The methodology to identify earthquake-prone buildings
The EPB methodology is the document used by territorial authorities and engineers to identify, assess, and make decisions on potentially earthquake-prone buildings.
You can read the document below or download The methodology to identify earthquake-prone buildings [PDF 611 KB]
More details
The methodology is set by the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment under the Building Act.
It refers to The Seismic Assessment of Existing Buildings: Technical Guidelines for Engineering Assessments (the Engineering Assessment Guidelines) on the building.govt.nz website.
The EPB methodology has three sections:
- Section 1: Territorial authorities identify potentially earthquake-prone buildings. This includes profile categories of potentially earthquake-prone building, category details, and exclusions.
- Section 2: Engineers carry out assessments of potentially earthquake-prone buildings. This includes the engineering qualifications required, deciding what type of assessment is required, and the format of reports.
- Section 3: Territorial authorities decide on earthquake-prone buildings. This includes the criteria for accepting new or previous engineering assessments, how to decide if a building or part of building is earthquake prone and how to determine the earthquake rating for the building.
Managing earthquake-prone buildings has further information.