{"id":60070,"date":"2025-10-04T19:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T19:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/60070\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T19:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T19:43:08","slug":"law-change-could-see-third-of-hawkes-bays-earthquake-prone-buildings-deemed-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/60070\/","title":{"rendered":"Law change could see third of Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s earthquake-prone buildings deemed safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dannevirke alone has 39 buildings on its main street<\/a> that have been deemed earthquake-prone.<\/p>\n

The proposed changes will save building owners in Hawke\u2019s Bay and nearby areas an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Government.<\/p>\n

How buildings are assessed as earthquake-prone is also changing.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay has 156 buildings on the EPB Register, all of which have been deemed earthquake-prone and whose owners have faced deadlines to strengthen their buildings (or demolish them).<\/p>\n

Some are notable buildings \u2013 such as Waiapu Cathedral in the Napier CBD<\/a> \u2013 although many are single or two-storey buildings.<\/p>\n

\"WaiapuWaiapu Cathedral is a landmark in Napier. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Nationwide, there are more than 5800 buildings on the register.<\/p>\n

Calls have grown in recent years for the rules to be relaxed nationwide, as many building owners have struggled to afford or meet the requirements.<\/p>\n

At present, a building is deemed earthquake-prone if it has a rating below 34% when compared with seismic requirements in the Building Code.<\/p>\n

These rules were introduced in 2017, largely following reviews into the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, which killed 185 people.<\/p>\n

Most of those deaths occurred when the six-storey CTV building collapsed.<\/p>\n

A major focus of the rules is to prevent buildings falling on people or blocking emergency services, particularly in busy areas such as city or town centres.<\/p>\n

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk announced the outcome of a review on Monday, detailing significant proposed changes to the rules.<\/p>\n

Notably, assessments which use a percentage against the Building Code will be axed.<\/p>\n

Buildings will instead be identified as earthquake-prone if they meet one of two criteria \u2013 unreinforced masonry buildings with unsecured facades facing public areas, or concrete buildings of three storeys or more which are assessed as needing strengthening work.<\/p>\n

Penk claimed the changes would not put people in harm\u2019s way but were a \u201cfairer\u201d model.<\/p>\n

Exact details around individual buildings are yet to be released.<\/p>\n

However, it is estimated almost a third of Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s earthquake-prone buildings could be removed from the EPB Register, many owners will have less extensive work to complete, and smaller towns will not have mandatory remediation (if under three storeys).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis change recognises that the risk of a facade falling on a pedestrian is simply lower in communities with fewer than 10,000 residents … because there are fewer people on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat\u2019s final wish<\/p>\n

Pat Benson died in 2024<\/a> and was a respected businessman and property owner in Napier.<\/p>\n

\"PatPat Benson. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

He helped restore art deco buildings \u2013 such as the Daily Telegraph building on Tennyson St \u2013 and received a Queen\u2019s Service Medal QSM for his work protecting Napier\u2019s unique architecture.<\/p>\n

At his funeral, a letter titled \u201cPat\u2019s last message\u201d was placed on each seat.<\/p>\n

It called for changes to earthquake-prone building laws, which he believed were based on \u201cexcessive caution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons my brothers and I bought art deco buildings in the first place was to save and protect them … should we now bulldoze all these buildings just to be on the safe side?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son, Chris Benson, told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today his father would have been pleased with this week\u2019s news.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to see common sense prevail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard of it, immediately my thoughts went to Pat\u2019s last message, because it consumed a lot of his thoughts and efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benson Property owns multiple buildings around Napier, including the likes of 47 Tennyson St (tenanted by Mister D restaurant) which has been deemed earthquake-prone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not to say that strengthening work wouldn\u2019t be undertaken in the future, it is more handing the option back to the property owners, who are looking to do what is best for their buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Napier MP Katie Nimon said it made the rules clearer for people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are one to two storeys, it is about securing the street frontage; if you are three storeys or more, it is about the collapse risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the Waiapu Cathedral, while she was not across all the details for the building, she said, \u201cthat one still falls under the risk of collapse, I would say\u201d, and would require strengthening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to make every building all of a sudden not earthquake-prone; some buildings will still be affected and rightly so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Anglican diocese has been contacted for comment on the cathedral.<\/p>\n

Ten notable buildings deemed earthquake-prone<\/p>\n

Waiapu Cathedral (Napier)<\/p>\n

Ormlie Lodge (Waiohiki)<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay Racing Club grandstands (Hastings Racecourse)<\/p>\n

Playhouse Theatre (Hastings)<\/p>\n

Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Municipal Theatre (Waipawa)<\/p>\n

Hastings War Memorial Library<\/p>\n

The Old Mill (Napier)<\/p>\n

WoolWorks (Awatoto)<\/p>\n

St Matthew\u2019s Church (Hastings)<\/p>\n

St Paul\u2019s Anglican Church (Wairoa)<\/p>\n

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dannevirke alone has 39 buildings on its main street that have been deemed earthquake-prone. The proposed changes will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7793,8843,49492,674,12683,15214,12974,124,13023,49491,44323,5904,1976,8307,3607,111,43,139,69,1118,2738,814,26096,6122,19098,10534,3755,3608,5977,49493,80],"class_list":["post-60070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-bays","tag-believed","tag-bensons","tag-building","tag-buildings","tag-cautious","tag-change","tag-could","tag-deemed","tag-earthquakeprone","tag-excessively","tag-final","tag-hawkes","tag-law","tag-napier","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-owner","tag-property","tag-relax","tag-rules","tag-safe","tag-see","tag-third","tag-were","tag-which","tag-wish","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}