COURSE OUTLINE: PLANNING AND ENGINEERING GUIDANCE FOR POTENTIALLY LIQUEFACTION-PRONE LAND

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has recently released Planning and engineering guidance for potentially liquefaction-prone land. The guidance has been developed collaboratively by MBIE with the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and the Earthquake Commission (EQC), along with a number of other parties.

The guidance is targeted at regional and local government agencies, and those who advise them on land use planning, resource consenting and building consenting. It has drawn on the extensive experience that has resulted from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). The guidance is relevant to many other New Zealand urban centres which are developed on coastal or river plains with soil types that are susceptible to liquefaction.

A key message from the guidance is that planners and engineers need to work together to develop a robust risk-based process to manage liquefaction-related risk in land use planning and development decision-making. In the spirit of this cross-discipline collaboration, NZPI and IPENZ are running a series of interactive courses which will bring planning and engineering professionals together to learn how to put the guidance into practice.

The purpose of the professional development course is to introduce engineers and planners to the guidance document and provide them with knowledge and skills to implement the guidance effectively. Specific objectives include:

  • to raise awareness of liquefaction-related risk and its impacts on land and buildings;
  • to give engineers, planners and councils more tools, knowledge and authority to inform better decisions about land use and buildings;
  • to help planners understand the technical complexities of liquefaction, and engineers understand how this information is applied to decision-making;
  • to assist local areas to use their geotechnical liquefaction expertise where it is most needed, focussing their effort, cost and investment;
  • to provide a methodology and standard processes that can be followed in local areas; and
  • to create closer collaboration with planners and engineers related to the use of land and its classification for liquefaction vulnerability.

The one-day programme will start with some basic presentation sessions to introduce and overview the guidance. It will then progress to hands on group work to develop understanding of the technical assessment process and its application to planning and decision making; and to develop the collaborative skills, experience and cross-discipline networks required to implement the guidance effectively in different decision-making contexts.

After the course it is expected that:
  • engineers will be able to communicate information about the technical assessment in a manner that can be understood by planners (and then in turn be explained to other stakeholders and decision makers);
  • planners will be able to communicate to engineers the particular planning or consent decision contexts for which technical information is required;
  • engineers and planners will have the skills to collaborate to agree the appropriate scope of work for technical assessments required to support specific plan and decision making processes (a meeting of minds about “fitness for purpose”).

PRESENTED BY MARJE RUSS AND MIKE JACKA

The course will be facilitated by Marje Russ and Mike Jacka from Tonkin + Taylor.
Marje and Mike were both involved in the development of Planning and engineering guidance for potentially liquefaction-prone land.



Marje has been working in the field of environmental and sustainability management since the early 1980s. This includes experience auditing, on sustainability reporting and assurance, with environmental and quality management systems development and certification, in environmental labelling and in providing environmental regulatory advice. She is professionally qualified as an Environmental Planner and as a Senior Environmental Auditor.

Mike specialises in solutions for complex engineering problems, particularly earthquake geotechnical engineering and resilience. He has extensive experience in land and infrastructure development across New Zealand. He was heavily involved in the Canterbury earthquake recovery, providing geotechnical advice to various Government agencies which informed land zoning decisions and foundation and land development guidance for liquefiable soils.

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