Our strategic direction

The Department has an important leadership role to play in working with the building and housing sector to lift standards and performance. It must also look ahead and consider how our buildings and built environment can better meet New Zealanders' needs now and in the future, and how to best respond to changing building technologies and systems, and changing housing needs.

The Department will:

• deliver value to New Zealanders from effective design and delivery of building sector reforms
• build and maintain effective sector relationships and continue to work with the sector to drive delivery of reforms and changes in behaviour
• contribute to work on housing affordability through undertaking research on key drivers of the cost of housing
• develop and deliver on its role in sustainable development
• lift consumer awareness, understanding and appreciation of building quality and performance
• continue to develop the organisation and build internal capability.

The Outcome Framework shows how the Department's capability initiatives, outputs and key strategies link to deliver on intermediate outcomes, the overall outcome, and the Government's priorities.

Achieving our outcomes

All of our activities seek to contribute to the overall outcome:

The people of New Zealand have access to quality homes and buildings that meet their needs, reflect our environment and contribute to a sustainable New Zealand

We have identified four intermediate outcomes required to achieve this overall outcome. Those intermediate outcomes are as follows.

• Buildings and homes that perform well in the New Zealand environment and contribute to sustainability
• A strong, well-performing sector with skilled building and housing professionals
• Homes and buildings that meet the changing needs of New Zealanders and contribute to strong, effective communities
• Confident building and home owners, tenants and users that value well-designed, well-built, warm, safe and healthy homes and buildings

Our contribution to these intermediate outcomes is directed through seven strategies (detailed over the following pages). Each of these strategies requires us to work closely with others, including other government and non-government bodies, local government, industry stakeholders and consumers.

The Department's strategies are as follows.

• Ensure the regulatory framework supports the supply of quality, affordable, adaptive, sustainable homes and buildings and enables innovation.
• Work with the sector to foster learning, enhance and support professional behaviour, skills and knowledge, and facilitate greater ownership of this by the sector.
• Raise consumer knowledge and appreciation of housing, building and construction issues through access to quality information and advice.
• Improve the sustainability of the built environment so that it contributes to a strong economy, positive living environments and effective communities.
• Foster investment and research into building science and building design.

These first five externally-focused strategies are supported by two internally-focused strategies that support the Department's organisational development, capability and delivery of outputs.

• Deliver integrated, connected and accessible services that are valued by New Zealanders.
• Continue to build the capability and performance of the Department to deliver value for New Zealanders.