MEDIA RELEASE

23 November 2016

Failure to comply with standards a likely cause of Wellington commercial building damage

The Insurance Council of New Zealand believes a significant cause of damage to commercial property buildings following the 14 November Kaikoura earthquake series is a failure to comply with non-structural, seismic restraint guidelines.

Non-structural, seismic restraints hold air conditioning, fire-sprinkler, telecommunication, electricity systems, lighting and ceiling support systems in ceiling cavities and other parts of the building. These can collapse and pose risks to life and property.

“We believe many buildings have had these systems installed and do not comply with New Zealand standard guidelines set for their installation. Appropriately, there is a strong focus on engineering sign-off of structural elements in buildings, but there is little or no monitoring or thorough inspection of the non-structural elements,” Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton said.

“Following the Canterbury earthquakes, a significant amount of the commercial property damage was due to the failure of these non-structural seismic restraints. It was also a significant cause of the damage to the BNZ building on Harbour Quays in 2013 following the Seddon earthquakes. As a result, the Insurance Council submitted twice to Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Select Committee on the issue in 2014 and 2015 to draw attention to the problem. We hope that following the most recent earthquakes there will be renewed attention brought to the issue,” he said.

The Insurance Council submission to Parliament suggests that territorial local authorities require non-structural seismic restraints as part of building Warrant of Fitness inspections. These are also matters that should be certified as complaint by engineers on completion of new buildings.

ENDS

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