Description

The Engineering Assessment Guidelines (the guidelines) provide a technical basis for engineers to carry out seismic assessments of existing buildings within New Zealand. The guidelines support seismic assessments for a range of purposes, and must be used by territorial authorities to decide whether or not a building is earthquake prone in terms of the Building Act 2004.

The guidelines provide methods for two levels of assessment. Initial Seismic Assessment (ISA) provides a broad indication of the likely level of seismic performance of a building. In some cases, an ISA will be followed by a more comprehensive Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA).

Both assessment methods rate a building as a percentage of the new building standard applied to an equivalent new building on the same site. For assessment purposes, new building standard refers to the minimum life safety performance requirements of Building Code clause B1 – Structure.

Scope

The guidelines have three distinct parts:

• Part A – Assessment objectives and principles outlines the scope and application, and provides a general overview of the seismic assessment process. It describes the linkage with the relevant requirements of the Building Act 2004, associated regulations and the EPB methodology. 
• Part B – Initial seismic assessment describes the Initial Seismic Assessment (ISA). The ISA provides a broad indication of the likely level of seismic performance of a building. In some cases, an ISA will be followed by a Detailed Seismic Assessment.
• Part C – Detailed seismic assessment describes the Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA). The DSA provides a more comprehensive assessment than an ISA.