Search

Three new categories for residential foundation design have been developed and will be required for repairing and rebuilding homes in Canterbury following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, it was announced today.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said the foundation designs apply to the flat land in the residential green zone in Canterbury, which has now been divided by engineering experts into three new technical categories (TC1, TC2 and TC3).

Changes are being made to Building Code documents to increase the seismic hazard factor for Canterbury and to require stronger foundations for buildings, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

The Department of Building and Housing has decided to increase the seismic hazard factor for the design of all buildings by 35 per cent from 0.22 to 0.3 based on the best scientific and structural engineering advice available.