BC Upadte: No.9 - Design Review Unit Update 1 (NZFS)

17 Mar 2005: The Department of Building and Housing will be publishing a Gazette Notice under section 46 of the Building Act 2004 on 24 March 2005. The Notice will take effect from 22 April 2005.

From that date, Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) will be required to forward the applications referred to in the notice to the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) for comment under the Act.

The text scheduled to appear in the Gazette Notice can be found further down this page.

Reprinted below is the first issue of Design Review Unit Update, published by the NZFS. This is the first in a series of communications from the NZFS intended to inform BCAs and building practitioners about the practical implementation of sections 46 and 47 of the Act.

Note: Please direct any queries or requests for further information to the Design Review Unit using the contact details under 'Further information'.

Design Review Unit Update 1

The Building Act 2004 places a requirement upon Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) to send a copy of certain applications for building consent to the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) for comment.

NZFS has set up a new Design Review Unit (DRU) to carry out this work. This newsletter will give updates in the next few weeks about what is happening, and will endeavour to answer any questions

What are the relevant sections of the Building Act 2004?

The two relevant sections are 46 and 47. These are reproduced here in full.

46. Copy of certain applications for building consent must be provided to New Zealand Fire Service Commission.

(1) This section applies to an application for a building consent that is of a kind specified by the chief executive by notice published in the Gazette.

(2) A copy of the notice must be given by the chief executive to every building consent authority as soon as practicable after it is so published.
(3) A building consent authority must, on receipt of an application to which this section applies, provide a copy of the application to the New Zealand Fire Service Commission.

47. New Zealand Fire Service Commission may give advice on applications under section 46.

(1) The New Zealand Fire Service Commission may, within 10 working days after receiving a copy of an application for a building consent under section 46, provide the building consent authority concerned with a memorandum that sets out advice on the following matters in respect of the building to which the application relates:

(a) provisions for means of escape from fire:
(b) the needs of persons who are authorised by law to enter the building to undertake fire-fighting.
(2) The New Zealand Fire Service Commission must not, in the memorandum referred to in subsection (1), set out advice that provides for the building to meet performance criteria that exceed the requirements of the building code.
(3) If the New Zealand Fire Service Commission does not provide a memorandum within the period specified in subsection (1), the building consent authority may proceed to determine the application without the memorandum.

Frequently asked questions

Who will be handling this work?

The NZFS is well prepared for the new role it will undertake, and has established a specific unit, Design Review Unit (DRU), to discharge its new responsibilities under the Building Act 2004. Initially this unit will be based in Auckland. The existing regionally based fire engineers have been reformed into a national unit and five new fire engineers and an administrator will join them. All these engineers have either Bachelors or Masters in fire engineering.

When will building designs start to be reviewed?

DRU will begin reviewing building designs sent to them from BCAs from 28 days after the notice is published by the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) in the Gazette. This is expected shortly.

What buildings will be reviewed?

It is intended that the Gazette notice will state that the NZFS be asked to provide advice in respect of certain building work. The relevant building work is only alternative solutions for buildings that would require an evacuation scheme (including sprinklered buildings which might not require a scheme just because they are sprinklered). To find out if proposed building work requires advice to be sought, ask the following questions:

• Are hazardous substances stored?
• Are early childcare facilities provided?
• Is specialised care for people with a disability provided?
• Is specialised nursing, medical or geriatric care provided?
• Are people in lawful detention?
• Can 100 or more people gather in a common venue?
• Can 100 or more people gather for different purposes or activities?
• Are there facilities for more than 10 employees?
• Is accommodation provided for more than 5 people?
• Note: Household units and outbuildings are excluded.

If the answer to any question is ‘yes’ AND the building is an alternative solution with respect to means of escape from fire or firefighting facilities, then the design needs to go to NZFS for comment. The relevant clauses of the Building Code are C1-4, D1, F6 or F8, including any application for a modification or waiver of those clauses under section 67 of the Act.

For the above buildings, NZFS also needs to see any proposed alteration/change in use/subdivision and affects the fire safety systems, including any building work on any specified systems that relate to fire safety.

What about peer reviews?

The NZFS will not be conducting a peer review of the design. The NZFS cannot say whether designs comply with the provisions of the Building Code. The role of the BCAs remains unchanged in that they must be satisfied “on reasonable grounds” that the relevant performance requirements of the Code have been met. In the case of alternative fire engineered designs, the BCA will almost certainly need to rely on external expert peer review.

Will the NZFS provide advice to designers/architects prior to a consent being lodged?

NZFS engineers will continue to be available in the main centres to contribute to the
development of the fire safety engineering brief at the design phase of a project. However, those fire service personnel associated with providing advice under section 47 of the Building Act 2004 cannot be part of the building design process, and will not be involved in discussions with designers.

