Earthquake Prone Buildings

New Zealand has a relatively high earthquake risk – so it is important for safety reasons that buildings are built or upgraded to be safe in an earthquake.

Building Seismic Performance consultation

The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment consulted on proposed changes to the system for dealing with earthquake-prone buildings. Submissions closed on Friday 8 March 2013.

Read about it here http://www.dbh.govt.nz/consultingon-epbp.

List of Earthquake Prone Buildings

Buildings in Nelson that have had a section 124 (Building Act 2004) Notice in Respect of Earthquake Prone Building issued, are listed below.

The status of buildings in this list can change on a day to day basis and the information was last updated on 9 November 2012.

Street No.Street NameBuilding NameDate to ComplyNRMP
Heritage
Listing

63

Bridge

Coastal Merchant

10 Nov 2017

B

85

Bridge

Hamils

30 Nov 2021

n/a

95

Bridge

Supré

30 Nov 2021

n/a

97

Bridge

Pumpkin Patch

30 Sep 2019

n/a

83

Collingwood

Wakatu Hotel

30 March 2028

B

68

Graham

Mission for Seafarers

13 Dec 2027

 n/a

3

Halifax

Refinery Artspace Concrete Building

30 June 2032

n/a

23

Halifax

Mediterranean Foods

31 Jan 2022

n/a

10

Halstead

The Hub

30 June 2032

n/a

106

Hardy

Golden Bell, Secrets

30 Jun 2020

n/a

16

Hilliard

Nelson Provincial Museum Research Facility (Main Building) Isel Park

8 Feb 2018

n/a

25

Riverside

Riverside Pool Entry

30 Jun 2014

n/a

24-30

Rogers

 Rogers St Workshops;

13 Dec 2037

 n/a

      108

Trafalgar

Civic House - ex Post Office Savings Bank building & Generator Room

8 Nov 2017

      n/a

      110

Trafalgar

Civic House - State Advances

31 Dec 2031

      C

155-171

Trafalgar

Yello cafe, Flight Centre, Aurora, TS14

10 Nov 2017

B

205

Trafalgar

Nelson City Pharmacy, Art @ 203

27 Oct 2026

B

75

Vanguard

Kirkpatrick building

30 Apr 2026

n/a

34

Vanguard

Family Store Salvation Army, Morelands Fabrics, Vertical Limits, Strawberry Sound

30 Jul 2017

n/a

Occupying Earthquake Prone Buildings

Should we continue to occupy our building if it has an evaluated strength less than 33%NBS (new building standard)?

Building owners are primarily responsible for safety and compliance of their buildings, and each case needs to be considered on it’s own merits.

The Building Act 2004 allows unrestricted use of earthquake prone buildings (some exceptions in Canterbury area), however the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 does place responsibility on building owners and business managers to take all practicable steps to eliminate or minimise hazards in the context of the current state of knowledge.

Nelson City Council’s current policy allows between 20 and 30 years to mitigate the hazard for most buildings.

Building owners should not wait for the Council to contact them before addressing concerns about buildings.

Even if an undamaged building is 33%NBS or less (and therefore earthquake-prone) it does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe and should not be occupied. Building owners need to make their own decisions about how to manage their buildings (subject to any notices that may be given by the council), taking into account the individual circumstances of each building and the risks that are present in each case.

Building owners should seek advice from a chartered professional engineer.  Note that engineers should only provide recommendations about the continued use of buildings once a suitable level of investigation has been completed. Preliminary screening tools such as the Initial Evaluation Procedure (IEP) should not generally be considered adequate for significant decisions about ongoing occupation or strengthening decisions.

The mitigation of earthquake risk in buildings needs to be considered in terms of what needs to be undertaken in the short-term and what can be carried out over a period of years as part of a longer-term risk reduction programme.

Find out more