File photo
Wellington: New Zealand's parliament has unanimously passed legislation reforming the country's earthquake-prone building system, with a focus on buildings that pose the greatest risk to life.
The reforms passed on Friday are expected to remove around half of the buildings currently designated as earthquake-prone from the system and save building owners and the economy 8.2 billion NZ dollars (4.7 billion U.S. dollars), Building and Construction Minister Simon Watts said in a statement on Saturday.
Under the new system, remediation requirements for buildings that remain designated as earthquake-prone will be more targeted, reducing costs and complexity while addressing life-safety risks, Watts said.
High-risk unreinforced masonry buildings and vulnerable multi-story concrete buildings in high and medium seismic zones will continue to be subject to earthquake-prone building requirements. Councils will also retain the ability to identify serious seismic risks that may have been missed, according to the statement.
Updated seismic zones, based on the latest seismic science, will take effect the day after the legislation receives formal approval, it said, adding that buildings in Auckland, the Chatham Islands and the upper North Island low seismic zone will be entirely removed from the earthquake-prone building system.
The remainder of the reforms will take effect on July 1, 2027, giving councils, building owners and the wider sector time to prepare, Watts said.
