An Official Information Act request by the Otago Daily Times to the Otago Polytechnic has revealed about $10,000 has been spent to carry out earthquake and seismic assessments on all of the tertiary institute's Dunedin campus buildings.
A detailed seismic assessment was done by structural and fire engineering consultants on F Block in August, after an initial report concluded the main administration building posed a "potential earthquake risk" as defined by the New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering.
Initial assessments conducted on all of the other polytechnic campus buildings concluded they met the NZSEE standards for earthquake safety.
The seismic report from consultants Stevenson Brown Ltd noted how the site of the polytechnic campus is listed on Dunedin City Council hazard maps, which considers the soils in the area to be prone to potential earthquake amplification.
The consultants' second report concluded F Block "will be able to adequately resist a full, code-level seismic event without danger of collapse".
"We do not recommend any further investigation or structural strengthening for Block F," the report states.
Otago Polytechnic spokesman Mike Waddell said the seismic assessments were commissioned to ensure the tertiary provider was doing its utmost to inform staff, students and the public it was meeting safety standards.
The polytechnic wanted staff and students to be reassured that campus buildings were compliant with building codes.
"We're more than prepared to pay for that - as you should," he said.
F Block housed the polytechnic's executive group and about 60 staff in total across the building's three floors. It was not a teaching block, but many students passed through the building on any day of the week, Mr Waddell said.
The findings of the initial report had been a surprise and "seemed unusual, given the age of the [F Block] building", he said.
Most of the campus buildings at the polytechnic were built between 1984 and 1994. The secondary report was needed to "provide a more thorough assessment".
"We meet the standards at this stage, but nature is very unpredictable. We're being as proactive as we can... The report has concluded [all our buildings] are now OK," Mr Waddell said.
The Otago Daily Times has also requested information from the University of Otago about seismic assessments which have been carried out on its $1.5 billion campus assets.
The university is still collating information about its 183 buildings.
