Dr Clark Hyland of Hyland Consultants and Ashley Smith of StructureSmith investigated the reasons for the collapse of Stadium Southland during a heavy snow fall in 18 September 2010, for the Department of Building and Housing. The collapse sequence was deduced using a combination of on-site examination of the state of the collapse debris, laboratory examination of specimens extracted from the debris, laboratory testing of components to establish material properties and full scale testing of truss chord portions at the University of Auckland. 

The investigation found that the collapse appeared to have initiated in substandard welding of the roof truss chords at the east end of the stadium (top right end of the photo) and at loads likely to be less than those required for its design.

Southland Times photo of the collapsed stadium