Media release

4 February 2013

Earthquake-prone buildings – first public meeting on change proposals

The first of seven regional public information meetings on the Ministry’s proposals to improve the earthquake-prone buildings policy system will be held in Wellington tomorrow evening (5 February).

The meeting, from 7-9 pm at the Michael Fowler Centre, will be hosted by Wellington City Council. Minister of Building and Construction Hon Maurice Williamson and Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown will attend.

The meetings are an opportunity for the public to ask questions about the change proposals, set out in the Ministry’s consultation document Building Seismic Performance, available at the web address below. The proposals are for a consistent national approach to dealing with earthquake-prone buildings. In essence, they require:

• all non-residential and multi-unit, multi-storey residential buildings to have a seismic capacity assessment within five years of the changes taking effect, and this information to be made publicly available on a register

• all earthquake-prone buildings be strengthened, or demolished, within 15 years of the changes taking effect (up to five years for local authorities to complete seismic capacity assessments, followed by 10 years for owners to strengthen or demolish buildings), compared to an estimated 28 years (on average) under the current system

The consultation runs until 5pm on Friday 8 March. The Ministry encourages submitters to use the online response form at the web address above. Submissions on some or all of the questions are welcome. A 15-minute video explaining the proposed changes can also be viewed on the website http://www.dbh.govt.nz/earthquake-prone-buildings-consultation-video.

The regional public information meetings will comprise a short presentation on the proposals, followed by questions and answers. A full schedule is appended.

More information on the earthquake-prone buildings policy review and consultation is available at www.dbh.govt.nz.

URL: www.dbh.govt.nz/consultingon-epbp

ends

Appendix: Schedule of Regional Public Information Meetings

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