Technical review of the building control operations of Thames Coromandel District Council summary report - February 2009

Important notice to people reading this technical review report

The Department of Building and Housing (the Department) carries out technical reviews as part of its function to monitor and review the performance by territorial authorities and building consent authorities (local authorities) of their functions under the Building Act 2004 (the Act). The purpose of a technical review is to assist the territorial authority or building consent authority under review to improve its building control operations.

A technical review is not an audit. A technical review is a performance review based on sampling building control activities, and cannot be taken as a full and comprehensive review of competency and quality. A technical review is carried out by:

• assessing whether the processes and procedures are sufficient to enable the local authority to satisfy the requirements of the Act, and related Regulations, including the New Zealand Building Code (Building Code)
• providing advice and assistance on best practice, and
• receiving comment and feedback from the local authority.

Overview

Purpose

This report summarises a technical review of Thames Coromandel District Council's key territorial authority building control functions. The review was undertaken by the Department of Building and Housing (the Department) during July 2008. The review followed complaints that the Council was not performing its functions as required under the Building Act 2004 and could strengthen areas of its building control capacity and capability.

Structure and content

Terms of reference for the review are described on page 9. As well as assessing statutory functions under the Building Act 2004, the review also considered generic issues such as the capacity and technical capability/competency of the Council's building control unit and its relationship with building control units in other territorial authorities.

Key findings from the review

The review found that the Council was performing to an adequate standard in several areas. The Council:

• makes appropriate delegations of its statutory powers and responsibilities
• accurately collects and reports building control statistics and hazard information
• maintains positive relationships with its neighbouring territorial authorities
• offers pre-lodgement meetings to its clients as a proactive way of trying to clarify expectations and create efficiencies.

The Council has reasonably sound written procedures for a number of its building control functions, including:

• producing project information memoranda (PIMs)
• the building warrant of fitness scheme
• issuing certificates for public use, notices to fix and certificates of acceptance
• changes to the use of buildings
• identifying and dealing with dangerous, insanitary and earthquake-prone buildings.

Many of these procedures usually covered the core provisions of the Building Act. However, improvements are still needed to a number of these procedures and how they are being implemented.

The review identified four main areas where the Council is facing some challenges. Addressing these issues will improve the quality of service to Council customers and compliance with the Building Act. The key issues are as follows.

Understanding and applying statutory responsibilities

The review highlighted that there are some areas of the Building Act and Regulations that need to be more thoroughly understood and consistently applied by Council building control staff. In particular, the Council needs to:

• improve staff understanding of timeframes and issuing building consents in relation to project information memoranda
• improve staff understanding of the use of waivers and modifications of the Building Code
• improve staff identification of specified systems at the consent processing stage
• review how it is responding to illegal building work, and issuing and enforcing notices to fix.

Documentation around building control decision-making

A recurring theme identified across the review was the need to strengthen how key regulatory decisions were being recorded. In some cases there was only limited evidence on file to show:

• how the Council's documented procedures were followed
• the reasons for decisions and evidence to support them
• the actual decisions that were made
• whether any follow-up action was required or occurred.

In particular, the Council needs to better document:

• public safety issues when issuing certificates for public use
• information when issuing notices to fix, such as the location of the building work, the nature of the breach in question, and the specific remedial action the Council requires
• the justification for issuing certificates of acceptance, based on the Building Code
• the basis for deciding work does not require a building consent under Schedule 1, clause (k), of the Building Act.

Effective implementation of building control systems, policies, and procedures

Some systems, policies, and procedures need improvement and more effective implementation. In particular, the Council needs to:

• review its procedures on waivers and modifications of the Building Code, and strengthen how it assesses requirements about land subject to natural hazards
• bring its compliance schedule system into line so that it fully complies with the provisions of the Building Act
• implement its documented building warrant of fitness procedures
• enhance its procedures for issuing certificates for public use and certificates of acceptance
• enhance its procedures about alterations to existing buildings
• clearly define what information is required to be kept on property files and ensure this information is consistently being filed
• implement measures to ensure procedures for its regulatory functions are being consistently followed, such as peer review or internal audits.

Capacity and capability

While the Council had also made some progress to shore up some capacity limitations (eg, seeking to fill vacant positions and allocating a person to its building warrant of fitness system and associated enforcement), further work is required.

The key issues identified around the Council's capacity and technical building control capability were that the Council needs to:

• develop further strategies to bolster its necessary capacity and continue to try harder to fill existing vacancies
• better manage gaps in its technical knowledge and competence (particularly fire and accessibility compliance)
• pursue practical solutions to address these limitations, including continuing to use external contract expertise and increased internal or external training/guidance/mentoring
• nominate one or more technically competent staff to make the final decisions on whether to grant or refuse waivers and modifications of the Building Code.

The Council's progress towards implementing review findings

The Council provided the following generic feedback on the review process.

• It considers the technical review process to be extremely valuable.
• It is committed to working with the Department and others to ensure its building control operations are carried out in a manner that is consistent with achieving the purposes of the Building Act 2004.
• The Council accepts each of the findings in the Department's summary report of the technical review. The Council's response to these findings is to adopt and work on each of the report's recommendations.
• In the relatively short time since receiving the review report, the Council has already taken steps to improve its operations. There is much work still to do, and the Council is committed to doing it.

Since the on-site review, the Council contracted an external building control specialist to undertake competency assessments for its building control staff. The Council advises that the findings from this work were largely consistent with many of the findings from the Department's technical review.

The Council identified key themes across both reports that included:

• capability and competence of in-house staff to perform building control functions for all categories of building work
• some inconsistencies in following some documented procedures
• limitations of staffing resources in the areas of compliance and enforcement
• a gap in team leadership (at the level between building control officers and the building control manager)
• the need to review its building control procedures
• limitations in the Council's auditing processes.

In November 2008, the Council's Group Manager, Environmental Services, met with staff from the Department and the external building control specialist it had commissioned to discuss the reports, clarify the critical issues, and agree the best way forward. The two reports were then shared with Council building control staff to obtain their input. Key personnel from across the Council subsequently met and developed their response to issues raised. Particular focus was given to the key themes noted above.

Some of the key outcomes from this process included:

• ensuring work is only allocated to building control officers who are technically competent to do that work
• ensuring staff follow the Council's documented procedures
• dedicating a senior staff member to lead, mentor and supervise the Council's building control officers until the vacant team leader position is filled
• the Group Manager, Environmental Services agreeing to support the case for team leader(s) and reallocating the workload of the staff member who will act in the role in the interim
• reviewing compliance resourcing needs
• initiating discussions with an external building control specialist to help manage identified gaps in technical capability or provide additional capacity when this is needed
• identifying a potential contractor to assist with compliance, the building warrant of fitness regime, enforcement activity, and other needs
• progressing further training planning after the recent competency assessment process
• reporting to the Council's Judicial Committee, its Audit Committee and its Leadership Team on the findings and outcomes from the recent reviews.

The Council also began a review of the internal auditing processes used by its building control unit. While the review will be ongoing, some of the steps the Council has decided to implement include internal audits to check that work allocation is based on competence, processes are being consistently followed, producer statements are being accepted appropriately, and the necessary resources are being provided. The Council will also introduce a system of 'spot checking' on inspection work, with regular feedback to staff, and strengthen its system of internal peer review.

Conclusion

Overall, the review found there were a number of things the Council was doing well, but there was also room for improvement across the four broad areas identified above. The Council has agreed with all of the Department's findings and recommendations, and is progressing work to fully implement them.