Cost-effective quality: next generation building control in New Zealand — Building Act Review discussion document
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February 2010
Part 1: Clarifying the purpose and principles of the Building Act and the requirements of the Building Code
To get the basic elements right for proposed improvements to building controls, the Government wants to ensure that:
- the purpose and principles of the Building Act are clear and provide appropriate direction to those who implement and administer the building control system
- the Building Code performance requirements are clear, unambiguous and easy to access.
This would contribute to a more consistent approach to building control nationwide and reduce the cost of doing business.
1.1 ClarIfyIng the purpose and principles of the Building Act
Those who implement and administer the building control system would have clear and appropriate direction, leading to more national consistency in the building control system.
The current situation
The Building Act 2004 includes a purpose statement and principles to guide those responsible for implementing and administering the building control system. In practice, the purpose and principles should guide the decisions and discretionary judgements of those administering the Act and its regulations.
The purpose stated in section 3 of the Building Act is to regulate building work, establish a licensing regime for building practitioners and set performance standards for buildings, to ensure:
- people can use buildings safely and without endangering their health
- buildings contribute appropriately to the health, physical independence and wellbeing of the people who use them
- people can escape from the building if it is on fire
- buildings are constructed and can be used in ways that promote sustainable development.
The review heard that the meaning of the reference to sustainable development is unclear and has been interpreted differently by different people. Questions were also raised about whether there needed to be a reference to buildings being designed and built to ensure their suitability for their intended purposes.
The principles are detailed in section 4(2) of the Building Act. In simple terms, they require that administrators of the Act take into account:
- the important role of homes in people’s lives, the need for homes to comply with the Building Code and the importance of maintaining them
- the need to prevent or minimise any harm to people’s health from building design, methods or materials
- the need to ensure buildings are durable for their intended use
- the need to recognise any special traditional and cultural aspects of the intended use of a building
- the cost of a building (including maintenance) over the whole of its life
- the importance of standards of building design and construction
- the importance of allowing for continuing innovation in building design and construction methods
- the right of emergency workers to be protected from injury or illness when they have to enter the building
- the need to limit the spread of fire
- the need to protect other property from damage when constructing, using or demolishing a building
- the need to provide for people with disabilities
- the need to facilitate the preservation of buildings of significant cultural, historical or heritage value
- the need to facilitate energy efficiency and conservation, and renewable energy use
- the need to use materials efficiently and sustainably
- the need to facilitate efficient use and conservation of water
- the need to minimise waste during construction.
The review heard that some of these principles, such as durability and special traditional and cultural aspects, could be interpreted in a range of ways. Questions were also raised about whether all the principles are equally important and whether there are some matters missing, such as the importance of national consistency, and the importance of ensuring costs are in proportion to risk.
The Act’s purpose and principles currently apply primarily to the regulation-making and other statutory functions of the Minister for Building and Construction and the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing. They apply to only a narrow range of building consent authority functions, such as when they are developing policies in relation to dangerous buildings, and do not apply to all their administration of the building control system.
What is being considered
We propose to amend the purpose and principles of the Act, subject to feedback, to ensure they are clear and provide appropriate direction to those who implement and administer the building control system.
The following questions may help you formulate your feedback. Use our online submission process to answer these questions and give us your comments:
| Questions about the purpose and principles of the Building Act |
| Q1 Does the reference to sustainable development in the purpose statement (Building Act 2004 section 3(d)) provide clear and appropriate guidance to those administering the Act? If not, why not? |
| Q2 Should suitability for purpose be referred to in the purpose statement? If so, how should this be worded? |
| Q3 Should other changes be made to the purpose statement? If so, what are they? |
| Q4 Do you agree that all of the 16 existing principles (Building Act 2004 section 4) are necessary to guide those administering the Act? If not, which principles do you consider fundamental? |
| Q5 Should other matters be referred to in the principles? If so, what are they? |
| Q6 Do you agree that the purpose and principles should apply to local authorities in their administration of all, not just some, of their building control functions? If not, in which circumstances should they be able to make decisions without regard to the purpose and principles? |
| Q7 Do you have any other comments on the Building Act’s purpose and principles? |
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1.2 Clearer requirements in, and improved access to, The Building Code and supporting information
Everyone involved in a building project – consumers, building professionals and tradespeople, and building consent authority staff – should be able to easily find out what’s required for a building to comply with the Building Code; that is, meet the necessary requirements for health, safety and other essential aspects. This is particularly important in a system where there will be more reliance on licensed building practitioners to confirm that work is Code compliant (rather than leaving it up to building consent authorities), as proposed in Part 2 of this document.
