The Tauroa residential subdivision is situated in the hills of southern Havelock North in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The development proposal includes removal of a moderately deep (<10 m) landslide and its replacement with an engineered fill slope. A simplified “screening analysis” method was utilised to develop reduced equivalent horizontal seismic loads for use in a pseudo-static slope stability assessment of the proposed remedial engineered fill slope. This risk-based method allows limited slope deformations to occur as a result of the design seismic event, with the magnitudes of the allowable slope deformations set in accordance with the tolerance level of the proposed development.