The Otago Regional Council's Stafford St office building has been judged not to be strong enough to provide emergency civil defence management.
An engineering assessment of the Stafford St building's likely performance in an earthquake found that would need to be at least 30% higher for any post-disaster function, corporate services director Wayne Scott said.
"The building will stand up, but we can't assume we could carry on operating from it."
The regional council, in conjunction with Otago territorial authorities and emergency services, had responsibilities under the Civil Defence Emergency Act to maintain an effective management plan and provide emergency civil defence services in Otago, including response and recovery.
The Stafford St building was constructed in three parts - the original built in 1969, the rear extension built in 1981 and the lightweight "top floor" added in 1995.
A consultant engineer reported all parts of the building met the target lateral strength of 100%.
In the original part of the building, with the additional floor, modest inelastic action was involved but that was "insufficient to seriously stress the structural members".
Cr Michael Deaker said at a recent finance and corporate committee meeting the findings highlighted the importance of having a new location for the council.
In its long-term plan, the council had proposed allocating $1 million for construction of an additional building in the car park of the Stafford St property to house a council chamber and civil defence facilities.
Mr Scott said the temporary building had been designed to the standard needed for emergency management.
This was only a short-term plan as the council continued to investigate a more permanent solution to the space shortage in the Stafford St building.
