Hutt Hospital’s Heretaunga block may not be earthquake-prone after all

Hutt Hospital's Heretaunga Block. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Hutt Hospital’s Heretaunga block may not be earthquake-prone after all and could have this status revoked, documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act reveal.

It’s the latest twist in a saga that has caused uncertainty and “serious anxiety” in the local community. The building houses a quarter of the region’s hospital bed capacity.

In May last year, the DHB (now Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley) announced the Heretaunga block was earthquake-prone, with several structural and non-structural elements of concern, and patients and services would have to be moved out.

The decision to exit the building was made without a clear plan for how to do so and was based on a draft detailed seismic engineering assessment that was yet to be fully peer-reviewed.

When a peer review was completed, it turned out that the only part of the building identified as being earthquake-prone was the external concrete cladding panels.

These were rated at 15 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS), however, it didn’t change the building’s status.

A building’s overall rating is determined by its weakest parts and anything less than 34 per cent NBS is considered to be earthquake-prone.

But weekly reports to Health Minister Ayesha Verrall reveal another independent engineering assessment of the panels was undertaken earlier this year.

The new assessment suggested the panels could rate above the earthquake-prone threshold, an April report from Te Whatu Ora said.

By May, another report to the Minister said the cladding was a low risk to life given the low likelihood of a high-magnitude earthquake happening.

The area around the building where cladding could fall has been fenced off for months to protect people in the event of a major earthquake.

“When this is considered alongside the relative risk to health service delivery that decanting would present, we decided the building should remain in use,” the report said.

Last year the Herald revealed there were no options to move services into existing capacity without significant and material impacts on patient care.

A $10m upgrade of the hospital’s Maternity Unit and Special Care Baby Unit inside the Heretaunga block was paused when the earthquake risk was first discovered.

But in the May report, Te Whatu Ora considered there was “no barrier” to proceeding with the maternity services upgrade.

“The current facilities present a higher clinical risk if we do not proceed, and the service is a higher priority.”

Verrall welcomed the upgrade being given the green light.

“Progressing with the Maternity refurbishment plans for the Heretaunga Block will improve the clinical spaces and experience for staff, patients, and visitors in the medium-term.”

Te Whatu Ora now envisages the Heretaunga block will remain in service for a number of years.

The latest engineering advice on the building’s exterior panels has been peer-reviewed with input from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s chief engineer.

Once an agreed and updated engineering report is confirmed, Te Whatu Ora will talk to Hutt City Council about getting the earthquake-prone building status removed.

Te Whatu Ora delivery infrastructure and investment group director Monique Fouwler told the Herald she hoped a final decision on the building’s status will be reached soon.

“Decisions of this type are extremely technically complex which means they take some time to be worked through.”

Once this is confirmed, the medium to long-term future of the Heretaunga block will be considered, Fouwler said.

Since Te Whatu Ora took over from district health boards in June 2022, a consistent national approach has been developed to manage seismic risk, she said.

“This includes undertaking a specific risk evaluation to evaluate occupancy risk while any necessary mitigation plans are being developed.

“Staff, patients, and the community should rest assured that from a life safety risk perspective, buildings can remain operational, even where a low rating may be found, and that their safety and well-being remains a priority for Te Whatu Ora.”

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.