On Thursday 18th April, the Building and Construction Minister, Chris Penk, announced a review of the earthquake-prone building system (EBS). This is great news. ICW has been calling for a review since 2019, and raising issues with the legislation since we were established in 2008.

The Minister has said this is a first principles, no question of the table, broad review. This is what is needed. It is encouraging that the Minister has already included looking at what other jurisdictions do, and the difficult question of managing seismic risk in rare events that have large impacts, and the need to talk about appetite for risk. The four year extension (once legislation is passed later this year) provides time for the review to be completed without eating into the timeframes imposed on owners; it does not address the fundamental issues with the current regime.

ICW has provided its views on what we believe needs to be included in the review to MBIE and the scope and terms of reference is expected to be agreed in May. We look forward to it being released, along with timeframes and details about the process, particularly opportunity for owners' input.  We will update this page when any further information is available.