Thousands of buildings to be deemed no longer earthquake-prone

Nearly 3000 buildings will be deemed no longer earthquake-prone after Parliament unanimously passed legislation yesterday reforming the building system. "Today we are delivering significant reform that will save Kiwi building owners and the New Zealand economy a staggering $8.2 billion," Building and Construction Minister Simon Watts said. "Expensive and often unrealistic remediation costs that are disproportionate to risk threaten buildings becoming derelict. Instead, we’re enabling that money to be invested elsewhere. To grow businesses, jobs and the economy." Under the Earthquake-prone Building Amendment Bill, approximately 55% of quake-prone buildings — about 2900 buildings — would be removed from the register. Watts said for buildings that would continue to be designated as earthquake-prone, remediation requirements would be more targeted to help "reduce costs and complexity while ensuring life-safety risks are addressed". Under the reformed system, low-risk concrete and wooden buildings would no longer have earthquake-prone building status.