A shake-up to the quake-prone building standards could be a reprieve for iconic buildings facing large retrofit bills

The Government's loosening the regime to only capture buildings genuinely posing a risk to life, in medium and high seismic-risk zones.

It'll mean only 80 will need full retrofits and 15 hundred buildings will still need some remediation.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says many places will now be off the hook for expensive work.

He says a large number of buildings will still be subject to some extent, but will only need a targeted retrofit or the securing of a facade.