Our Strategies

Strategy: Improving the capability of the building and housing sector, including regulators, to deliver quality buildings and homes

Quality buildings and homes are defined as buildings and homes that are built right first time and adequately maintained throughout their lifetime.

What we will do

We will foster the skills, knowledge, experience, systems and processes needed by the building and housing sector to adequately design, construct and inspect buildings that meet regulatory standards.

Why we will do it

Intermediate Outcomes

The building and housing sector has the capacity and capability to meet the needs of the market. Regulators have the capacity and capability to develop and/or apply the building regulatory regime.

Skilled and capable people and organisations are necessary to achieve the government's outcomes for the sector. The Department administers regulations that set standards for the skills and capabilities of building and design professions, trades and those who administer the regulatory framework. These regulations complement other elements of the regulatory framework to ensure buildings are safe and healthy.

To be effective, the building control regime requires the Department to be effective at the central level, relevant authorities (as co-regulators) to be effective at the local level, and the building and housing sector (as implementers) to be effective at applying the regime.

A major area of focus for the Department is the implementation of the licensed building practitioner provisions of the Building Act 2004. The Department will also undertake activities designed to improve the capability of territorial authorities in their administration of the building regulatory system.

How we will do it

We will:

• work with professions and trades across the building and housing sector to set national standards to demonstrate competence and skill
• work with qualification providers and learning organisations to ensure there are appropriate qualifications and courses for building sector professions, trades and building control officials
• develop, in consultation with the building and housing sector, resources that guide and advise them on their rights and obligations.

What we will deliver

A critical part of this strategy over the next 3 years will be:

• monitoring and reporting on performance, skills and competencies across the building and housing sector
• implementating the building practitioner licensing scheme. In 2005/06 we will develop the rules and regulations for the building practitioner licensing scheme.
• upskilling of building officials. In 2005/06 we will:
  – establish a national qualification for building officials
  – establish the accreditation and registration systems for building consent authorities
  – provide guidance information to relevant authorities
  – provide assurance of building consent authorities’ regulatory performance.
• upskilling of property owners and managers. In 2005/06 we will:
  – develop and implement strategies to improve the quality of business and property management practices
  – provide information and advice to the housing industry aimed at raising the standards of property and property management.
• investigating and reporting on barriers to institutional investment in rental housing.

Contribution of Output Classes to Strategy
Output Class	Output
Building Act 2004 Implementation	Advice and GuidanceBuilding Officials Education Regulatory Schemes
Building Regulation and Control	Advice and GuidanceBuilding Officials Education ComplianceRegulatory Schemes
Occupational Licensing	Building Practitioner Licensing SchemeStatutory Board Responsibilities
Purchase and Monitoring Advice - Housing New Zealand Corporation	HNZC Monitoring and Purchase Advice
Residential Tenancy Services	Advice and GuidanceCompliance
Sector and Regulatory Policy	Sector and Regulatory Policy AdviceSector, Industry and Market Monitoring

For the year ended December 2004:

• 31,423 new dwelling consents were issued, up 1509 (5 percent) from the December 2003 year
• the value of all building work put in place was $7,612 million, up $599 million (8.5 percent). This is the largest recorded value of all building work put in place (constant prices) for a calendar year.

From 2001 to 2003 annual training completions were 1.8 percent of the total carpentry workforce, demand for carpenters has been growing at approximately 10 percent per annum. The outlook is for continued high levels of labour demand through 2005.