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BC Update: No.74 First territorial authorities registered as building consent authorities

7 November 2007: The first territorial authorities to be accredited as building consent authorities have now been registered as such.

The Building Consent Authority Accreditation and Registration Scheme is among Building Act 2004 reforms aimed at ensuring buildings are built right first time. It focuses on strengthening the building process at the consent processing, inspection and approval stages – ie, making sure that territorial and regional authorities have the appropriate systems, processes, procedures, resources and capability to do the job properly.

Regulations setting out requirements for registration took effect on 1 November 2007, with the Department of Building and Housing’s Chief Executive Katrina Bach hosting a presentation the following day for representatives of the seven territorial authorities accredited so far and presenting them with their registration certificate.

Chief Executive Katrina Bach with representatives of the newly accredited territorial authorities.

The photo shows, from left: Geoff Mears (Rodney District Council), Peter Eathorne (Palmerston North City Council), Katrina Bach, Kevin O’Connor (Southland District Council), Graham Young (South Taranaki District Council), Karen FitzPatrick (Hurunui District Council), Ewan Higham (Franklin District Council) and Peter Scantlebury (New Plymouth District Council).

The benefits to territorial and regional authorities of accreditation and registration as building consent authorities will include:

  • More robust management systems and processes, with better quality control and risk management
  • Increased public/community confidence as a result of the council having independently proven, appropriate competency, quality-assured systems, processes, procedures and resources
  • Better customer service – ie, more prompt turnaround of consent applications, without jeopardising quality, because of operational improvements and efficiencies
  • More capability and capacity, from having more competent and better trained staff
  • Greater confidence among building control staff that they are doing things properly
  • Strengthened and more consistent decision-making, leading to better quality outcomes and better Building Code compliance.

All 85 territorial or regional authorities must be accredited and registered as building consent authorities by 30 June 2008 or have transferred their building control functions to an accredited and registered building consent authority, which 10 intend doing.

Those being accredited are at different stages of the accreditation process, with 20 in the final stages, having completed their full on-site assessment by International Accreditation New Zealand. The Department is expecting the number of accreditations to increase quickly over the next few weeks.

Once registered, territorial authorities are listed on a register of building consent authorities on the Department’s website.