11 May 2018
Seismic assessments require significant professional judgement, which means different engineers can produce differing assessments of the same building. This can be hard for building owners and the public to understand, and attracted some media coverage last year.
When there are differences of opinion between engineers, we think it’s important they are in the same ballpark. If an engineer becomes aware that there are significantly different seismic assessments for the same building, Engineering New Zealand recommends the engineers concerned work together to resolve the issue.
However, sometimes in complex or historical situations, engineers can’t reach resolution themselves. That’s why Engineering New Zealand has launched a programme to guide this process. Our programme provides independent facilitation that helps engineers agree on a narrower assessment rating. All our facilitators are experienced Chartered Professional Engineers with extensive technical knowledge and experience in seismic assessments, and they have also received facilitation training.
