Many new and existing buildings have insufficient weight to resist overturning loads due to earthquakes without uplift. Previous versions of the New Zealand loadings code allowed simplified procedures for the design of rocking structures provided the ductility factor was limited to not more than two. The new loadings code, NZS 1170.5, removed this exemption and requires that a special study be performed whenever energy dissipation through rocking occurs. This paper presents a tentative design procedure intended to substitute for the special study required by the code. The resistance function of rocking walls was developed from the principles of engineering mechanics. The results from a series of time history analyses were used to develop a procedure to estimate maximum seismic displacements and empirical equations were derived to estimate the dynamic amplification of inertia forces. A substitute structure approach, using spectral displacements at an effective period calculated from the ductility factor, provided accurate predictions of the displacements from more sophisticated nonlinear analyses. Four example designs were completed and the predicted response compared to time history results. The procedure provided a satisfactory estimate of response for regular structures, but it was less accurate where torsional effects were significant.