Quake Shake Up
The Government has announced significant changes to the assessment of Earthquake Prone Buildings (EPBs) in a move which will have significant impact throughout New Zealand. Owners, lenders, tenants and insurers who rely on the existing system will need to make their own assessments of a building’s survivability. The changes have been welcomed by Engineering New Zealand as “more pragmatic and targeted” than the current approach.
The amending legislation is expected in the New Year and there is a lot to work through.
A new earthquake-prone building system
The New Building Standard (NBS) measure currently used will no longer be used to identify EPBs. This was felt to be too confusing, particularly in relating it to safety to occupy.
Instead, EPBs will be identified as:
- Unreinforced masonry buildings with unsecured façades and walls facing public areas or above neighbouring properties will automatically be deemed EPBs because of their risk profile, with no further assessment required.
- Concrete buildings of three storeys or more will be assessed for EPB status using a new targeted retrofit methodology focused on the critical vulnerabilities that can lead to collapse.
Seismic zones will also be updated. All EPBs in low seismic zones (Auckland, Northland and the Chatham Islands) will have their status removed, and no new EPBs will be identified in those areas.
Coastal Otago, including Dunedin, will shift from a low to a medium seismic zone. This means EPBs in Dunedin will remain in the system and more may be identified.
According to the June 2025 review just released, these changes will remove around 55 percent of EPBs (approximately 2,900 buildings) from the system. About 1,440 will face remediation requirements, and 840 will require no remedial work at all. Only around 80 buildings will still need a full retrofit.
Remediation requirements under the new system
Rather than requiring all EPBs to be remediated to at least 34 percent of the New Building Standard (NBS), the new mitigation requirements will vary by building type and location. Owners of EPBs with a “risk register only” requirement (around 840 one- to two-storey unreinforced masonry buildings in rural areas or small towns with a population size below 10,000) will not be required to display an EPB notice. Their EPB status may be removed if they carry out at least façade securing.
Under the changes, to support building owners in meeting their remediation obligations and keeping costs down:
- Building consent applications for alterations to earthquake-prone buildings that involve only the necessary seismic remediation work will no longer require owners to meet other Building Code provisions relating to fire and disability access “as nearly as reasonably practicable.” Territorial authorities will still need to consider those provisions when reviewing such applications.
- Earthquake-prone buildings undergoing a change of use will be required to meet their mitigation requirement under the EPB system, rather than being held to a higher seismic standard.
Priority buildings
Under the new system, fewer buildings will be classified as priority buildings (such as critical emergency buildings and schools).
The definition of a priority building will now focus on:
- parts of unreinforced masonry buildings that could fall onto footpaths and roads with high levels of pedestrian or vehicle traffic
- a building that could collapse and block an emergency services route in an earthquake.
Remediation deadlines will be extended. This is intended to give government agencies more time to plan and carry out seismic risk mitigation across their portfolios.
Special thanks to Partner Paul Dorrance, Partner Julia Flattery and Special Counsel Jonathan Forsey for preparing this article.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is general in nature and not intended as a substitute for specific professional advice on any matter and should not be relied upon for that purpose.
