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

• Read all received submissions

RFI Reponses

• Read Council letters about their Unreinforced Masonry (URM) and earthquake-prone building policies

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