Some of the buildings in Central Hawke's Bay which have been deemed earthquake-prone. Photo / NZME and Google Maps
A theatre, hotel and string of retail buildings in Central Hawke’s Bay have been deemed earthquake-prone and their owners issued notices to undergo strengthening work.
About 20 buildings in Waipukurau and Waipawa have been added to the Earthquake-Prone Buildings (EPB) Register in recent weeks.
They include 10 retail buildings on Waipukurau’s main shopping street, Ruataniwha St, as well as The Tavistock Hotel in Waipukurau and Central Hawke’s Bay Municipal Theatre in Waipawa.
The full list can be found below.
It is the first time buildings in Central Hawke’s Bay have been added to the register, and one building owner says it could lead to significant changes along Waipukurau’s main street in future.
Impacted building owners have been given varying deadlines for completing strengthening work - between 2032 and 2040.
Those buildings can stay open in the interim - until the repair work is completed or the deadline is reached - but they must display their Earthquake-Prone Building Notice.
“Central Hawke’s Bay is fortunate, while still affected, its town centres don’t hold the number of earthquake-prone buildings that many other places do,” Central Hawke’s Bay District Council chief executive Doug Tate said.
“It shouldn’t be new news to our community the Central Hawke’s Bay Municipal Theatre is earthquake-prone, with occupancy restrictions in place for the upstairs dress circle and signage in place on this and other affected buildings since 2020.”
That theatre is owned by the council which has until 2040 to strengthen the building.
A decision has yet to be made on whether the council will go ahead with that work.
“While the [theatre] is a community icon, based on community feedback in the Three-Year Plan 2024–2027 the clear call was made by community to defer investment in these facilities and to focus on the core priorities for council."
Councils are mandated by the Government (via the Building Amendment Act 2016) to identify potentially earthquake-prone buildings in their area, and councils can identify buildings at any time.
The Tavistock Hotel owner Rex Michau bought the historic hotel in 2021, knowing that it would require earthquake strengthening.
Prior to receiving the earthquake-prone notice, he’d already planned to do the required steelwork and said he would “absolutely” complete the strengthening.
Michau said the NBS standards were there for a reason.
“Whether the National Building Standard is right or wrong there is not much we can do about it,” he said.
“The law is the law and these standards are being enforced to stop these [buildings] falling on people.
“The earthquakes we have had here over the past eight years have not just been small ones. The town is riddled with fault lines.”
A large part of the Tavistock Hotel, for example, fell down during the 1931 Napier earthquake.
He said it would cause headaches for building owners along the main street of Waipukurau, particularly in cases where a building was found to be earthquake-prone but shared a common wall with a neighbour whose building was not earthquake-prone.
“The neighbour will not be interested in entertaining them doing any work on that [shared] wall,” he said.
“Who is paying for the rent or return on that building when your neighbour is doing that work?”
He said Waipukurau “should maybe start a new retail park down the road” and the main street could be turned into a walking street and parks with historic features.
“But that’s for the council to envisage and conceive, if at all possible.”
CHB District Council identified priority routes critical for emergency services, such as Waipukurau’s Ruataniwha St and Waipawa’s High St.
Owners of buildings considered potentially earthquake-prone (mainly in those areas) were notified and had to obtain engineering assessments.
The assessments determined whether a building met seismic performance requirements in the Building Code, with a rating below 34% deemed earthquake-prone.
Notices have now been issued for 20 buildings (or parts of those buildings) that fall into that category to undergo strengthening work.
If a building owner did not get an assessment completed then their building has been considered earthquake-prone.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.