We have 26 buildings that have been considered earthquake prone because they are below 34% of the new building standard.
Buildings or other structures can be considered earthquake prone due to their age, size, shape or construction materials. For some of our properties the fix is relatively simple, but for others it’s far more significant.
We have until 2039 to get all our buildings or structures up to at least the 34% standard. However, the clock is already ticking on a few of our buildings such as The Regent Theatre, Central Library and Te Manawa, which all need to be addressed before 2033.
While the buildings are considered earthquake prone, they are not considered dangerous so are still ok to be used over the coming years.
Twenty-six is a lot of buildings to get through, and the cost will be high – both for the seismic upgrades but also if we need to move some of these operations (like the library or museum) during construction.
Seismic upgrades can be done in different ways – strengthening, rebuilding, retrofitting or partial or full demolition of the building.
For the 26 buildings in total, we used a set of criteria to decide the order in which to complete the seismic upgrades.
Those criteria include:
- Business continuity (would we need to close all or part of the building)
- How critical the facility is, especially for a civil defence response
- Priority buildings under the legislation (this only includes the Regent Theatre)
- Occupancy (how many people work and visit the building)
- The importance of the building under legislation
- Heritage value, iwi value and how it aligns with our other strategies
We also considered potential costs and other work that needs to be done in the building, which could be done as part of the seismic work or after it (for example, a new roof is needed).
We’re proposing to only do 8 buildings over the next decade, and the rest would be considered and completed in the following 5 years. We’re estimating the costs for the next decade to be $170M (8 buildings), and then about $32M for the rest. By doing the 8 most critical buildings first we can ensure there are enough specialist contractors available and those most used and needed by the community are completed.
Those 8 critical buildings costs and timings are:
- Regent Theatre – $13M, construction in years 2 and 3
- Central Library – $65M, seeking 90% external funding, construction in years 4 and 5
- Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Heritage – $67M, seeking 90% external funding, construction in years 6 and 7
- Civic Administration Building (Council’s city centre office complex) – $17M construction in years 8 and 9
- Caccia Birch House – $6M, seeking 80% external funding, construction in Year 10
- Crematorium – underway now
- Wastewater Treatment Plant – underway now
- Water Treatment Plant – underway now.
This report to Council from June 2023 details all 26 Council-owned buildings and structures and provides more information about how we determined the priority for strengthening them.
Seismic Prioritisation Report(PDF, 3MB)
The costs for seismic upgrades are highly indicative – we need to decide what type of strengthening is needed for each of the buildings or structures and then work on the detailed design. In Year 1, we will be working on design and other lead-in work for the Library, Regent and Te Manawa.
For some of these projects in our city centre, we have also assumed the need for more planning work and to seek some form of co-funding.
Every project will see us work with stakeholders, undertake a procurement exercise for the best price, and have our elected members consider the project multiple times before going ahead.
We know these are very big costs and they’re top of mind for us. The cost of seismic upgrades can often be the same cost as demolishing and rebuilding a facility.
We expect the costs for Te Manawa and the library will be similar for seismic, or rebuilds that maintain heritage features. This level of detail will be worked through over the coming years. It’s essential we spread these costs out for our ratepayers. These first 8 facilities are essential services for our community so we have assumed they will all be replaced/upgraded in some shape or form. In the future we will ask you about what you’d like to see for the remaining structures and facilities.
You can give feedback on this work in the landmark facilities section of our submission form.
Have your say now