5 Oct 2011

College quake plans not enough

10:51 am on 5 October 2011

Wellington East Girls College believes plans by the Ministry of Education for bringing its buildings up to earthquake standards, will still leave students and staff at risk.

Principal Sally Haughton says the ministry has told the school it initially plans to strengthen the buildings to 34% of the current building standard.

Under the Building Act, any buildings below 34% are defined as earthquake prone.

But Ms Haughton told Nine to Noon that independent peer reviews have failed to find any engineers who believe 34% is a satisfactory level of improvement.

Ms Haughton said the college, and other schools in similar positions, are struggling with the fact that the ministry's advice is contrary to what the experts are saying.