The Joint Committee for Seismic Assessment and Retrofit is inviting feedback on proposed changes to the seismic assessment guidelines for non-earthquake prone buildings (the Non-EPB Seismic Assessment Guidelines). Engineering New Zealand is hosting the consultation process and is collecting feedback on behalf of the Joint Committee.
Consultation is open until Thursday 15 August. Further information, consultation documents and feedback forms can be accessed via the link below:
Consultation on non-EPB Seismic Assessment Guidelines
The proposed changes mainly relate to the assessment of concrete buildings. Many sections of Part C of the guidelines have proposed changes. Most changes are in Section C5 and the updated Non-EPB Seismic Assessment Guidelines will supersede the 2018 Yellow Chapter. A presentation on the proposed changes was hosted by the Auckland Structural Group earlier this year. You can view the presentation on the Auckland Structural Group’s website. Background to some of the proposed changes was also summarised in an article published in the April 2024 SESOC Journal.
The proposed updates incorporate the latest engineering knowledge about how concrete buildings are likely to perform in an earthquake. They are expected to improve the clarity and accuracy of assessments and, on balance, in many cases are expected to improve the %NBS scores of certain elements. NZSEE encourages its members to provide feedback via the Engineering New Zealand consultation process, to help improve the quality and usability of this important document.
Once the consultation period has ended, the Joint Committee will review and consider feedback on the proposed changes and publish the updated non-EPB Seismic Assessment Guidelines on the industry best practice website Design.Resilience.NZ. Once published, the updated guidelines can be used by engineers when providing advice outside of earthquake-prone building system requirements.
This consultation on non-EPB Seismic Assessment Guidelines is not related to the earthquake-prone building system review that MBIE is currently undertaking. For information about the EPB building system review, visit MBIE’s website Earthquake-prone building and seismic risk management review | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (mbie.govt.nz).
What is the Joint Committee for Seismic Assessment and Retrofit?
The Joint Committee for Seismic Assessment and Retrofit (JC-SAR) comprises representatives from the five organisations originally partnered to the development of the 2017 Seismic Assessment Guidelines; the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the New Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS) the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE), the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand (SESOC) and the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake. The committee has joint oversight of the Seismic Assessment Guidelines.
