Earthquake prone buildings

Have your say on thoroughfares in high pedestrian and vehicular traffic areas and routes of strategic importance

Statement of Proposal

Christchurch City Council is seeking feedback on proposed strategic routes and high pedestrian and vehicular traffic areas in metropolitan Christchurch. These routes and areas will be used to prioritise the repair or demolition of earthquake-prone buildings.

On 1 July 2017 changes were introduced to the Building Act 2004 which affect the way earthquake-prone buildings are identified and managed.  One of the changes provides for public consultation, to assist Council to identify the most vulnerable buildings - earthquake-prone buildings - on routes with high vehicular or pedestrian traffic or of strategic importance.

The Act defines these buildings as priority buildings, and the timeframes for identifying and strengthening or demolishing them are shortened. Once they have been notified by Council, owners of priority buildings have 7.5 years to strengthen or demolish them. This is a significantly shorter timeframe than the Act allows for other earthquake-prone buildings (15 years).

At its meeting on 27 September 2018, the Christchurch City Council approved in principal the areas identified by staff as high traffic areas and strategic routes. Now we’re asking our community about these routes and areas.

This Statement of Proposal forms the basis of the special consultative procedure being undertaken by the Council.

Background

A national system for identifying, assessing and managing earthquake-prone buildings came into effect on 1 July 2017. It targets buildings or parts of buildings that pose the greatest risk to public safety and other property in a moderate earthquake.

The system sets timeframes, based on the seismic risk of an area, for identifying potentially earthquake-prone buildings and doing seismic remediation work on them.

The system also provides information for people using earthquake-prone buildings, including notices identifying earthquake-prone buildings and a public register.

Information sessions

We will have a formal presentation followed by a question and answer session on the following dates:

• Monday 29 October, from 6pm to 7.30pm.
• Tuesday 30 October, from 9am to 10.30am.
• Wednesday 31 October, from 12 to 1.30pm.

Location: Council Function Room, level 1, 53 Hereford Street, Central Christchurch. 

Why we're consulting

We have identified some high traffic thoroughfares and strategic routes and need your help to identify any others. We must identify:

1. Thoroughfares with sufficient vehicular or pedestrian traffic to warrant any part of an unreinforced masonry earthquake-prone building being classified as a priority building because part of it may fall on to those thoroughfares in an earthquake.
2. Transport routes of strategic importance (for an emergency response) that would be impeded if buildings collapsed onto them in an earthquake.

Your views on the thoroughfares and routes identified will inform our decision.

This consultation is in accordance with section 133AF of the Building Act 2004, which requires us to use the special consultative procedure in section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002 to carry out this identification process. Priority Buildings

The new system introduced the concept of ‘priority buildings’. These are certain types of buildings that are considered to present a higher risk to life or to other property because of their construction, type, use or location. Priority buildings need to be identified and either strengthened or demolished within half the time allowed for other earthquake-prone buildings.

Certain hospital, emergency and education buildings are prioritised in the Building Act 2004 because they are likely to be needed in an emergency or are regularly occupied by more than 20 people.

Other buildings will be categorised as priority buildings if part of the building is unreinforced masonry (URM) that could fall on to thoroughfares with high vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic or if there is potential for that building to collapse in an earthquake and impede a strategic route (emergency response route). 

Visit the Building Performance site for further guidance on priority buildings.(external link)

High seismic risk

Christchurch is in an area of high seismic risk. This means that the Christchurch City Council must identify earthquake-prone priority buildings within 2.5 years and other earthquake-prone buildings within 5 years.

Affected building owners will be contacted by the Council. Those with priority buildings must strengthen or demolish the building or the earthquake-prone part of the building within 7.5 years of receiving notification from the Council, and owners of other earthquake-prone buildings within 15 years of receiving notification.

Visit the Building Performance site for further guidance on the new system for managing earthquake prone buildings.   (external link) 

Proposals

Vehicular and pedestrian thoroughfares with sufficient traffic to warrant prioritisation.

We have applied the following criteria to identify roads, footpaths or other thoroughfares to be prioritised:

1. High pedestrian areas (people not in vehicles)

and/or

2. Areas with high vehicular traffic (people in motor vehicles/on bikes)

and

3. Potential for part of an unreinforced masonry building to fall on to the identified thoroughfare. An unreinforced masonry (URM) building has masonry walls that do not contain steel, timber or fibre reinforcement. These are older buildings that often have parapets, as well as verandas, balconies, decorative ornaments, chimneys and signs attached to their facades (walls that face on to a street or open public space).

Please refer to our interactive map below to see the high vehicular and pedestrian traffic areas we have identified using the above criteria.

We want your views on whether these roads, footpaths and other thoroughfares warrant prioritisation, and whether there are any other thoroughfares that should be included.

