Building Act 2004

The Building Act manages natural hazards in relation to the construction and modification of buildings. ⁴⁷²⁸ The situations in which a Council can use the Act to prevent new buildings in hazardous areas are limited. The Act focuses on the adequacy of buildings rather than land use management and therefore is not a substitute for RMA planning and management.

The Building Act definition of natural hazard is narrower than the RMA definition: ³⁸⁶⁶

Natural hazard means any of the following:

(a) erosion (including coastal erosion, bank erosion, and sheet erosion):
(b) falling debris (including soil, rock, snow, and ice):
(c) subsidence:
(d) inundation (including flooding, overland flow, storm surge, tidal effects, and ponding):
(e) slippage.

Under this definition, geothermal events, volcanic events and earthquakes are not regarded as natural hazards and liquefaction is not a contemplated effect.

A building consent is required to construct a building or to make major alterations to the building on hazard-prone land. The Building Act only requires certain natural hazards to be taken into account when determining whether to grant a building consent. A territorial authority must not grant a building consent if the building work is to be carried out on land subject to natural hazards and the building work is likely to accelerate, worsen or result in a natural hazard. This does not apply if adequate provision is made to protect the land or building work from the natural hazard or restore any damage caused by the building work. ³⁸⁶⁷

Despite the above, a territorial authority must grant a building consent if the buildings work is to be carried out on land subject to natural hazards and: ³⁸⁶⁸

• The building work will not accelerate, worsen or result in a natural hazard; and
• It is reasonable to grant a waiver of the Building Code in respect of the natural hazard concerned.

A Council is protected against civil liability if it grants a building consent under this section. ³⁸⁶⁹

The Building Code 

The Building Code does not prescribe how work should be done but states, in general terms, how the completed building must perform in its intended use. All building work must comply with the Building Code whether or not a building consent is required. ³⁸⁷⁰  The Building Code requires that buildings safeguard people from injury caused by structural failure ³⁸⁷¹  and from loss of amenity caused by structural behaviour. ³⁸⁷²

The Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016

A new national system for management earthquake-prone buildings came into effect on 1 July 2017, affecting owners of earthquake prone buildings, territorial authorities (local councils), engineers, other professionals and building users. It introduced major changes to the way earthquake-prone buildings are identified and managed under the Building Act 2004, utilising knowledge learned from past earthquakes in New Zealand and overseas. The system is consistent across the country and focuses on the most vulnerable buildings in terms of people's safety. It categorises New Zealand into three seismic risk areas and sets time frames for identifying and taking action to strengthen or remove earthquake-prone buildings.

A building, or part of a building, is earthquake prone if it will have its ultimate capacity exceeded in a moderate earthquake, and if it were to collapse, would do so in a way that is likely to cause injury or death to persons in or near the building or on any other property, or damage to any other property. ⁴⁷²⁹

Territorial authorities determine if a building or part of a building is earthquake prone using the EPB methodology, a document which sets out how territorial authorities identify potentially earthquake-prone buildings, how engineers undertake engineering assessments, and how territorial authorities determine whether a building or part is earthquake prone, and if it is, its earthquake rating. 

Last updated at 12:46PM on February 8, 2018