Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission Te Komihana Rūwhenua o Waitaha Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission – Te Komihana Rūwhenua o Waitaha

Those who lost relatives and friends in the 22 February earthquake can be assured that there will be a very thorough inquiry into the failure of buildings that resulted in loss of life.
Chair, Justice Mark Cooper
 

Hearing About Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Buildings and Earthquake-Prone Policies

In the weeks beginning 7 and 14 November 2011 the Commission conducted a public hearing about unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings and earthquake-prone policies. It considered evidence and submissions about:

3b The legal requirements for buildings that are 'earthquake-prone' under section 122 of the Building Act 2004 and associated regulations, including -

(a) the buildings that are, and those that should be, treated by the law as 'earthquake-prone';

(b) the extent to which existing buildings are, and should be, required by law to meet requirements for the design, constructions, and maintenance of new buildings; and

(c) the enforcement of legal requirements.

3c The requirements for buildings that are not, as a matter of law, 'earthquake-prone', and do not meet current legal and best practice requirements for the design, construction, and maintenance of new buildings, including whether, to what extent, and over what period they should be required to meet those requirements

3d The roles of central government, local government, the building and construction industry, and other elements of the private sector in developing and enforcing legal and best-practice requirements

3f How the matters specified in subparagraphs (b) to (d) compare with any similar matters in other countries.

Timetable

Date Time Topic Presenter
   

Part 1: Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Buildings

 
7 November 10am Opening Statement Counsel Assisting the Commission Stephen Mills QC
  11.30am BREAK  
  11.45am Presentation of two reports Performance of Unreinforced Masonry in the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquake Swarm and The Performance of Earthquake Strengthened URM Buildings in the Christchurch CBD in the 22 February 2011 Earthquake: Addendum Report. Report co-author Associate Professor Jason Ingham, Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, the University of Auckland
  1pm LUNCH  
  1.45pm Associate Professor Jason Ingham (continued)  
  3.15pm BREAK  
  3.30pm Associate Professor Jason Ingham (continued)  
  4.25pm Presentation of submission by New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga (NZHPT) Bruce Chapman, Chief Executive, NZHPT
  5pm ADJOURN  
8 November 9.35am Presentation of Lizundia peer review of Jason Ingham's report (by video link) Peer reviewer Bret Lizundia, consulting engineer, Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco 
   12.15pm Presentation of Turner peer review of Jason Ingham's report (by video link) Peer reviewer Fred Turner, structural engineer, Sacramento, California
  1.05pm LUNCH  
  1.35pm Expert panel Jason Ingham, Bret Lizundia and Fred Turner 
  2.35pm BREAK  
  2.45 pm Presentation of submission by ICOMOS NZ Jeremy Salmond, architect, Ian Bowman, architect, Bruce Petry, architect and David Reynolds, heritage consultant
  3.30pm  ADJOURN  
9 November 9.30am Presentation of submission by Dr David Hopkins (by video link) Dr David Hopkins
  10.45am Presentation of submission by Property Council New Zealand (by video link) Daniel Newman, Policy Director, Property Council New Zealand
  11.15am Question and answer session Dr David Hopkins
  11.30am  BREAK   
  11.50am Presentation of submission by Dunning Thornton Consultants (by video link) Adam Thorton, Dunning Thornton Consultants
  12.25pm Presentation of submission by Joe Arts Joe Arts, Christchurch CBD property owner
  12.50pm Question and answer session Dr David Hopkins
  1pm LUNCH  
  2.15pm Presentation of submission by the Department of Building and Housing  Suzanne Townsend, Deputy Chief Executive, Sector Policy, and Mike Stannard, Chief Engineer
  3.30pm  BREAK   
  3.45pm  Presentation by the Department of Building and Housing (continued)   
    ADJOURN  
10 November   No hearings  
11 November   No hearings  
    Part 2: Earthquake-Prone Policies  
14 November 2011 10am Presentation by Gisborne District Council Ian Petty, Building Services Manager
    Presentation by Napier City Council Neil Taylor, Chief Executive
  11.30 BREAK  
  11.45am Presentation of submission by Christchurch City Council Bob Parker, Mayor, Peter Mitchell, General Manager, Regulation and Democracy Services and Steve McCarthy, Environmental Policy and Approvals Manager
  1pm LUNCH  
  1.45pm Presentation of submission by Christchurch City Council Peter Mitchell, General Manager, Regulation and Democracy Services and Steve McCarthy, Environmental Policy and Approvals Manager
  2.30pm  Presentation of submission by Wellington City Council  Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor, John Scott, Manager, Building Consent and Licensing Services and George Skimming, Director of Sector Projects
  3.15pm BREAK  
  3.20pm  Presentation of submission by Auckland Council   Patrick Cummuskey, Special Projects Officer - Earthquake-Prone Buildings, Bob DeLeur, Building Policy, Training and Resolution and Dr Marion Irwin, Hazards Manager, Civil Defence and Emergency Management 
  3.45pm BREAK  
  4pm Presentation by Dunedin City Council  Neil McLeod, Chief Building Officer and Glen Hazelton, Policy Planner (Heritage) 
  5pm  ADJOURN  
15 November 9.30am Presentation of submission by Local Government New Zealand Frances Sullivan, Senior Policy Analyst and Eugene Bowen, Chief Executive
  10.15am Panel Discussion

Ian Petty, John Scott, George Skimming, Peter Mitchell, Steve McCarthy, Patrick Cummuskey, Bob DeLeur, Dr Marion Irwin, Glen Hazelton,  Neil McLeod, Frances Sullivan, Suzanne Townsend and Dave Kelly (Deputy Chief Executive, Department of Building and Housing)

  1pm BREAK  
  3pm New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) Rob Jury,Technical Director and Manager of BECA Wellington Structural Team representing NZSEE
  4.30pm END OF HEARING  

Submissions

RFI Reponses

Related Reports

Briefing: The Building Regulatory Framework, Department of Building and Housing

Structural Design for Earthquake Resistance, Associated Professor Rajesh P. Dhakal, University of Canterbury

The Performance of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Swarm, Associate Professor Jason Ingham, Auckland University and Professor Michael Griffith, Adelaide University

The Performance of Earthquake Strengthened URM Buildings in the Christchurch CBD in the 22 February 2011 Earthquake: Addendum Report, Professor Jason Ingham and Professor Michael Griffith, October 2011

Review of The Performance of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquake Swarm by Fred Turner, structural engineer, from Sacramento, California

Review of the Report Entitled The Performance of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquake Swarm by Bret Lizundia, Principal, Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco