The IRD headquarters in Wellington has been evacuated.

The Asteron building, at 55 Featherston St, is the latest Wellington building to be evacuated due to earthquake safety concerns.

A council spokeswoman said the evacuation was "precautionary" after engineers found damage in a stairwell.

"The damage might mean if there is another significant earthquake there would be no safe way to evacuate the building."

According to architects Warren and Mahoney, the 17 storey centre is Wellington's largest single office building at 48,000 sqm.