Wellington Archdiocese backs quake-prone building changes

The Archdiocese is supporting the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill 2025, which is currently before Parliament’s Building and Construction Committee.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk announced proposed changes last year. The new regime would replace a system put in place in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes.

“While well intentioned, the current system for assessing and managing seismic risk in buildings places an overwhelming financial burden on building owners,” Mr Penk said.

“Cities and regions are losing the businesses, churches, town halls and classrooms that are central to their local economies and community spirit.”

In a submission on the Bill, the Archdiocese made reference to its own building assets in Wellington.

“The Archdiocese of Wellington owns a three-storey building in Wellington, constructed in 1988, with a reinforced concrete frame structure. The building was designed and constructed well after the introduction of modern seismic design standards and is not an unreinforced masonry structure.

“There are also several single-storey parish churches in the Archdiocese of Wellington that are currently closed due to the current regulatory system.

“Under the current earthquake-prone buildings regime, buildings such as the above, at times, faced uncertainty and perceived regulatory risk despite being post-1976, in most cases single storey, and code-designed structures with no known seismic deficiencies.

“We strongly support the Bill’s shift to a more proportionate, risk-based system that focuses regulatory effort on buildings that present the life-safety risk.”

Among provisions in the Bill that had backing from the Archdiocese was “the removal of public earthquake ratings (per cent New Building Standard) from the regulatory system. These ratings have been poorly understood and have created impacts disproportionate to actual risk”.

The Archdiocese also supported “the introduction of tiered remediation outcomes that align strengthening requirements with actual risk. For buildings such as ours, this avoids unnecessary retrofitting and allows resources to be directed to higher risk buildings”.

“In summary, we support the Bill because it aligns regulation with actual seismic risk, recognises post-1976 reinforced concrete buildings, reduces unnecessary compliance costs and improves certainty for owners, tenants and lenders,” the submission said.

Last year, Mr Penk announced that “Auckland, Northland and the Chatham Islands will be removed from the [earthquake-prone building] regime entirely to reflect the low seismic risk in those areas”.

Buildings deemed low risk elsewhere are also removed from the regime.

FULL STORY

Archdiocese of Wellington submission on Quake-Prone Buildings Bill (NZ Parliament)

Earthquake-prone building system refocused (Chris Penk/Beehive)

Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill first reading | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment