Alan Reay has won the right to see legal advice recommending disciplinary action against him be dropped.

The engineer whose firm designed the Canterbury Television (CTV) building has won costs as part of a legal challenge to his professional body's right to sanction him.

The High Court has granted Alan Reay costs of $12,934 plus disbursements of $1728 against the attorney-general and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (Ipenz).

It forms part of a proceeding where the attorney-general is seeking judicial review of an Ipenz decision not to continue an investigation of a complaint against Reay. The court action started three years ago.

CARYS MONTEATH/STUFF The CTV building collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake, killing 115 people.

The CTV building collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake, killing 115 people. A Royal Commission of Inquiry found Reay had not properly supervised an employee engineer with limited experience of multi-level buildings.

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It said the design was deficient in some important respects and should not have got a building consent. The police decided not to prosecute Reay or any others over the collapse.

Reay resigned his Ipenz membership in 2014 after Ipenz began investigating the complaint. It stopped the investigation on legal advice it no longer had jurisdiction.

As part of the proceedings, Reay, represented by Willie Palmer, wanted disclosure of the legal advice to Ipenz and the High Court ruled in his favour. He then applied for costs.

The parties were unable to agree on what should be paid.

The attorney-general and Ipenz wanted to be paid for a memorandum and argued for a reduction of one third on the standard costs because Reay had not won part of his argument.

Justice Joseph Williams said the memorandum was no more than a "placeholder" and that Reay succeeded in the essential step of his argument.

The judicial review proceedings continues to work its way through the courts. A date for a trial has yet to be set.