Yeah Wellington has always taken it seriously, I remember the building where I worked in 2002 had a sticker on it by the council saying the building wasn't earthquake safe. The buildings here are much more earthquake safe than Christchurch but also the damage potential is much higher.
Only sort of. We have the whole dynamic of pushing out the date buildings are supposed to be meeting requirements, and dodgy engineers signing off on buildings that are below target NBS.
Dodgy engineers aren't going to sign off on anything because they are liable for manslaughter in the case of a catastrophe. I used to work for a structural engineering company and had to present evidence at the Royal Commission of Inquiry, engineers (at least all the ones I know) take this very seriously.
Most of the out of date buildings are empty, there are still a few empty buildings around Wellington because they don't meet code.
As far as pushing out the dates, buildings with a big sticker on them saying they are unsafe tend to struggle to find tenants, and when they do the rent has to be very cheap, so most building owners either sell the buildings or strengthen them.
And that's why the property owners have been lobbying the councils to hold off on those big stickers - because then how could they afford to do the work that they'll totally do, within X years, if the rents drop?
