Essential hospital building found to be quake-prone
One of Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s newest buildings was found to be earthquake-prone last year.
The acute assessment unit was built in 2004. When assessed by Opus engineers in 2017, it was found to meet just 15 per cent of the National Building Standard (NBS), meaning it was classed as earthquake prone, and had ‘‘a risk to occupants greater than 25 times that expected for a new building’’.
The engineers said the building was above an area of uncontrolled fill and its foundations would not be able to sustain significant tension loads caused by earthquakes.
A Hawke’s Bay District Health Board spokeswoman said it had started work on recommendations made by the engineers and the building was now above the 33 per cent earthquake-prone threshold.
‘‘The subsequent upgrade stages to achieve 70 per cent of NBS will be completed in the new year, with initial works starting over the Christmas closure in December 2018,’’ she said.
Stuff can also reveal the ability of Hawke’s Bay Hospital to operate after an earthquake is unknown, five years after health board was advised to have the buildings assessed.
There are 29 structures on the hospital grounds in Hastings.
Of those 29 buildings, 12 are classified as having an importance level of 4, such as the emergency department and intensive care, meaning they are essential to postdisaster recovery or associated with hazardous facilities.
The buildings are all well above the required level in the NBS (most are over 80 per cent of code), apart from the acute assessment unit. The buildings were assessed by Opus consultants in late 2013.
For each of the buildings, Opus recommended that a Serviceability Limit State (SLS) assessment be carried out
The SLS refers to conditions other than the building strength that would allow it to remain usable after an earthquake.
The board spokeswoman said it had committed to undertake an external review of the serviceability of its most critical buildings in July.
Asked why it had taken so long to undertake the recommended assessments, she said the board was confident there were no critical service issues with any of its important buildings.