Preparing for a shake
Quake prone buildings identified
The first step to identify earthquake prone buildings in Central Hawke’s Bay, under the new requirements of the Building (Earthquake-Prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016, got under way at a meeting of the CHB District Council last month.
The Building (Earthquake-Prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 is based on recommendations from the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission, following the Canterbury earthquakes.
The Amendment Act creates a process for the identification and management of earthquake prone buildings.
In September CHB District Council began consultation with the public on a statement of proposal on priority routes that could be affected by the collapse of earthquake-prone buildings, in the event of a serious earthquake.
The Statement of Proposal document identified priority routes in the town centres of Waipukurau and Waipawa.
Owners of a priority building located on a priority route will have a shorter time to bring their building up to standard or to be demolished.
After community submissions, public meetings, footpath counts and conversations with building and business owners, a variation to the Statement of Proposal was recommended and adopted at last month’s council meeting, reducing the area of priority routes in both Waipukurau and Waipawa.
“Thank you to all in our community who wrote, spoke or met with us on the proposal,” says mayor Alex Walker.
“We acknowledge that there will be uncertainty around earthquake prone buildings, and as a council we have balanced our priorities around the practicality of safety with the social and economic wellbeing of our community in identifying the final routes of priority.”
Now that the areas of priority routes have been identified, the next step is identifying potentially earthquake prone buildings within the priority areas. These will require strengthening within a shorter period of time. The council has until January 1, 2020, to complete this work.
Buildings identified within the priority area as earthquake prone will have a timeframe of 7.5 years to be strengthened or demolished.
All other potentially earthquake prone buildings having a timeframe of 15 years.
Owners of buildings in the priority area will receive written notification in the new year.
“While we have a regulatory function under this legislation, we also have an important role to give support and confidence to our community through this challenging process,” says Doug Tate, group manager customer and community partnerships.
“We hope to continue to support business and building owners through this process, to ensure we have vibrant and strong town centres now and into the future.”
The new priority area maps can be viewed by visiting www.chbdc.govt.nz.
For more information on the new priority areas and how these may impact business and building owners, contact the CHB District Council on 857 8060 or email epb@chbdc.govt.nz
The third forum for Earthquake Prone Buildings will be held in late February.