Inland Revenue is sending home 1000 staff after seismic issues in its Wellington office were found to be worse than previously thought.
Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand and Aviation Security Service have also instructed staff in the building to work from home until a further update on Friday afternoon.
The issues were discovered during after Inland Revenue asked for a full Detailed Seismic Assessment (DSA) as part of the process of renewing its lease on the office space.
The assessment found the building has a lower level of seismic resilience than previously assessed.
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Inland Revenue occupies seven floors of the 17-storey Asteron Centre, the single largest office building in Wellington, at 48,000m². It sits on the corner of Bunny St and Featherston St, directly opposite the Wellington rail station.
Inland Revenue was first made aware of the assessment on Monday after receiving a letter from an engineering consultant.
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No decisions on the long-term use of the building or IRs future Wellington accommodation have been made and IR has no other comments to make on the issue, Cavill said.
What we have been told gives us sufficient concern that we are leaving the building until a remediation plan to get aspects of the building up to an acceptable standard is in place, Inland Revenue spokeswoman Gay Cavill said.
Inland Revenue staff will work from home in the immediate future.
Civil Aviation spokesperson Mike Richards said the authority had seen the report, which indicated there are some localised areas of concern in the Asteron Centre.
He said the report indicated the primary structure is above 100 per cent of the required standard and the building can still be occupied.
CAA staff will remain working from home while its Property and Infrastructure team assesses the current information, including seeking independent advice.
The building is listed as owned by One Featherston Ltd.
Property developer Mark Dunajtschik, a shareholder and director in One Featherston, refused to comment when asked what seismic issues were discovered and whether any other building tenants were sending staff home.
The building was previously evacuated in 2016 after cracks were discovered in the buildings stairwells.
The cracks were first found during the 2013 Seddon earthquake, but were deemed to be superficial and were then plastered over.
Those same cracks reappeared after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.
The Asteron Centre was built from June 2007 to September 2010 at a cost of $120 million.