PRESENTATION – “Kaikoura Earthquake Statistics House Investigation” by John Hare

When – Wednesday 7 June 2017 //

Abstract

The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake caused a partial floor collapse in the 2005 Statistics House on the Wellington waterfront. Following this, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment appointed an independent panel to investigate the cause(s) of the failure and provide recommendations on regulations and powers in that regard.

The report was delivered on March 31, 2017. A number of factors were discussed with the overall conclusion being that the principle cause of the collapse was a combination of beam elongation (exacerbated by multiple bays in parallel with the flooring spans), shortening of the flooring units due to end spalling, amplification of the ground shaking due to basin edge effects and the duration of the earthquake. The panel recommendations included investigation of potential for similar damage in other buildings, further notification to the industry of the issues uncovered and the need for further review and research of building design and seismic design actions.
This presentation will provide a more comprehensive outline of the matters reviewed by the panel and the conclusions they reached; and will discuss the basis of the recommendations.

Register

Please register for this event below:

Biography

John Hare is a structural engineer and Chief Executive of the Holmes Group of companies. He has worked in NZ, UK and the US, where he established a Holmes office in San Francisco in 2000. Since 2006 he has been based again in Christchurch, where he originally commenced practice in 1985.

John is a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand and the New Zealand Earthquake Engineering Society and a life member of the NZ Structural Engineering Society. He sits on a number of advisory groups, including the steering group for the NZSEE Guidelines for assessment and improvement of existing buildings.

He has extensive experience in both the design of new structures and in the assessment and strengthening of existing buildings. Following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, John was seconded as Principal Engineering Adviser, firstly to Civil Defence and subsequently to the Canterbury Earthquakes Recovery Authority, whilst also acting as the President of SESOC. During this time, he took a lead role in the development of the guidelines for the assessment of earthquake affected buildings. In March 2013, John was awarded the Fulton-Downer gold medal from IPENZ for outstanding achievement, as a result of his activities over the previous two years.

In December 2017, John was appointed by MBIE to the expert panel for the investigation of the performance of Statistics House in the November 2017 Kaikōura earthquake and also assisted the Wellington City Council with the targeted damage evaluation procedures.

ASG Presenter June 2017 - John Hare