Unreinforced masonry building owners may get extension for fix

Hamish Rutherford05:00, Mar 05 2018
More than seven years after the Christchurch earthquake, where dozens of people were killed by falling masonry, buildings in some of Wellington's busiest pedestrian streets are still working on securing unreinforced masonry.
JOHN NICHOLSON/STUFF
More than seven years after the Christchurch earthquake, where dozens of people were killed by falling masonry, buildings in some of Wellington's busiest pedestrian streets are still working on securing unreinforced masonry.

Cabinet is expected to decide on Monday to give some owners of buildings who are trying to secure unreinforced masonry up to another six months to secure them.

While dozens of building owners in Wellington and Lower Hutt covered by repair orders are working with urgency to secure facades and parapets, dozens are likely to miss the deadlines which fall due this month.

In the wake of the Kaikōura earthquake in November 2016, engineers urged the Government action to take heed of warnings of a period of high seismic activity expected in central New Zealand, to address what was described as an immediate threat to public safety.

Falling debris from buildings with unreinforced masonry caused 40 deaths in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, as well as more than 100 injuries.

READ MORE:
* Government planning deadline extension for unreinforced masonry
* List of streets with unreinforced masonry surround Wellington CBD

Yet more than seven years later, hundreds of buildings surrounding high pedestrian areas on streets such as Cuba St and Courtenay Pl remain in question.

Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa has been warned that dozens of buildings which were the subject of orders to secure unreinforced masonry within 12 months will miss the deadlines, despite efforts by the owners.
STUFF
Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa has been warned that dozens of buildings which were the subject of orders to secure unreinforced masonry within 12 months will miss the deadlines, despite efforts by the owners.

Documents released under the Official Information Act show officials warning that despite their efforts, building owners have reported a shortage of engineers, difficulty raising finance, higher than expected costs and challenges reaching agreement in joint ownership structures such as body corporates.

In a small number of cases though, building owners have made little effort to address the issues in some cases because of financial or personal difficulties, while in some cases there has been scepticism as to whether the council will, when the deadline passes, be willing to take action.

This creates a complex decision for Building and Construction Minister Jenny Salesa. As it stands, when the deadline passes, building owners who have made genuine efforts to secure the masonry but will miss the deadline will be the same position as those who have taken little or no action.

A briefing from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said without changes to the programme there could be "unfair outcomes".

"Building owners that have not completed work by the March 2018 deadline will have committed an offence and be liable to a fine of up to $200,000," the briefing said, adding that prosecution would be "a potentially unfair outcome for building owners who have taken reasonable steps to comply".

While MBIE has recommended granting extensions, the nature of the advice has not been released as it is still in the process of being considered.

A private consultation process with councils and building owners floated the possibility of a six month extension to the deadlines, but only for those which the councils were satisfied had taken reasonable steps to try to meet the deadline.

In a statement, Salesa confirmed the issue will be discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday.

"Currently all securing work needs to be completed by the date on the section 124 notice issued to each Building Owner. Councils were required to issue section 124 notices by 29 March 2017, and building owners have 12 months to comply. It's important owners continue to work towards their current deadline.

"Next week, Cabinet is considering a proposal to respond to practical constraints that some owners have faced. I will announce the details once confirmed by Cabinet, and MBIE will publish supporting material to explain the changes to affected building owners."

Stuff