The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) first evaluation of the earthquake-prone building system says the system is “working well overall, and provides useful information on how it can be further improved”. 

“While it is still early days, we are pleased to see that overall the earthquake-prone building system is well-regarded, and is seen as an improvement over the previous system,” says Amy Moorhead, Manager Building Policy at MBIE. 

“The evaluation shows that there is broad support for the earthquake-prone building system policy development and design, and that the system was adequately implemented. 

“The report also provides useful information for us to act upon to help us continually improve the system over the next 50 years, such as improving the information and guidance MBIE provides to owners of earthquake-prone buildings,” Amy Moorhead says. 

“The evaluation noted that most owners of earthquake-prone buildings want to do the right thing and remediate their buildings, but some have struggled to navigate the system. 

“In response, MBIE will soon kick off a programme of work around the future strategic direction of the earthquake-prone building system. 

“This work will focus on how to best support owners to comply, how to improve information and guidance to owners of earthquake-prone buildings, and how to continue to monitor the system as it progresses,” Amy Moorhead says. 

The new earthquake-prone building system came into effect on 1 July 2017, after substantial legislation changes were made around how earthquake-prone buildings are identified and managed in New Zealand. 

MBIE began the evaluation of the earthquake-prone building system in 2019 to gain early insights on how well the system is working, and identify areas where it could be improved. 

The resulting report - Early insights – Initial evaluation of the earthquake-prone building system - is available on the MBIE website.

According to the CODC website, there are 17 council-owned public buildings which are so far considered to be earthquake prone. 

Central Otago district has been categorised as in a 'medium seismic risk area'. 

As such the district has until July 2022 to assess what buildings in the district are earthquake prone and advise building owners. 

At this time notices on the buildings are required.

“Council itself owns a number of buildings across the district, and that is a responsibility that we take seriously,” the CODC website states. 

“We have already assessed all of our buildings to various levels and have identified some buildings as 'earthquake prone'.”