Identified high pedestrian/vehicular traffic throughfares

Metropolitan Christchurch:

1. We propose defining the central city area bounded by the four avenues – Fitzgerald, Moorhouse, Bealey and Deans – as a high vehicular and pedestrian traffic area. This is because there is a high number of people in the central city daily for work, shopping and other reasons, and, as the city continues to evolve post-quakes, that number will increase.  There are still a large number of URM buildings/parts of buildings in the central city.
2. Other thoroughfares such as suburban shopping areas, with URM buildings/parts of buildings in them, will also be identified as high vehicular or pedestrian traffic areas.

Buildings on a transport route of strategic importance

Buildings that collapse on to a strategic transport route in an earthquake could prevent emergency vehicles getting to where they are needed.

The Christchurch City Council has applied the following criteria to identify transport routes of strategic importance in an emergency:

1. Routes likely to be used by emergency services in:

i. travelling from their bases to areas of need in an emergency, or

ii. travelling to central services such as hospitals, or

iii. travelling to locations of strategic importance; with

2. at least one building located on them that, if it collapsed, would impede the route.

In consultation with emergency services – fire, police, ambulance and civil defence – we have identified the routes most likely to be used by them in an emergency. We have also identified routes to and from locations of strategic importance in an emergency – Christchurch and Burwood hospitals, Lyttelton Port, Christchurch International Airport, the Sugar Loaf emergency transmitter – and the main routes into and out of the city. 

Identified strategic routes

We have identified routes in the central city and metropolitan Christchurch as strategic routes. These have been determined in consultation with emergency services. Look at the map below to see these routes. We are interested to know if there are other routes you think we should include.

We want to know your views on whether the identified strategic routes should be prioritised and whether there are any other routes that should be included.

What happens next? 

Once the high traffic thoroughfares and strategic routes have been finalised, we will look at buildings on those thoroughfares and routes to assess whether they are earthquake prone, and which buildings become priority buildings. Affected building owners will be notified. 

The Council has already identified a large number of earthquake-prone buildings, and issued notices to their owners.  These owners will be given a further notice if their building is assessed as a priority building, after the high traffic thoroughfares and strategic routes have been finalised.

Owners of buildings identified as potentially earthquake-prone, whether or not they are priority buildings, have 12 months from notification to provide the Council with an engineering assessment of their building. We will then determine whether the building is earthquake prone, and notify the building owner of remediation and timeframe requirements.

Further information

• Managing earthquake prone buildings(external link). 
• Council earthquake prone buildings page.

 Have Your Say

Consultation is open from Monday 15 October until Thursday 15 November 2018.

How to give us your feedback

You can provide feedback in a number of other ways:

• Online - fill out the feedback form below.
• Email - send your feedback and any attachments to engagement@ccc.govt.nz with ‘Earthquake Prone Buildings’ in the subject line.  Please ensure you include your full name and address with your submission.
• Mail - postage is free (you don’t need a stamp) if you send your comments to: Freepost 178 Attn:  Lori Rankin, Earthquake Prone Buildings, Christchurch City Council, PO Box 73016 Christchurch 8154.

• Hand deliver your submission to Civic Offices, 53 Hereford Street, Christchurch.

Please ensure you indicate whether you wish to speak at the hearing. If so, please include a day-time phone number.

Special Consultative Procedure

This procedure is set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act and we will be following this procedure by:

• Council adopting this proposal for consultation at its meeting in September 2018.
• A public notice advertising this project and the consultation period will be in the Christchurch Press.
• The review is open to submissions from Monday 15 October until Thursday 15 November 2018 (one calendar month).
• All submitters have an opportunity to be heard at a formal hearings process in February/March 2019.
• All meetings where this proposal is being considered (including the hearings) will be open to the public.
• The final decision on the adoption of the strategic routes and high pedestrian and vehicular areas  will be made by the Council.

Next steps

Once the consultation period has closed a staff report will be presented to the Hearings Panel.  The Hearings Panel will then consider the staff report, which will include a staff recommendation on the matters raised in submissions.  The panel will also be able to listen to any submitters who have indicated they would like to speak about this proposal. 

When the hearings have concluded, the Hearings Panel will make a recommendation to Council, who will make the final decision on adopting the high vehicular and pedestrian traffic areas and strategic routes for earthquake-prone buildings.

All submitters will receive written updates on the project, including details of the staff recommendations and meetings and details on speaking to the Hearings Panel. 

Hearings Panel

A hearings panel consists of a minimum of three members. At least one member must be a Councillor and the remaining members may be Councillors or Community Board members.

The role of the hearings panel is to listen, ask questions and then consider all relevant information presented to it. Based on this information it will then make a recommendation to Council as the final decision maker. 

Timeline