Consultation on the Earthquake-prone Building Legislation and Methodology Guidance and Technical Annexes

MBIE invites feedback from all interested parties, including territorial authorities, engineers, and building owners, to ensure the methodology guidance and annexes are workable and effective.

What are we consulting on?

MBIE is consulting on 2 related sets of documents that will support the implementation of the new EPB system that will commence on 1 July 2027.

Earthquake-prone Building Legislation and Methodology Guidance

This document explains how the EPB system will be administered in practice, including how buildings are identified, categorised, and removed from EPB status once remediation requirements have been met. It is primarily for:

• territorial authorities
• building consent and regulatory staff
• building owners.

Earthquake-Prone Building Methodology Technical Annexes

These annexes provide high-risk deficiency requirements and retrofit pathways used to support EPB determinations and remediation decisions. They are primarily for:

• engineers
• building owners seeking technical advice.

Earthquake-prone building system changes

The Government has reformed New Zealand's earthquake-prone building (EPB) system through the Building (Earthquake-prone buildings) Amendment Act 2026. MBIE is now consulting on the proposed EPB Legislation and Methodology Guidance, which will provide the detailed rules and how processes must be undertaken. MBIE wants to hear from building owners, engineers, councils, industry groups, and the wider public on whether the proposed methodology and guidance is clear, practical, and supports the objectives of the new system for EPBs.

The new system commences from 1 July 2027. For more details on the EPB system changes, visit:

Changes to the earthquake-prone building system(external link) — Building Performance

Webinar sessions

MBIE is hosting a series of webinars to provide an overview of these changes, and to provide an opportunity to ask questions. Use the link below to register to the public webinar on Thursday 12 November at 11am to 12pm. The webinar will be recorded and published to this page.

Webinar registration(external link)

Engineers and territorial authorities are invited to register interest in sector-specific webinar sessions by emailing building@mbie.govt.nz.

Earthquake-prone Building Legislation and Methodology Guidance (for TAs and system users)

The EPB methodology supports consistent decision-making across New Zealand by setting out how the requirements of the Building Act 2004 must be applied when identifying, categorising and determining earthquake-prone buildings.

The Earthquake-prone Building Legislation and Methodology Guidance complements the EPB methodology by providing practical guidance, examples and operational information to support territorial authorities in administering the EPB system. These documents will replace the practical function of the current EPB methodology, published in 2017.

The methodology and guidance provide criteria for how earthquake-prone buildings are:

• identified and assessed
• categorised
• determined to be earthquake-prone buildings
• assigned remediation requirements
• reassessed and reviewed
• removed from earthquake-prone building status once requirements have been met.

Earthquake-prone Building Technical Annexes (for engineers and technical specialists)

The EPB technical annexes provide the detailed technical criteria and pathways needed to apply the EPB methodology and guidance consistently in practice. They sit between the high-level statutory requirements in the methodology and the more detailed engineering guidance contained in the seismic assessment guidelines and retrofit guidelines.

The annexes provide additional detailed technical information required to implement the guidance material. The annexes that MBIE is seeking feedback on are:

Annex 1 - High Risk Deficiencies in Category B Buildings

This document includes content intended to be read in conjunction with the EPB methodology, guidance and Annex 2. The purpose of this content is to:

• detail the process for evaluating whether a Category B building is earthquake-prone using HRDs
• detail the list of high-risk deficiencies that determine whether a Category B would classify as earthquake-prone
• provide the detailed engineering definitions of building features that engineers must use to test buildings against the list of HRDs
• describe the analysis methods used in the identification of HRDs
• provide the templates/forms and checklists for the HRD review.

Annex 2 - Remediating Earthquake-prone Buildings

This document includes content intended to be read in conjunction with the EPB methodology, guidance and Annex 1. The purpose of this content is to:

• define the engineering requirements for each of the mitigation requirements in the EPB Amendment Act 2026
• façade Risk Mitigation for Category A (URM) Buildings (including standardised solutions)
• targeted Retrofit for Category A (URM) Buildings
• targeted Retrofit for Category B Buildings.

How your feedback will be used

Feedback on the EPB legislation and methodology guidance will be used to refine the operational processes, decision-making frameworks and guidance used by territorial authorities to administer the EPB system.

Feedback on the EPB technical annexes will be used to refine the engineering criteria and definitions that support implementation of the EPB system.

Following consultation, MBIE will review submissions and make any necessary changes. The final documents are expected to be published in early 2027 ahead of the commencement of the new EPB system on 1 July 2027.