Earthquake-prone buildings remain challenge for Whanganui, Manawatū councils despite deadline changes

Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk inspects Drews Ave buildings alongside Whanganui MP Carl Bates. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui’s deputy mayor says building owners should continue with plans for seismic strengthening despite the Government bringing forward its earthquake-prone buildings review.

On Thursday the Government announced it would begin work on its earthquake-prone building review immediately.

All remediation deadlines would be extended by four years.

Whanganui sits in a medium seismic zone, which has a broader timeframe for earthquake strengthening than cities in high-risk zones.

Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig said she would still encourage building owners to actively proceed with their plans for earthquake strengthening.

“A resilient building that survives an earthquake is one they can continue to trade from, so there’s a huge benefit for them.”

The most dangerous part of any building was typically the facade, which could collapse on to the street in the event of an earthquake, she said.

“Securing the facade is often quite a cost-effective and affordable thing to do.”

Craig said the building legislation needed some tweaking.

She hoped as the economy grew it would become more viable to refurbish buildings in the centre of town.

The most problematic were the larger, three-storey-plus buildings.

“It’s the sheer cost factor for anyone building, not only for earthquake strengthening but also the buildings are old and there’s not a huge economic return on that.”

Local Government NZ president Sam Broughton said without changes to the unrealistic timeframes, there was a risk of large numbers of buildings being abandoned by owners, taking the lifeblood out of regions.

Manawatū Deputy Mayor Michael Ford said Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk had listened to councils by providing a timeframe extension, which helped take some pressure off.

“There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to this important issue facing our regions,” Ford said.

“The review will need to answer some fundamental questions about how this system could work better.”

Penk said the review would be extensive and consider the appropriate risk settings to protect safety while ensuring the rules were workable to support businesses, increase economic activity and create jobs.

In a visit to Whanganui earlier this month, Penk told the Chronicle Whanganui’s many heritage buildings were important to protect the character of the city as a whole.

Craig said she would like to see the Government reinstate the Heritage Equip programme, which was a fund that helped strengthen privately-owned, earthquake-prone heritage buildings.

The current building code was quite complex, she said.

“I would also hope that it’s less complicated in terms of compliance with the legislation, so that if building owners want to proceed with strengthening piece by piece they can do that.”

She felt heritage was Whanganui’s single most important factor from an attraction point of view.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.