The Whakatāne District Council Civic Centre will undergo earthquake strengthening work in 2018, at an estimated cost of $3 million.
The engineering work involved will take the building from a detailed seismic assessment rating of 37 percent to 100 percent of the strength of a new building, based on the NZ building code’s importance level classification for structures which are used for emergency response purposes. The Civil Defence and Emergency Management Act also requires the Council to identify an alternate Emergency Operations Centre, should that be needed, and staff are currently investigating alternative locations.
The Council’s Projects and Services Committee considered a range of options for the building at its meeting last week, with total potential project costs ranging from $2.4 million to achieve a lesser level of seismic strength to $14.5-19 million for a new building with ground improvement and specialised foundations. $2.1 million had been set aside for the work in the Council’s Long Term Plan, and Council elected members adopted a recommendation that a further $900,000 be added to the 2018/19 budget to cover the additional cost required.
Reporting to the committee, Community Services General Manager Mike Naude said the planned strengthening would address the life safety risk represented by a major earthquake with a 2500-year return period. Work on the building is likely to begin in the second quarter of 2018.
Mr Naude also outlined the seismic assessment processes underway on other Council-owned buildings and priority public access routes. Five other buildings are currently under review to determine what earthquake strengthening may be required. They include the Whakatāne Airport Terminal, the Youth Centre building in Canning Place, the Rugby Park grandstand, the Whakatāne War Memorial Hall and the Edgecumbe War Memorial Hall.
The Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Act 2016 also requires the Council to assess the threat that falling masonry or collapsing structures might represent to the public, or emergency response activities, on ‘transport routes of strategic importance’. Mr Naude said that work was underway, but it was unlikely that any routes would meet the definition set out in the Building Act.