Tougher rules for quake-prone buildings are being held up as an example of bipartisan success, but critics insists there still needs to be a more sensible approach.

Masonry on facades and parapets, as well as verandahs, will now need to be assessed and upgraded in half the original time. Wellington, Nelson, Gisborne, Palmerston North and Napier will be most affected by the change.

The government planned the changes after "fastidious advocacy" and dogged determination of Ann Brower, the sole survivor on a Christchurch bus that was crushed by falling masonry during the February 2011 earthquake

Wigram MP Megan Woods said the bill that came into Select Committee was totally different from the one at the end of the process, because everyone knew how important it was to get it right.

"We know that these parts of buildings are the bits that fall off in an earthquake and potentially can cause a lot of damage, and we had to look at the balance between maximising public safety and minimising cost and loss of heritage."

However Napier mayor Bill Dalton is less than enthused by the changes, claiming there's something wrong with the system when assessments of the same building by different engineers, throw up wild variations as to what percentage of the current code the building's at.

"I know of one building in Hawke's Bay that came out at something like twenty percent of current code, and the third engineer said it was one hundred and twenty percent of current code. So if we're going to fast track things we need to know what we're fast tracking."

Napier is among several cities that are now required to fast track work on earthquake-prone buildings, and Dalton maintains cost is a major issue.

"There's no way in the world that the councils round the country can afford it and if individual owners can't afford, then we might see our CBDs decimated as the bullzdozers come in."