Council’s earthquake-prone buildings offered safe new lives

Council is remediating  five Council buildings within the next eight years that are identified as earthquake-prone as discussed at Thursday’s Strategy and Policy Committee meeting.

 Regulatory Group Manager Natasha Tod says that Council will issue earthquake-prone notices for three of these buildings by the year’s end and, as building owner, Council will be legally required to remediate earthquake-prone buildings within 15 years of notices being issued under the Building Act.

 “We know the community is concerned about earthquake-prone buildings in their area, so it was decided to remediate all Council-owned earthquake-prone community buildings along with the Ōtaki Theatre and Paraparaumu Memorial Hall.”

 The identified Council buildings were all constructed to the building requirements of the day. A building is considered earthquake-prone when it is less than a third of the strength of a new building built to today’s standard (NBS). The earthquake-prone buildings are all below the required 34% NBS and the Ōtaki Theatre and Paraparaumu Memorial Hall are not deemed earthquake-prone, but are 40% NBS or less.

 “Council agreed to remediate higher-use buildings within eight years ahead of the Ōtaki Museum and Marine Parade Beach Pavilion. Demolition is not a practical solution for the museum and pavilion as they are both designated heritage buildings and we’ll need to consult with the community on these two buildings to decide what gets done,” Ms Tod says.

 “In the meantime, as the owner of these properties we’ve installed notices on buildings to let people know the buildings are earthquake-prone.”

 As landowner, Council has identified Ōtaki Museum, Waikanae Beach Hall, Marine Parade Beach Pavilion, Paekākāriki Memorial Hall, and Ōtaki Memorial Hall as earthquake-prone buildings.