So when Speight's Brewery in Dunedin allowed Otago Polytechnic civil engineering students to do tests on a building before it is knocked down today, civil engineering lecturer Najif Ismail said it was their lucky day.
''Owing to their complex nature, small-scale standardised tests do not really reflect the performance of historic masonry buildings, necessitating full-scale destructive structural tests be performed in real-life conditions.
''Unreinforced masonry buildings constitute a large portion of New Zealand's buildings and are widely acknowledged as the most earthquake-prone class of buildings,'' he said.
The brewery is being upgraded to increase capacity and capability following the loss of the Canterbury Brewery in the 2011 earthquake. A significant part of the upgrade includes seismic strengthening of the existing buildings.
Dr Najif said he and his students conducted tests using hydraulic jacks and displacement and force sensors on part of the brewery yesterday.
The experiments were part of a wider student project which allowed his students to gain practical experience in seismic testing - an experimental technique used to investigate the structural performance of buildings. Dr Najif said the motivation behind his work came from first-hand experience.
''I have witnessed the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which resulted in over 80,000 fatalities and left 3.5 million people homeless.
''I helped rebuild earthquake-resistant hospitals and schools in affected communities and developed a passion to learn more about this practice area.''
Dr Ismail hopes to continue developing this curriculum for students studying engineering at Otago Polytechnic's School of Architecture, Building and Engineering, and said the skills they learnt yesterday were relevant and valuable.
