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Technical reviews

The Department plays an important role in reviewing and monitoring the performance of territorial authorities (TAs) and building consent authorities (BCAs) in relation to their functions under the Building Act. The Department aims to help achieve efficient and effective building control practices in the industry, through collective input from the Department, territorial authorities and building consent authorities, building practitioners and other relevant industry stakeholders.

One mechanism for carrying out this role throughout the country is the technical review process. Technical reviews are undertaken to assist TAs and BCAs to fulfill their obligations under the Building Act 2004. The review is a tool to assist a TA or BCA to:

  • enhance the performance of its building control activities
  • implement appropriate systems, processes and resources so it can carry out its building control operations
  • effectively fulfill its obligations under the Building Act and Building Regulations.

Technical reviews also examine whether a TA or BCA has the appropriate systems, processes and resources to enable its staff to undertake their work effectively and efficiently.

In particular:

  • a technical review will not necessarily discover all errors the TA or BCA might have made, or might be making, in respect of particular buildings
  • a favourable technical review does not necessarily mean the TA’s or BCA's procedures as reviewed will prevent it from making errors in the future
  • a technical review is part of a TA’s or BCA's continuous improvement process and does not relieve them of their requirement to take ownership of their statutory functions themselves.

Why are technical reviews done?

The technical reviews are not intended to deliberately evaluate the performance of individual staff, and are not comprehensive audits involving detailed examinations of a TA's or BCA's building control operations. Nor do they assess the TA or BCA against a particular model, or expressly measure it against the performance of other TAs or BCAs.

Rather, the reviews are undertaken to:

  • examine the ability of territorial authorities or BCAs to effectively fulfil their statutory requirements under the Act, Building Regulations and the Building Code
  • determine whether they have appropriate systems and resources in place to enable them to properly do their work
  • examine their performance with specific respect to weathertightness compliance
  • give assistance and advice where appropriate
  • pass on helpful ideas and best-practice processes from other BCAs to help achieve an effective and nationally consistent building control regime.

Legislative basis

The Building Act 2004 has repealed the Building Act 1991. However, the functions of the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing regarding technical reviews have been carried over. Sections 11(h), 204 and 276 of the Building Act 2004 are the key sections. This provides the mandate for the Department to complete technical reviews initiated by the former Building Industry Authority, and to commence new reviews.

What aspects are reviewed?

The review terms of reference cover the following criteria.

  • Procedures for determining compliance with the Building Code.
  • Assessing Alternative Solutions.
  • Procedures for Producer Statements.
  • Weathertightness compliance.
  • Compliance with other Act requirements.
  • Building warrant of fitness (BWOF) regime.
  • Accessibility compliance.
  • Human resources.
  • Technical knowledge and ability of staff.
  • Adequacy of resources.
  • Adequacy, security and availability of public records.
  • Relationships with BCAs.
  • Case studies of completed buildings.
  • Accompanying personnel during inspection work.
  • Organisational/management structure.
  • Consent statistics.
  • Use of processing clock (statutory time-frames).
  • Feedback to the Department of Building and Housing. 
     

How is the review carried out?

Download the Technical Review Process [PDF 58 KB, 6 pages] to find out about the methodology involved.

Technical reviews published

Review reports of building control operations:

2009

2006-2008

Archived information