TC3 land assessment investigation complete

In the past year, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) has carried out investigative drillings on thousands of Canterbury properties with foundation damage – a crucial step in obtaining the geotechnical data required before those affected homes can be repaired.

EQC has now administered 5,000 cone penetrometer tests, drilled 1,000 boreholes and collected enough soil samples in the Technical Category 3 zone to fill around 23 shipping containers. The data is used to determine the extent of land damage and design foundation repairs for earthquake-damaged buildings, whose damage totals less than the EQC cap of $100,000 + GST per event.

The drilling programmes covered all TC3 areas within Christchurch City, Kaiapoi and surrounding areas. TC3 is classified by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) and MBIE as land likely to require more complex engineered foundation design.

The data gathered during these investigations is being processed before it is deposited into the Canterbury Geotechnical Database, administered by CERA and some repairs are already underway.

EQC has promised its customers that all homes with damage over $50,000 (and under $100,000) will be repaired by the end of 2013. All homes with damage under $50,000 will be repaired by the end of 2015.