Napier buildings empty after being found earthquake-prone

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said he was pleased with how quickly council staff reacted to the news two civic buildings had been found earthquake-prone. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

Despite having a 10-year window to take action on two earthquake-prone Napier City Council-owned buildings, hundreds of staff began leaving the two sites yesterday.

A council-commissioned seismic assessment on the two civic buildings in the Napier CBD was returned yesterday morning, with reported "structural deficiencies" meaning their occupants began moving out "as quickly as possible".

The report - completed by Strata Group - found the civic building on the corner of Hastings and Station Sts was measured with its lowest point at 10 per cent of the new building code.

When measured against present earthquake risk criteria, Strata Group's Guy Lethbridge said: "The analysis has revealed structural weaknesses that reflect the construction and design techniques typically used at the time."

A council spokeswoman said the report showed the building had shortcomings throughout the site, which meant the building "falls short of the act in many, many ways".

Staff began moving from this building yesterday and would be working off site or accommodated in nearby office buildings and other council facilities. The council was already scouting possible alternative venues.

Of greater surprise was the rating received by the building housing Napier Library, which came in at 15 per cent as its lowest point.

Hours after the report was received yesterday IRD - which leases two floors of the building - began "evacuating" its 78 staff from the site, a spokesman said yesterday. They would be working remotely "until further notice".

Council staff would also be moved from the library building - built in the 1980s - in a staggered approach so remedial work could be done to bring it up to 50 per cent. This was expected to take about two months.

The building's issues were said to be "relatively quick and simple to remediate", with the first stage of work to begin as soon as possible.

This would be limited to minor works within the stairwells and to improving the seating for the precast units throughout the library building.

This building was "primarily robust, fit for purpose and therefore worthwhile strengthening, in my view", Mr Lethbridge said.

The outlook was not so good for the other council building - Mr Lethbridge said attempting to strengthen it would be "a complex and widespread undertaking".

"We do not believe it represents value for money in that the strengthening costs could be more than a new build."

Despite having nearly 10 years under the act to take action, yesterday council chief executive Wayne Jack said they had decided to move forward now due to the public function of the buildings.

"Our people are our top priority," he said.

"With our staff and community front of our minds, we are taking steps to ensure that our council teams, and those that interact with our buildings, feel as comfortable and confident as possible."

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said he was impressed with the speed the council had acted.

"These are major buildings requiring major decisions.

"It's fairly common to see some of New Zealand's older-style buildings fall short of the act so I'm very pleased that the team had already started their preparations for a range of scenarios. One of those scenarios was the possibility that our teams would have to move out."

Yesterday the council spokeswoman said it was too early to tell how this information could tie in with a reshuffle of council buildings floated earlier this year.

The council has discussed facilitating the development of a hotel in the Napier CBD. One option could see this hotel built on the current site of the civic buildings in Hastings St - which received the 10 per cent rating.

Under this option, the council offices would be relocated, potentially into a redeveloped version of the building currently housing the Napier library.

As part of this potential shuffle, the council was investigating whether the library could be relocated to Clive Square or Memorial Square at the bottom of Emerson St.