Three more councils accredited
Three more territorial authorities have been accredited as building consent authorities since the first accreditation – of Palmerston North City Council – in late July.
South Taranaki District Council, Hurunui District Council and New Plymouth District Council were accredited by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) in September.
IANZ had, in its on-site assessment of the councils, identified only relatively minor corrective actions for the councils to undertake before they could be accredited. The most common corrective action requests have related to processes for assessing the competency of staff in their specific area of building controls work.
All but two of the 85 territorial and regional authorities have either applied for accreditation or indicated to the Department that they intend transferring their building control functions to another accredited and registered building consent authority by 30 June 2008. The two yet to apply are regional authorities.
As at late-September, 68 territorial authorities were being assessed by IANZ.
One regional authority is being assessed with, at this stage, nine regional authorities and one territorial authority (Chatham Islands Council) planning to transfer their building control functions.
Regulations prescribing building consent authority registration criteria and standards have been approved by Cabinet. The regulations also set the form and content of registration application forms and the registration fees payable by private organisations. Registration of accredited councils will commence immediately once the regulations come into force - most likely during November 2007.
Registration of councils that submit evidence of accreditation should be a simple and straight-forward process. This reflects the fact that councils are already operating as building consent authorities and already meet the registration requirements due to other statutory requirements, such as their obligations under the Local Government Act to ensure council staff act with integrity and in accordance with public interest. No registration fees will be required from councils.
Private organisations seeking registration as a building consent authority will need to pay an application fee of $6,250 (GST inclusive). This fee reflects the cost to the Department of checking that they are 'fit and proper' to be registered and have 'adequate means' to meet potential civil liabilities arising from their building control work.
Consultation closed on 21 September 2007 on 'adequate means' and proposed minimum terms and conditions for civil liability insurance policies for private building consent authorities. The Department is analysing submissions on the consultation paper, Private Building Consent Authority 'Adequate Means' and Civil Liability Insurance Proposals, and will develop recommendations for the Government on the content of regulations for private building consent authorities.
Private organisations wanting to perform building control work will only have to be accredited and registered if they want to operate as stand-alone, registered building consent authorities. A council that has been accredited and registered may, however, use an unregistered private organisation (on a contract basis) to undertake particular aspects of the building control process, such as checking specific engineering designs. In these cases liability for the private organisation's building control work would rest with the council accredited and registered as a building consent authority.