Annual report overview 2009-2010
This overview draws on our 2009/10 Annual Report for a summary of key achievements during another challenging year.
Working in partnership with clients and stakeholders was a vital factor in our success this year. We were able to improve client services further and deliver a substantial programme of work, despite the difficult economic conditions. More recently, we have also worked hard with all stakeholders to meet the challenges arising from the Canterbury earthquake.
Key achievements included:
I’d like to thank all of you who work with us, helping the building and housing sector to deal with current challenges and meet New Zealanders’ needs for good quality homes and buildings.
Katrina Bach
Chief Executive
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Building reforms
An integrated package of planned reforms following the Building Act 2004 review was announced by the Government on 12 August 2010. The proposed changes focus on three broad areas:
- clearer accountability, with mandatory written contracts for building work of more than $20,000 and better dispute resolution options
- more efficient regulation, including varied levels of control based on risks, and exempting more minor, low risk work from building consent requirements
- improved skills and knowledge.
Over time, these changes will see more buildings ‘built right first time’, fewer disputes, stronger incentives to lift skills in the sector, increasing confidence in builders and the quality of their work, and lower compliance costs.
Key stakeholders from the sector played a central role in the review and there was a high level of public interest, with 381 submissions and a thousand people attending meetings.
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Weathertight
A new approach was developed to resolve the legacy of weathertightness problems, help more people get their homes repaired faster and restore value in their property.
Under the proposed financial assistance package, the Government and local authorities will each contribute 25 percent of agreed repair costs and affected homeowners will fund the remaining 50 percent, with a loan guarantee underwritten by the Government, provided applicants meet bank lending criteria.
While there is still work to be done on the details, the overall approach has found broad support.
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Changes to legislation
The Unit Titles Act 2010 (passed on 1 April 2010) will provide a more modern and appropriate framework for managing apartment buildings and other jointly owned property.
The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (passed on 22 July 2010) updates provisions relating to the landlord-tenant relationship and extends coverage to include boarding houses.
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Streamlined licensing for building practitioners
Changes to the Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) scheme in February and April 2010 have made licensing simpler by:
- making it quicker, easier and cheaper for trade qualified people to become licensed
- simplifying the licence classes for builders and designers from six to two.
From March 2012, critical building work on houses and small to medium sized apartment buildings will be restricted to licensed practitioners:
- primary structure
- external moisture management systems such as roof and wall cladding
- design of fire safety systems in small to medium sized apartments.
The scheme has the support of key industry groups, and will support increased skills within the building sector and consumer confidence in the quality of building work. It also prepares for building consents to be further streamlined in the future for low risk work by licensed practitioners.
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MultiProof
The MultiProof service was developed to meet the needs of builders using standard building designs in multiple locations – such as garage franchisers, group home builders and builders of retirement villages.
MultiProof is already delivering significant savings in costs and time for these builders. Rather than applying for designs to be individually assessed by each building consent authority, volume builders can now apply for a MultiProof certificate from the Department to demonstrate their design complies with the Building Code.
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Productivity partnership
Agreement was reached on establishing a Productivity Partnership with the building and construction sector and local government, to work together on lifting productivity and skills across the sector. Establishment is underway.
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Delivering value
Our value for money programme delivered additional savings of $2.654 million during the year, as we identified ways to improve performance and discontinued activities or programmes that were not delivering value. People across the Department played a key role in this process, with more than 100 suggestions for improvements coming from our employees.
The Department’s work is funded through a mixture of Crown funding and revenue from fees, levies and other sources. Funding from the Crown in 2009/10 was $26.766 million and revenue from fees and levies was $41.315 million.
Fee and levy income:
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Building levies |
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Interest from tenancy bonds |
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Tenancy Tribunal fees |
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Electrical workers levies and fees |
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Licensed building practitioners levy and fees |
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Other |
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The Department's total expenditure in 2009/10 was $62.639 million:
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Building Regulation and Control |
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Occupational Licensing |
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Performance and Monitoring Advice - Housing New Zealand Corporation |
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Residential Tenancy Services |
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Sector and Regulatory Policy |
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Weathertight Homes Resolution Service |
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The Department’s 2009/10 Annual Report provides full details of financial and service performance.
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