Earthquake Prone Building Information
List of Earthquake Prone Buildings
Earthquake-prone buildings (EPB) in Nelson and throughout New Zealand can be viewed on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s EPB Register website.
Legislation
The Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2026 was passed on 19 September 2026, amending the Building Act 2004. This changes how earthquake-prone buildings will be identified, managed and remediated.
In Nelson, the changes will apply from 1 July 2027, at which point it is expected that most EPB Notices will be removed. The specifics of which buildings will be affected will not be available until a revised EPB Methodology is approved, expected to be early in 2027. Until then, the rules put in place in 2017 continue to apply.
An overview and detail of the new requirements can be found on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Building Performance website.
Priority Buildings
Priority buildings are certain types of building that are considered to present a higher risk because of their location or construction type. They need to be remediated within half of the time allowed for other buildings.
From 1 July 2027, priority buildings will be those that:
- have unreinforced masonry exterior walls that face a public road, footpath, thoroughfare or place where people congregate or
- could impede transport routes of strategic importance in terms of an emergency response after an earthquake.
Buildings that were priority due to their use (schools, hospitals, emergency response) will no longer be priority buildings.
Council’s Environment Committee considered submissions received on a proposal for thoroughfares and routes after public consultation held in October 2019. The Committee approved the thoroughfares and routes on 5 March 2020. These can be downloaded as a PDF.
Timeframes
Until 30 June 2027, the requirements put in place in 2017 continue to apply.
From 1 July 2027, Council will review all earthquake-prone building (EPB) Notices and either:
- authorise removal of the Notice,
- seek further information, or
- provide a replacement EPB Notice and inform of required remediations.
In terms of the Building Act, Nelson City is a medium seismic risk area. If a building has an EPB Notice:
- Owners of EPB have between 12.5 and 29 years from the date of the first EPB Notice to complete seismic work.
- The timeframes for completing seismic work were extended by a change in legislation in 2024, for some buildings.
- Owners of EPB can apply for an exemption from the requirement to carry out seismic work.
- Owners of EPB can apply for an extension of time to complete seismic work.
Health and Safety at Work Act
Changes to the HSW Act 2026 commence on 1 April 2027 and mean that there will be no requirements additional to those set out in the Building Act 2004 for the management of seismic risk posed by parts of the building. So long as building owners comply with EPB and emergency management provisions of the Building Act, the HSW Act 2026 will not require anything extra in terms of structural performance.
Employers will still need to manage seismic risks due to building contents, such as large furniture.
