Earthquakes: Napier Council to consider priority areas for seismic strengthening

Napier City Council plans to consult residents on the city's main thoroughfares. Photo / File

Napier City Council plans to ask residents which thoroughfares through the city are important, to help identify buildings needing priority seismic strengthening.

The regulatory committee will receive a paper on Tuesday, seeking approval for the release of the draft Statement of Proposal for public submissions.

It is part of a new national system for identifying, assessing and managing earthquake-prone buildings, which was passed in 2016, and came into effect in July 2017.

It identifies areas of high, medium and low seismic risk, and sets timeframes for identifying and strengthening priority buildings.

Napier has been identified as having high seismic risk, which means priority areas must be identified by December 31 this year.

The area of the CBD that Napier City Council is consulting on about earthquake strengthening. Photo / Supplied

Once identified, the owners of the buildings have to strengthen or demolish the building within seven and a half years.

Areas which have high pedestrian and vehicle traffic are considered to be a priority, along with buildings such as hospitals, which are needed during in an emergency.

The legislation states main thoroughfares must be decided upon with community input.

There are five areas Napier City Council plans to consult on: the CBD, Ahuriri shopping centre including West Quay, Taradale shopping centre, Marewa shopping centre and Onekawa shopping centre.

In total, 33 streets have been identified as areas to consult the public on.

Once the roads and thoroughfares of importance have been identified within these areas, the council will look at which buildings are earthquake prone.

The paper outlines some concerns around the new strengthening process, including that depending on the number of priority buildings, there may be issues around the capacity of structural engineers and building contractors to carry out the required work.

It is also now a legislative requirement for earthquake-prone buildings to have notices posted on them. There are concerns about the impact the notices could have on Art Deco tourism activities.

The regulatory committee will discuss the draft Statement of Proposal on Tuesday.