Earthquake Prone Buildings Community Taskforce
Published on 14 May 2015
14 May 2015
Announcements by Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith about policy on earthquake prone buildings seem positive for Wanganui says Richard Thompson, Chairman of the Wanganui Earthquake Prone Buildings Community Taskforce.
“Wanganui is within the Medium Risk Area which means the timeframes will be 10 years for assessment and 25 years for strengthening. This gives building owners a lot longer than the earlier proposals of 5 and 15 years.
“Having more time will be a huge relief to owners and will allow them to plan for and spread the cost in a more achievable way. It will also allow time for new technologies to be developed that will be cheaper and less disruptive.
“However there are still some big questions, especially how and when councils will do the assessments. This is very complicated in Wanganui’s situation where in many cases Initial Evaluation Procedure (IEP) assessments have already been done. Will that be deemed as being assessed under new legislation or will they have to be done again? And, if deemed done, does that mean the clock for strengthening work starts ticking immediately?"
Mr Thompson said that while a longer timeframe is generally positive for building owners their liability remains, and there are still matters of community safety to consider.
“Wanganui has a lot of unreinforced masonry buildings with low IEP ratings. However these are not necessarily likely to collapse in an earthquake and, from research done here and elsewhere, have been found to perform better than expected.
“I like the Centre for Advanced Engineering’s proposal that an alternative compliance route be developed for these buildings whereby the most dangerous parts are fixed but the building be allowed to “fail safely” in a major quake.
“The Taskforce has identified that the biggest risk to public safety in Wanganui is from bits of buildings falling into the street in the CBD. We think that securing these is important and will be working with owners to achieve it.
“One other positive piece of news that may help with this is that a new Centre for Earthquake Resilience (QuakeCoRE) has just been funded. This is a joint initiative between Canterbury and Auckland universities and further testing in Wanganui was part of the application."
Mr Thompson said that the Taskforce will be meeting on May 28 to digest the announcements and consider its next steps.
The Wanganui Earthquake Prone Buildings Community Taskforce was set up in early 2012. Members include architects, engineers, heritage advocates, building owners and developers, Mainstreet and Council officers.
Mr Thompson said the taskforce’s purpose is to provide independent advice to Council and the community on matters to do with earthquake-prone buildings.
ENDS
For further information contact chair Richard Thompson
Phone 06 3425728 or 027 4400861 or email richard@richardthompson.co.nz