Fear of quake prone building ‘bottleneck’

The number of registered earthquake-prone buildings is expected to increase as owners have buildings assessed and authorities are warning there could be heavy demand for engineers if they leave their run too late.

Since the Timaru District Council formalised its strategic routes and thoroughfares, which determine the location of priority areas in the event of a moderate-sized earthquake, it has gone through the process of identifying priority buildings which could pose the greatest risk in such an event.

The council is required to identify all of its priority buildings by July 2022.

Council building control manager Jayson Ellis said since January 2019, 393 priority buildings have been identified.

Once a building is identified, a notice is sent to the owner requesting an initial seismic assessment, which must be completed within a year – although owners have the option of applying for an extension, Ellis said. To date, the council has received 15 completed initial seismic assessments.

Ellis said the council had been sending out notices in stages to ‘‘soften the impact’’ on resources, but he warned there could a ‘‘bottleneck’’ if building owners left their run too late.

‘‘It will be very dependent on when the engineers can do the assessment, so there could be a strangling of resources.’’

If a building has been identified by the initial seismic assessment as being earthquake prone, council will confirm this and upload that information onto the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Earthquake Prone Building (EPB) National register.

The EPB register shows two buildings in Timaru, located at 84 and 86 Stafford St, had been added to the register in the past week.

According to the register, the buildings were rated between 20 per cent and 34 per cent compliant with the New Building Standard (NBS), as outlined by the Building Act. Both have a deadline of July, 2032, for the completion of any seismic work.

The buildings are owned by Nelson-based Woollcombe Barnard & Associates Ltd. Company director Keith Whitehead could not be reached for comment.

However, Ellis said the owner of those buildings had been ‘‘proactive’’ in getting them assessed. ‘‘They had about a year to carry out the initial seismic assessment, after their buildings were identified as priority buildings.

‘‘They’ve carried out that assessment well within the deadline.’’

Once a building is deemed earthquake prone, it is up to the owner to display an EPB notice on their building informing the public about its status.

On Wednesday, a council spokesperson said they had not yet been displaying a notice because this was a very recent determination and entry onto the register.

‘‘The EPB notice has been sent to the building owner within the last four days,’’ the spokesperson said.

‘‘To date, no fines or abatement notices have been issued relating to an EPB notice not being displayed.

‘‘Council can at any time carry out random audits to ensure the owners are displaying the notice properly.’’

Other Timaru buildings already on the EPB register are 2 King George Place (the Latter Street ‘‘South block’’ of the council building), 1 Virtue Ave (Caroline Bay Tea Rooms) and 49 Wai-iti Rd (Aigantighe Art Gallery’s Historic House Gallery). The council owns all three of these buildings. They all have EPB notices.

Meanwhile, council spokesman Stephen Doran said it is in the process of compiling a list of the NBS ratings of its most important council buildings.

‘‘Any final list with all the NBS ratings will be a few weeks away,’’ Doran said.

‘‘It will be very dependent on when the engineers can do the assessment, so there could be a strangling of resources.’’

Jayson Ellis, council building control manager