Safe as Houses? The Limits of Seismic Building Regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorHopkins, W. John
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-01T21:28:19Z
dc.date.available2024-02-01T21:28:19Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractIn 2016, the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 was introduced to address the issue of seismic vulnerability amongst existing buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. This Act introduced a mandatory scheme to remediate buildings deemed particularly vulnerable to seismic hazard, as recommended by the 2012 Royal Commission into the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010–2011. This Earthquake-prone Building (EPB) framework is unusual internationally for the mandatory obligations that it introduces. This article explores and critiques the operation of the scheme in practice through an examination of its implementation provisions and the experiences of more recent seismic events (confirmed by engineering research). This analysis leads to the conclusion that the operation of the current scheme and particularly the application of the concept of EPB vulnerability excludes large numbers of (primarily urban) buildings which pose a significant risk in the event of a significant (but expected) seismic event. As a result, the EPB scheme fails to achieve its goals and instead may create a false impression that it does so
dc.identifier.citationHopkins WJ (2023). Safe as Houses? The Limits of Seismic Building Regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Law Review. 2023(3). 323-347.
dc.identifier.issn1173-5864
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/lrf/nzlr/2023/00002023/00000003/art00002
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10092/106609
dc.rightsAll rights reserved unless otherwise stated
dc.rights.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651
dc.subject.anzsrc40 - Engineering::4005 - Civil engineering::400506 - Earthquake engineering
dc.subject.anzsrc40 - Engineering::4005 - Civil engineering::400510 - Structural engineering
dc.titleSafe as Houses? The Limits of Seismic Building Regulation in Aotearoa New Zealand
dc.typeJournal Article
uc.collegeFaculty of Law
uc.departmentFaculty of Law
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Safe as Houses - Revised - clean.docx
Size:
56.09 KB
Format:
Microsoft Word
Download
Collections
Law: Journal Articles