Assessing our foundations: Evaluating the implementation and operation of the earthquake-prone building system

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) engaged Sapere to identify which elements of implementation and operation (by MBIE and central government, territorial authorities (TAs) and engineers) of the current earthquake-prone building (EPB) system are and are not working well. This report is one part of MBIE’s review of the management of seismic risk in existing buildings (the Review). Other work for the Review focuses on incentives, building owners, international approaches, and the costs and benefits of requirements for different building types.

Our focus was on how these key stakeholders are discharging their key responsibilities under the Building Act 2004 (the Act). We were asked not to focus on the role of building owners in supporting the ultimate outcomes of the system. We sought to answer the questions set out in the table below.

• Whether the EPB system is being implemented by TAs, engineers and MBIE:
  – effectively
  – efficiently
  – consistently
• Areas where the EPB system is working well and where it is not (within the scope noted above)
• The quality of interconnections between TAs, engineers and MBIE
• The adequacy of MBIE’s administration, guidance and oversight.

The team involved were David Moore, Angus White, Hamish Hann, Jamie O’Hare and Douglas Yee.