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Nationally consistent system

What’s happening?

The Government is doing further work on how it could make the current administration of the building consent system more nationally consistent and efficient.

The Department of Building and Housing will involve local government in preparing a preferred approach for consideration by the end of March 2011.

What would a ‘nationally consistent’ system look like?

A nationally consistent system, supporting local delivery, would have the following attributes:

  • accessible and nationally consistent building consent application requirements and processes for consumers
  • consistent interpretation of national building performance requirements and associated building consent decision processes
  • timely, responsive and predictable services for consumers
  • efficient use of scarce specialist skills, capital and other resources
  • administratively efficient and cost-effective system performance
  • the ability to quickly and effectively implement and respond to changes in Building Code requirements, and associated building consent and other regulatory requirements
  • effective use of local information on building performance and regulatory compliance to inform and modify national policies, building performance requirements and other regulatory settings
  • seamless integration with resource management and local planning, and other related activities.

Why is more consistency necessary?

Currently 75 building consent authorities process around 70,000 consents per year, an average of less than 1,000 per authority. Based on data for 2008/09, 17 building consent authorities issued fewer than 500 consents, while nine issued more than 2000 consents.

The Building Act review looked at options for more regional or national back office support for local delivery, including using on-line systems. It found that the cost of consent production could be reduced by an estimated 40%, with nationwide savings of around $250m over five years.

Further information

Read more in Paper 5: Delivering building regulation [PDF 88 KB, 12 pages]