ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Fixing of quake-prone facades and parapets a priority

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 2 Sep 2015, 5:08PM
Napier Art Deco building (Getty Images)
Napier Art Deco building (Getty Images)

Fixing of quake-prone facades and parapets a priority

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 2 Sep 2015, 5:08PM

Several major cities will now have to fast track work on earthquake-prone buildings.

The Government has announced its changing proposed earthquake related building laws.

It means owners of buildings with unreinforced facades and parapets will have the time available to assess and fix them halved.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said Wellington, Nelson, Gisborne, Palmerston North and Napier will be most affected by the change.

"Where if you walk down any one of those town main streets, there will be all the sorts of reinforced masonry buildings, with heavy facades, with heavy features, that could as well cause the same loss of life that occurred in Christchurch"

He said it'll mean buildings in high risk areas will have to be assessed within two and a half years, and upgraded within seven and a half years.

"The practical implication of that is that there are about two thousand buildings in the more earthquake prone areas of New Zealand that will have to be fixed in half the normal time."

Dr Smith said every possible lesson of the Christchurch quakes need to be heeded in rewriting building laws to minimise future fatalities.

"We need to be up front that there is no such thing as 100 percent safety from earthquakes, but we are satisfied that this change to the Bill is well justified and will help protect communities."

Dr Smith said falling masonry from parapets and facades killed 35 people when the February quake struck.

 

 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you