Following the enactment of the Building Act 2004, every Council across New Zealand was required to develop and adopt an Earthquake-prone Building Policy. The Palmerston North Policy was adopted in 2006.
The 2006 Policy adopted an active/passive approach to reduce earthquake risk over time and in a way that is acceptable in social and economic terms. The key elements of the Policy are:
- The Council funds an initial desktop assessment (and visual inspection where needed) and lets building owners know the outcomes of this assessment. Information is published on the Council website where these assessment indicate a building is likely to less than 33%NBS and defined as earthquake-prone.
- A policy of recommending buildings are upgraded to 67%NBS.
- Timeframes for building upgrade vary between 15 and 25 years.
- Timeframes have not been enacted, in part due to the national earthquake-prone building review.
The 2006 Policy was superseded by the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 which came into force on 1 July 2017.
This page will remain on the website while Council transitions to the new system.