7 Next steps

Further reviews

The Department will continue to carry out technical reviews of territorial authorities and building consent authorities, including further reviews of Porirua City Council, in accordance with its statutory requirements under the Building Act 2004.

New system of accreditation and registration

The Department's technical reviews are an important tool for territorial authorities and building consent authorities to assess their readiness and assist their preparation for the new regulatory system introduced by the Building Act 2004. The Building Consent Authority Accreditation and Registration Scheme will regulate building control provided at the local level. This will bring about significant changes to regulatory building control in New Zealand.

Accreditation in the building control sector aims to help strengthen the decision-making processes at the critical building consent and inspection stages of the building process. Successful implementation will help bring about greater consistency in regulatory building control across New Zealand. It will help lead to performance improvements, raised standards in the sector, and greater consumer confidence in the consenting and inspecting system.

Under the Act, any organisation that wishes to undertake building control functions must be a registered building consent authority. In order to be registered, an organisation must be accredited by the Building Consent Accreditation Body (International Accreditation New Zealand) as a building consent authority.

The Department's Consent Authority Capability and Performance Group is leading the work to design and implement this new system. The accreditation process will involve prospective building consent authorities being assessed by the independent accreditation body against a set of standards and criteria Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 covering key components of good practice in regulatory building control.

The accreditation assessment process will incorporate many of the critical regulatory building control components of the Department's existing technical review process. The Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 have a strong industry focus and cover three key areas.

• Formal policies, systems and processes
• Technical competence
• Quality assurance

Further information

Further information about both the technical review programme and the building consent authority accreditation and registration scheme can be accessed on this website.

Relevant Guidance Information

Under section 175 of the Building Act 2004, the Chief Executive (of the Department of Building and Housing) has a statutory role in the publishing of guidance information for territorial authorities and building consent authorities. The Department has published a range of guidance information to assist territorial authorities and building consent authorities in understanding how to comply with the Building Act 2004 and their building control responsibilities. This includes:

• Building Officials' Guide to the Building Act 2004 (August 2005, second edition)
• Building Consent Authority Development Guide (February 2006)
• Building Officials' FAQs (August 2005)
• Earthquake-prone building provisions of the Building Act 2004: Policy guidance for territorial authorities
• Dangerous and insanitary building provisions of the Building Act 2004: Policy guidance for territorial authorities
• External moisture - a guide to using the risk matrix
• External moisture - An introduction to weathertightness design principles
• Critical requirements for the Assessment of 'Monolithic Cladding' (April 2004)
• Practice Advisory 6: Achieve best practice - every step of the way
• Practice Advisory 5: Allow for movement
• Reinforcing steel in New Zealand - A quick guide for designers, building consent authorities and contractors
• Guide to applying for a building consent (simple, residential buildings) (January 2007)
• Building Consent Authority Accreditation Preparation and Self-assessment Guide (February 2007)
• Building Consent Authority Management Processes and Procedures Guide (February 2007).
• Building Consent Authority Accreditation Update (October 2006, December 2006, February 2007, April 2007, June 2007, August 2007, October 2007).

This and other guidance information is available online. The Department also hosts or participates regularly in training workshops, seminars and conferences to provide guidance, advice and information to the sector.