New soil data helps city re-construction

8:40 pm on 1 February 2013

Some building projects in Canterbury may no longer need expensive 15-metre deep ground tests to determine if land is susceptible to liquefaction.

A Canterbury Regional Council report maps areas where building projects will no longer need the ground tests and other areas where these tests will still be required.

Council commissioner Donald Couch says the report gives communities better information for those considering building.

Mr Couch says the report covers 20 years of liquefaction studies and draws on the experience of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.