Description

The guidance provides advice for building owners, councils and engineers who are required to secure the street-facing parapets and facades of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings.

On 28 February 2017 the government introduced a requirement for owners of certain unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings to secure street-facing parapets and/or facades, in response to the 2016 Hurunui/Kaikōura earthquakes.

The requirement applies to street-facing URM buildings, with unsecured or unstrengthened parapets and/or facades, on listed streets in Wellington, Lower Hutt, Marlborough and Hurunui.

Scope

The Guidance covers:

• a section outlining the changes that have occurred since the securing requirement was introduced
• a section outlining the provisions of the Order in Council, including the modifications to the Building Act and Resource Management Act
• advice for building owners who get a notice requiring them to secure the parapet and/or facade of their street-facing URM building
• advice for affected councils who issued notices under section 124 of the Building Act, as modified by the Order in Council
• advice for chartered professional engineers who will be designing solutions to secure parapets and/or facades.