Quake-prone building owners to receive direction

MEDIA RELEASE

Property Council Waikato Branch

12.03.2013

Quake-prone building owners to receive direction

Property owners need to examine all the options and be well-informed before any earthquake strengthening is undertaken, warns one property financer who will present at a Property Council Waikato Branch seminar this week.

Peter Thomas, head of property finance at BNZ said he is regularly meeting owners who are not appropriately informed on how to manage the challenge earthquake prone buildings can present. “Some owners are thinking the issue they are facing is completely unique. We are actually seeing hundreds of people with very similar issues, and they are quite surprised to find out they’re not the only one who has to get their building strengthened.”

He commented owners seem to be facing a lack of readily available, easily understood information. “We need to be enablers of information so we can prevent this becoming a bigger issue than it needs to be, which if left unchecked, could become significant for the industry.”

Detailed information and guidance will be provided to attendees at the seminar, to be held on Thursday 14 March in Hamilton. Structural Engineering Society New Zealand’s president John Hare will offer an engineer's perspective on the earthquake risk facing the Waikato, as will Arrow International’s national seismic specialist Keith Nightingale; Colliers International will discuss the impact of strengthening to building valuations, leasing, and reference the local real estate market; Resene Construction Systems will showcase its strengthening product ‘Seismolock’; and Hamilton City Council’s Phil Saunders will share the local earthquake-prone building policy, which is also currently up for review.

Arrow International’s Mike Taylor, a member of the Waikato Branch Executive and principal sponsor of the seminar, said while some owners may be faced with similar issues, they shouldn’t be forced into taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach to strengthening. “Often owners are facing difficult issues which need to be addressed appropriately.”

Holmes Consulting engineer Alan Park was Property Council’s representative on MBIE’s panel at the consultation meeting in Hamilton last month. He says this seminar will go further than the consultation process and will provide real insight for those in the Waikato property industry.

“There was some confusion within the public meeting on what the whole consultation process was for and what outcome it is expected to produce. This is the first time in my memory property owners have gone through this type of consultation process. At the Ministry’s meeting in Hamilton there were questions asked by building owners which were outside the scope of the earthquake prone building policy review. Clearly there is a need to provide further detail on how this will impact local owners.”

Property Council’s seminar will be focused on the detail of the proposals, and attendees will receive guidance from industry leaders. Individual presentations will be followed by a panel discussion to answer questions from delegates.

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