He said this would help reduce costs and complexity while ensuring life-safety risks were still addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many communities, particularly smaller towns, meeting the current requirements has been a significant challenge. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reforms take a more proportionate approach to managing seismic risk while ensuring high-risk buildings continue to be identified and addressed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
High-risk unreinforced masonry buildings and vulnerable multistorey concrete buildings in high and medium seismic zones will continue to be subject to earthquake-prone building (EPB) requirements.<\/p>\n
Watts said councils would still have the ability to identify \u201cserious seismic risks\u201d that may have been missed. <\/p>\n
Updated seismic zones, based on the latest seismic scientific knowledge, will take effect the day after Royal Assent and the remainder of the reforms would come into force on July 1 next year. <\/p>\n
Watts said this would give councils, building owners and the wider sector time to prepare.<\/p>\n
He said buildings in Auckland, the Chatham Islands and the upper North Island low seismic zone will be removed from the earthquake-prone building system entirely. <\/p>\n
All existing earthquake-prone building designations will be removed for these regions.<\/p>\n
Building and Construction Minister Simon Watts said the \u201csignificant reform\u201d would save Kiwi building owners and the New Zealand economy $8.2 billion. Photo \/ NZME <\/p>\n
In what is also part of the change, Watts said areas of coastal Otago and Stewart Island that were previously in a low seismic zone would move to a medium seismic zone.<\/p>\n
Under the new system, low-risk concrete and wooden buildings will no longer have EPB status, while remaining EPBs will have more cost-effective remediation requirements. <\/p>\n
\u201cGuidance materials are currently being developed to support implementation and are expected to be shared for public consultation later this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about fixing the basics for a better-working system. By focusing effort on the buildings that present the greatest risk to life, the reforms will deliver safer communities, smarter regulation, and avoid disproportionate and unrealistic costs,\u201d Watts said. <\/p>\n
Wayne Brown \u2018delighted\u2019 <\/p>\n