Seismic strengthening funds on way
Wellington City Council is set to approve over $200,000 to help people bring their earthquakeprone buildings up to standard.
Nine buildings are being recommended for funding at Wellington City Council’s grants subcommittee today.
The money is part of the Building Resilience Fund, which aims to help owners who would otherwise struggle to strengthen their buildings fund engineering assessments .
The capital has 283 buildings which have been identified as a priority for strengthening, meaning owners have seven and a half years from assessment date to either bring them up to standard or be demolished. One owner, Michael McCormack, completed a seismic assessment of his Island Bay Art studio last year.
Discovering it was at 20 per cent of National Building Standards was a shock, he said.
‘‘The building was strengthened in 1999. It has got big steel beams, big bolts going through the walls.’’ He hoped the fund would be a positive, but he remained worried about what felt like the moving goalposts of seismic strengthening.
‘‘I have huge concerns about, if I jump the gun and get the building
strengthened and take such a huge financial risk, will it achieve anything?’’
The fund would cover plans, but not the work itself.
‘‘Even if we do get the funding, it’s not going to have a huge impact on us. The worry is still there, the doubt as to whether the
goalposts will be moved in five years time, and we’ll have to do it all over again.’’
He originally rented his studio, but when the owner sold it he decided, somewhat apprehensively, to buy it. Two months later, the Christchurch earthquake happened.
Covid-19 had added another stress to the process, with extra demand on builders and a supply shortage. ‘‘All these things compound little levels of fear, it’s their market, they can charge what they want. I’m just an artist.’’ The subcommittee is set to allocate $217,868.