What to do about the quake prone heritage building trap
Monday, 18 December 2023
Too expensive to fix, too weak to safely occupy and too protected to knock down – this is the dilemma the owners of Wellington’s 124 earthquake prone heritage buildings now face.
The capital is at the forefront of New Zealand’s earthquake prone building (EPB) remediation crisis, but the situation is worse for most heritage buildings because options are limited.
The issue of improving the seismic resilience of the country’s building stock has been a decades-long slow boil and now with strengthening deadlines rolling up faster in Wellington due to its elevated earthquake risk, it’s crunch time for the council and building owners.
Wellington City Council recently admitted it needed relief from central government with deadline extensions and a review of legislation, but for many owners, a more urgent resolution is needed.
Councillor Iona Pannett has been advocating for government intervention and was pleased new Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk had signalled a openness to reviewing the system.
She is working with council staff on a formal request, ideally before Christmas, for urgent action.
“The law is that these buildings must be strengthened, so before we jump to any conclusions we need to get that act reviewed to see what is a sensible regime.”
Pannett suggested focusing on fixing the most dangerous elements of buildings and reviewing the level of risk people were willing to accept, while also protecting heritage.
“We have lost a lot of heritage already, because Michael Fowler demolished a lot in 1980s, or building owners have done that.
“We do need to work to keep some of it. We need good strategies to do it as low cost as possible.”
The body corporate representing residents of The Tea House apartments on Egmont St faces enormous uncertainty because its strengthening deadline had passed and repair estimates are around $500,000 per apartment.
It is emblematic of the crisis only set to deepen as hundreds of EPB deadlines roll up in the next four years.
The Tea House building was earthquake strengthened in the early 2000s, but a 2016 law change meant it had to be assessed again – and ended up below the 34% new building standard (NBS) minimum.
Now, residents cannot sell or walk away because of the restrictions placed on heritage buildings.
Body corporate chairperson Chris Graham said a pause on deadline expiry dates was essential.
“The [government] review needs to critically examine whether NBS is the right tool to use as a predictor of building failure and public safety concerns as a result of earthquake shaking. A wider consideration of risk in today’s world also needs to be had.”
Non-complying building owners face fines of up to $300,000, possibly eviction, and court orders to strengthen at their own cost.
In some cases the council has taken owners to court, such as with the historic Adelaide Hotel. Recently, a contentious earthquake prone heritage building caught fire and a demolition was ordered.
There is no blanket ban preventing heritage buildings being demolished, but resource consent is required.
Jamie Jacobs, of Heritage New Zealand, said the organisation was working with owners of heritage-listed buildings to help them through the process.
“We believe that our heritage is very important, but we also know that a dangerous or vacant building is not good for anyone, so we do try to find solutions that are applicable to all.”
Heritage NZ too has buildings that require remediation and Jacobs said they knew how onerous the process could be.
“We acutely understand the cost and complicated requirements often through the district plan for doing that work, so we are concerned.”
Jacobs also noted earthquake notice deadlines could be extended if the project was under way.
Council chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said there was some discretion around enforcement.
“There needs to be a sense of progress made. There are building owners out there who aren’t doing what they could be doing,” he said.