Victory for business in change to earthquake rules

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith has announced major revisions to the government’s policy on managing earthquake risk.

A more targeted regulative approach will now be applied – with a focus on buildings where location, use and type pose the greatest risk to public safety, Smith said.

The four significant changes to the policy are:

• Varying the timetable for strengthening relative to earthquake risk;
• Prioritising education and emergency buildings for strengthening;
• Reducing the number of buildings requiring assessment; and
• Introducing new measures to encourage earlier upgrades.

Smith said that the scope of buildings requiring assessment is to be reduced from an estimated 500,000 to 30,000.

But there will be a new requirement to strengthen earthquake-prone buildings when doing substantial alterations.

The policy changes mean that buildings like schools, universities and hospitals in high and medium seismic risk areas will have to be upgraded more quickly, but buildings in low risk areas like Auckland and Dunedin can be upgraded more gradually.

Smith said the new approach will reduce the estimated cost from $1360 million to $777 million while retaining the safety gains.

Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said the government’s planned overhaul of the crippling earthquake strengthening rules was a victory for businesses and small communities. 

He said that, while public safety is essential, businesses cannot afford the extremely high costs associated with strengthening.

“The exponential costs of earthquake strengthening work can have devastating effects on smaller communities who simply cannot afford to carry out the work, leading to derelict buildings and capital flight from regions.”

Townsend said the government’s decision will make earthquake strengthening viable for New Zealanders.

“We are satisfied with the government’s announcement as we know how hard it is to balance all relevant factors such as risk, safety, and costs.”

BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly said the government’s move from a one-size-fits-all approach to a risk-based approach is sensible.

While all commercial building owners want to ensure their buildings’ safety and stability, buildings in low risk areas should not have to bear the same expense as those at high risk, he said.

“The new proposals for earthquake strengthening requirements will almost halve overall strengthening costs while prioritising key buildings for strengthening sooner than originally proposed.”

*A Select Committee is currently considering the earthquake-prone building proposals and will report back to Parliament in July.