Owners of old unreinforced masonry buildings in Dunedin need to begin work now to secure their buildings, a visiting consultant structural engineer says.
If they waited, and an earthquake struck, "you are too late".
"You have lost it."
The blunt message came from Win Clark, the executive officer for the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering, as he addressed about 100 people at Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre last night.
The talk ran owners through problems encountered in the Christchurch earthquakes, including a lack of maintenance and restraints tying parapets and brickwork to buildings.
Some "relatively straightforward" steps could help secure buildings, such as cutting carbon fibre strips into brickwork, but money would be a key.
"In my view, there's no building you can't strengthen, providing you can put enough money into it," he said.
Mr Clark estimated retrofit costs could range from $2000 per sq m to $6000 per sq m, but audience member and fellow structural engineer Lou Robinson said costs in Dunedin could be less, at 10% of a building's value.
The talk was organised by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham said it was "clearly" of interest in Dunedin.
Demand for seats had forced a last-minute change of venue for the talk, and extra seats were still required at the back of the room.
