Buildings owners urged to act

Owners of ‘‘priority’’ buildings in Timaru who have failed to arrange earthquake assessments or apply for extensions have been issued notices outlining the council’s plan to treat the properties as ‘‘earthquake prone’’.

The Timaru District Council’s process to identify priority buildings started in January 2019 and was completed in May this year, after it had identified the district’s strategic routes and thoroughfares.

They include high-use buildings, and those located in strategic thoroughfares, which are considered at risk because of their location and the nature of the building.

Council building control manager Jayson Ellis said all owners of buildings identified as priority buildings were informed of the requirement to undertake an engineering assessment to determine whether the building was classed as below 34 per cent of New Building Standard (NBS), which is considered ‘‘earthquake prone’’.

Ellis said building owners were offered the opportunity to apply for a 12-month extension, with 53 owners taking up the offer. He said the council had sent out 71 notices to owners of priority buildings who had failed to take any action telling them ‘‘the council will proceed as if the building is earthquake prone’’.

Those owners, and any buildings classed as being below 34 per cent of NBS, now have to undertake any required seismic work within 121⁄2 years, he said.

Non-priority buildings, which are declared earthquake prone, have about 24 years to be seismically strengthened.

One building owner who contacted The Timaru Herald said they were unhappy to receive the council letter and said they were waiting until an engineer could carry out the required assessments which could be as late as April 2021.

They also complained about a $420 fee they had been charged to have an earthquake prone building notice put on their building.

‘‘$420 for an orange sticker, who are they kidding? . . . No wonder nobody wants to stay in business or own buildings.’’

Ellis acknowledged a ‘‘bottleneck’’ in getting assessments done, largely due to Covid-19 and resources being strained.

‘‘We appreciate this can be a very onerous process for building owners, but doing nothing is not really an option,’’ he said.

‘‘There is a health and safety imperative at the heart of the legislation.’’

Ellis said the council would host workshops to provide building owners with further information about the process.

Ellis said the $420 fee was a means of cost-recovery for the time it took to assess the building and liaise with the owner.

‘‘The whole idea is to identify potential earthquake-prone buildings,’’ Ellis said.

‘‘Our responsibility comes under the legislation, which as legislation goes, is pretty proactive.’’

According to the Ministry for

Business, Innovation and Employment register, there have been 36 buildings in the Timaru township lodged as earthquake prone, of which 31 are considered priority buildings.

There are 16 buildings registered as earthquake-prone in Geraldine, of which 13 are considered priority buildings, and 25 in Temuka, of which 24 are considered priority buildings.

There are also four earthquake prone buildings registered in Pleasant Point, of which three were considered priority buildings.

Ellis said surveying of Temuka and Geraldine began before Timaru, which was why there were so many earthquakeprone buildings proportionately.

‘‘We expect Timaru’s number to significantly increase over the coming months.’’