Earthquake-prone buildings
Central government introduced a national system for managing earthquake-prone buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017. Councils must use a set methodology to identify buildings in their districts that are potentially earthquake prone.
What earthquake prone means
A building, or part of a building, is earthquake prone if it’s likely to collapse and cause injury or death, or damage to another property, in a moderate earthquake. This is assessed using the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE’s) earthquake-prone building methodology, which identifies buildings or parts of buildings that might be a concern and need further assessment.
Earthquake-prone buildings aren’t automatically classified as dangerous buildings under the Building Act 2004, but they must have a notice on the outside of the building to alert visitors to the risk.
What we’ve done
Central government signalled in April 2024 they'll be reviewing the process for managing earthquake-prone buildings across Aotearoa New Zealand.
We're keeping up to date with these conversations. We'll be in touch with relevant owners, and update this page, when we have confirmed information to share.
We’ve completed our initial evaluation procedure (IEP) assessments and reports. These are qualitative assessments that consider the building age and type of construction.
We identified 28 buildings as being of concern, and the owners of these buildings had 12 months to provide evidence otherwise before we issued a formal notice under the Building Act.
In April 2021, 22 buildings in Kāpiti remained on the earthquake-prone building register. None of these are priority buildings requiring urgent immediate action. Owners of these buildings have 15 years (until 2033/34) to provide further seismic assessment evidence or undertake remediation work.
See Register of earthquake-prone buildings for a national list of buildings affected.
Council buildings
Council buildings identified as earthquake prone are:
- Ōtaki Museum
- Waikanae Beach Hall
- Ōtaki Memorial Hall
- Ōtaki depot shed (not publicly accessible)
- Raumati Pool
- Weka Park Clubrooms and Changing Rooms
- Mazengarb Sports Pavilion.