which installs commercial fire protection systems in buildings as part of requirements of approved building consents.
In 2023, Gould’s company Parallel Fire Protection Limited was sub-contracted to install a fire hydrant system at an apartment building on Auckland’s North Shore. MBIE’s Product Assurance and Investigation Team opened an investigation after concerns were raised by Auckland Council in July 2024 about the authenticity of a Verification of Compliance certificate provided by Gould in connection to an application for the building’s CCC.
“MBIE’s investigation established that Mr Gould falsified the Verification of Compliance certificate for the fire hydrant system, including the details of an Independent Qualified Person (IQP), and emailed it to a company tasked with collating documents for a CCC application,” said Sharon Threadwell, National Manager, Building Regulatory Delivery.
“All installations of fire hydrant systems must be certified as being compliant by a third-party independent inspection body and I’d like to thank Auckland Council for being diligent and raising their concerns.”
Threadwell says the sentencing of Gould shows MBIE will take action if it finds evidence the building regulatory system is being abused.
“MBIE encourages building professionals, consent authorities and consumers to verify and report any compliance concerns around certification to MBIE.”
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 sentenced to 3 months community detention and ordered to pay $1,000 in reparations to Nova Flowtec Services, an independent fire hydrant testing company.
Image credit: Jakub Żerdzicki
