5 July 2022
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: New guidance on seismically vulnerable buildings
Enquiry
Below is a release from MBIE today that "most seismically vulnerable buildings are not imminently dangerous and can remain occupied".
Under editor's notes it says NBS was "never intended to be used to support building occupancy decisions".
Can the council please tell me:
- Does this advice have any implications for some of Rotorua Lakes Council's buildings closed due to earthquake concerns - eg the Museum and the Blue Baths? Please specify if any other buildings too (I note some are, of course, under construction)
- Would the council consider re-opening the Blue Baths given this advice? Why / why not?
- Could part of the museum open sooner as a result of this advice? Why / why not?
For the mayor:
- Given this new advice, do you think it is appropriate the Blue Baths remains closed? Why / why not?
Media release
4 July 2022
MBIE advises seismically vulnerable buildings can remain occupied
New guidance published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) today advises most seismically vulnerable buildings are not imminently dangerous and can remain occupied while seismic remediation work is planned, funded and undertaken.
The new seismic risk guidance has been developed by MBIE to help building owners and users understand seismic assessments and provide them with the tools to make informed and risk-based decisions about continuing to occupy buildings with low seismic ratings.
“Compared to most business-as-usual risks, earthquakes are low probability,” says Dr Dave Gittings, MBIE’s Manager Building Performance and Engineering.
“It’s important that building occupancy decisions consider the likelihood of an earthquake, and the potential consequences of an earthquake, along with the temporary mitigation measures that can be put in place to reduce risk,” says Dr Gittings.
The new guidance highlights how life safety risk to building users in seismically vulnerable buildings can be appropriately mitigated through emergency planning and training as well as restraining plant, services and contents within the building.
The guidance addresses some common misconceptions around how the New Building Standard should be used and clarifies there is no legal requirement to close a building based solely on a low NBS rating.
“An NBS rating is not a predictor of building failure in an earthquake and buildings with low NBS ratings are not imminently dangerous,” Dr Gittings says.
“Understanding the relative vulnerability of different building elements, potential consequences of failure of these elements, and options to mitigate that risk, is more important than the overall NBS rating for a building.”
Under the Earthquake-prone Building System, buildings with a %NBS rating of less than 34 per cent are determined to be earthquake-prone and building owners are required to remediate their building within a specific timeframe. Buildings may continue to be occupied during this time.
“Seismic assessments are an important tool to encourage strengthening of vulnerable buildings and improve of our building stock, but it’s important that decisions on these are well informed and remediation work well planned so that the needs of our communities can continue to be met and the risks managed, while we work to reduce the impact of future earthquakes,” says Dr Gittings.
Read the MBIE guidance here.
ENDS
Media contact: 027 442 2141 or email media@mbie.govt.nz
Note to editor
A New Building Standard (NBS) score evaluates the performance of a particular building over a range of earthquakes, in terms of protecting life. A %NBS attempts to provide a rating for existing buildings at a percentage of an equivalent new building on the same site. It’s calculated as part of a seismic assessment of a building. The NBS was specifically developed to support the implementation of earthquake-prone building legislation and was never intended to be used to support building occupancy decisions. To calculate a %NBS, engineers assess all elements of a building that carry life safety risk, and the final NBS score is calculated by taking the lowest rating for any part of that building.
Life safety risks are often quantified in terms of the annual fatality risk for an individual. The New Zealand Building Code provides a very high degree of life safety for new buildings. New buildings are designed with a 1 in 1,000,000 annual fatality risk due to earthquakes. An earthquake-prone building that has been found to have at least one building element score below 34%NBS, is estimated to have an annual fatality risk of between 1 in 40,000-100,000. Flying in an aeroplane has an estimated fatality risk between 1 in 700,000 and driving a car in New Zealand is estimated to carry a fatality risk of 1 in 20,000.
Response
From CE Geoff Williams:
We haven’t yet had the opportunity to consider this new advice from MBIE but decisions to close buildings are never taken lightly and our responsibilities for public safety are always the primary consideration.
We rely on expert assessments and also have to balance the probability of something like an earthquake happening with the level of potential consequences if it did. In the case of both the museum and the Blue Baths, in making our decisions we considered the level of consequences to be unacceptable.
That same level of consideration and assessment would be required for any potential decision to re-open the buildings prior to strengthening work being completed.
It would be irresponsible to re-open without first fully understanding the potential consequences of doing so.
Mayor Chadwick provided the following comment:
These are operational decisions based on assessment of risks and expert information with public safety front of mind.
If there are opportunities to revisit previous decisions I’m sure that will be done in due course and with all relevant factors taken into consideration.
I think the Blue Baths would be a fantastic opportunity for someone willing to invest – we would certainly be open to that discussion I’m sure – and discussion regarding construction on the museum is coming up soon.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Media: Rotorua Weekender
Topic: Welcoming Communities programme
Enquiry
I’m just finishing off a story on Rotorua Lakes Council joining the Welcoming Communities programme – combining the release on council website with some comments from Rotorua Multicultural Council.
I just wanted to double check if someone had already been appointed the Welcoming Communities co-ordinator or if it’s still early days for that?
Response
The following information was provided:
The position has been advertised and we hope to have someone appointed and ready to start in about a month.