Supporting seismic resilience for New Zealand’s critical heritage sites

The project:

Prior to commencing the assessments, we recommended and engaged a geotechnical engineer for advice across all sites, as heritage and memorial structures don’t always fall neatly into the parameters of the DSA guidelines.

Our team reviewed historic documentation, travelled to site for measurements, and tested site materials to ascertain how the structures behaved and responded to seismic movement. Testing involved taking discreet core samples to be tested at labs, along with on-site testing, including scratch methods.

Our value add:

The initial scope increased, with another structure added, and our team achieved the site visits within one trip, saving costs for the client and reducing our carbon emissions. Some of the sites were able to be evaluated by the geotechnical engineers by desktop, negating the need for in-person geotechnical assessments, saving further costs for the clients.

We successfully navigated the challenge of reading older documentation, which varied in legibility and quality. Beyond our core brief, we also identified and flagged potential risks outside the initial scope—an effort the client acknowledged and appreciated.

Our work provided much-needed clarity for a historic church which had been temporarily closed due to uncertainty around its seismic safety. Following our assessment, it was deemed safe and reopened. 

The reports we produced were clear and actionable, giving the Ministry for Culture and Heritage confidence that these important heritage structures were, or could be made, seismically sound.