The current situation
The Building Code3 is central to the building control system. It sets out the minimum performance requirements for buildings. The rest of the building control system exists mainly to achieve compliance with these requirements.
In simple terms, the Building Code sets out requirements for:
- structure that will withstand loads such as earthquake, wind and snow
- durability of building materials, components and construction methods
- fire safety including reducing the chance of fire and providing for people to escape
- access that is safe and easy
- moisture resistance so that buildings are dry and water damage is avoided
- protection against hazardous contaminants, building materials, substances and processes, and against construction and demolition hazards
- adequate safety measures including safety from falling, visible escape routes, and appropriate warning systems and signs
- adequate services and facilities including ventilation, sound, warmth, light, electricity, water, waste, and provision for personal and food hygiene
- energy efficiency.
The Code does not prescribe how building work should meet requirements (that is, there are no detailed requirements for design and construction), but states how completed building work, and its components, must perform. In practice this means there can be many ways of meeting the requirements, some based on new materials and/or design methods. The Code thus enables designers and the industry to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions.
The Building Act also provides for the publication of information about designs and/or methods that provide one way of meeting Code requirements, in documents called Compliance Documents. It is not mandatory to use these documents, but if they are used, then building consent authorities must accept the building work as Code compliant.
The term ‘Compliance Document’ may in itself be unhelpful as it tends to suggest that the designs and/or methods it sets out must be complied with, rather than being just one possible approach.
Compliance Documents can cite Standards that have been developed by internationally recognised standard-setting bodies including Standards New Zealand. These Standards set agreed specifications for products, processes, services or performance.
The Department of Building and Housing has previously reviewed the Building Code. That review found that, while the framework is conceptually sound and in accordance with international best practice, building professionals, tradespeople and building consent authority staff can have difficulty accessing and understanding the detailed requirements.
Some Code requirements are open to interpretation with the use of terms such as ‘adequate’ or ‘low probability’. Where Code requirements are vague or poorly described, building consent authorities tend to give preference to the methods and standards cited in Compliance Documents. This can be a barrier to innovation and efficiency.
The Code has been updated but the Department has heard that some consumers and people in the building and construction sector are not aware of the latest Code requirements, or advice on meeting them.
Issues with access to Code requirements and supporting information include the following.
- The Code and Compliance Documents are organised by building function (structural, fire, access, and so on) rather than building type. This means people in the building sector have to read and follow several Code clauses, related Compliance Documents, and related Standards and other documents for any one project. It can be difficult for them to readily access the information they need.
- While the Code, Compliance Documents and Standards are available on the internet, they are still organised on a traditional model – essentially a paper-based system which requires people to go through several volumes to determine requirements.
- The large number of different documents can create difficulties in keeping information up to date and consistent.
What is being considered
To address the issues noted above, the Department is currently working to:
- improve the specification of the following Code clauses:
- visibility in escape routes – more specific requirements were introduced in July 2007 (www.dbh.govt.nz/bcupdate-article-65)
- fire safety clauses – work in conjunction with industry is under way to improve the clarity of design requirements; public consultation on revised fire safety design requirements is planned for mid-2010
- improve the way information on Code requirements and related Compliance Documents and Standards is provided, so that building professionals and tradespeople, building consent authority staff and consumers are all able to access the information they need to inform their decisions on building work, in ways that make sense to them.
The following questions may help you formulate your feedback. Use our online submission process to answer these questions and give us your comments:
| Questions about Building Code requirements and access |
| Q8 Do you agree that some Code performance requirements are ambiguous or unclear? |
| Q9 If so, what is the impact of this for you? |
| Q10 Which Code performance requirements do you think need to be clarified and which would you make top priority for clarification? (Note that work is under way on requirements related to visibility in escape routes and fire safety.) |
| Q11 Do you believe that Code performance requirements are well known to those who need to know them? If not, how could they be made better known? |
| Q12 Do you have any problems accessing Code performance requirements and supporting information (including Compliance Documents and Standards)? If so, what are the problems and what could be done about them? |
| Q13 Do you agree that the label ‘Compliance Document’ creates an expectation that it must be used? If so, can you suggest a better label for this type of document? |
| Q14 Do you have any other comments on clarifying Code requirements or improving access to the Code requirements and supporting information? |
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