What does the NZFS propose to do to helpdesigners/architects?

In an attempt to alleviate uncertainty for designers the NZFS can offer assistance to fire safety designers at the local level on fire-fighting requirements. To assist designers with identifying the needs of the NZFS, a code of practice on fire fighting is currently in preparation. Fire service operational staff will be available to offer advice on fire fighting aspects, as is currently the case. Information on evacuation schemes will continue to be available on the fire service website.

What will the NZFS be looking for?

The NZFS will be looking for fire engineered solution that shows in accordance with international best practice:

• how the alternative solution provides the means of escape from the building in the event of a fire; and
• how all of the fire safety systems provided contribute to and facilitate firefighting and rescue activity.

Means of escape is a defined term in the Building Act and concerns the provision of unobstructed escape routes and all passive and active systems. This taken together with the provision of fire fighting features will mean most aspects of a fire engineering design will be of interest to the DRU.

The DBH is in the process of introducing the International Fire Engineering Guidelines (IFEG) to New Zealand. It is the intention of the NZFS to promote the IFEG as a model of best practice in fire engineering design when providing advice to the BCA. The process proposed in the IFEG is also consistent with design documentation guidelines recently published by the Construction Industry Council (www.nzcic.co.nz/Design.cfm). The IFEG are endorsed by a number of organisations including the DBH and NZFS.

How do designs get lodged?

Once a BCA has received an application for a building consent, which is listed in the Gazette notice for the NZFS to review, they must forward a copy of this to the DRU.

There will be just a single address for the whole country (see end). The paperwork to be forwarded would be exactly the same as for a peer review of an alternative solution in respect of clauses C1-4, D1, F6 or F8 of the Building Code.

We recognise that the sector is moving slowly towards electronic lodgment of applications for building consent but that progress in this area is not uniform. The NZFS is currently asking for 1 paper copy and, optionally, 1 electronic copy on CD of the required information. It is hoped that in the fullness of time it will be possible to lodge documents fully electronically.

What happens after the application is sent to the NZFS?

The DRU will immediately acknowledge receipt of the documentation back to the BCA and include with this acknowledgement, a unique fire service identifier. If the NZFS decides that it does not wish to provide advice on the design, then this decision will be notified to the BCA as soon as possible.

After review, a memorandum will be sent to the BCA within 10 days containing the advice of the NZFS. Both the acknowledgement, and the memorandum will refer to the versions of drawings and reports supplied to the NZFS. The BCA will have to be careful about version control should the documents be updated whilst the consent is being processed.

Is this work chargeable?

The NZFS will charge for the work carried out, under section 47 of the Fire Service Act. An invoice will be issued at the time that the memorandum is provided which will be only for the costs incurred for the actual work carried out.

Further information

For further information see the NZFS website (www.fire.org.nz/) or feel free to contact us in any of the following ways:

Physical (Courier): New Zealand Fire Service, Design Review Unit, 2 Poynton Terrace, Newton, Auckland.
Mail: New Zealand Fire Service, Design Review Unit, PO Box 68-042, Newton, Auckland.
Electronic: dru@fire.org.nz
http://www.fire.org.nz
Phone: (09) 369 5301
Fax: (09) 309 0483

Text scheduled to appear as Gazette Notice on 24 March

Notice that Copies of Certain Applications for Building Consent to be Provided to the New Zealand Fire Service Commission

Pursuant to section 46(1) of the Building Act 2004 I give notice that copies of the following kinds of application for a building consent must be provided to the New Zealand Fire Service Commission:

1. An application for a building consent that relates to building work to be carried out in respect of any type of building or part of a building described in section 21A of the Fire Service Act 1975 regardless of whether the building or part of the building is sprinkler protected.

2. For the purpose of clause 1 an application for a building consent for building work means an application–

(a) where compliance with clauses C1-4, D1, F6 or F8 of the Building Code will be established other than by compliance with the provisions of an applicable compliance document; or

(b) that involves a modification or waiver of clauses C1-4, D1, F6 or F8 of the Building Code, under section 67 of the Building Act 2004; or

(c) that involves an alteration, change in use or subdivision and affects the fire safety systems, including any building work on a specified system relating to fire safety, except where the effect on the fire safety system is minor.

3. Clause 1 does not apply to an application for a building consent for building work to be carried out in respect of:

(a) single household units;

(b) buildings in which every fire-cell is a household unit separated vertically from the other fire-cells and each fire-cell has independent and direct egress to a safe place outside the building;

(c) an internal fit-out, unless the fit-out relates to a change of use under clause 2(c);

(d) outbuildings or ancillary buildings.

4. This notice comes into force on 22 April 2005.

Katrina Bach
Chief Executive
Department of Building and Housing