Publications update

Free Compliance Documents 

Building Code Compliance Documents are now available for free download on the Department's website.

Until recently they had only been available for purchase from the Victoria University Bookcentre. The Department had received a number of requests for the Compliance Documents to be made available free of charge as PDF files, so they were made available on the Departmental website.

This has been well received by industry, and the documents have been frequently downloaded since becoming available in March.
Compliance Documents (formerly known as Approved Documents) are designed to help people comply with the requirements of the New Zealand Building Code. Buildings built to the method described in a Compliance Document are automatically deemed to comply with the particular provision of the Building Code to which the document relates.

The documents are not mandatory - you can use alternative ways of building provided these also come up to the required performance standards stipulated in the Building Code.

The Building Amendment Act 2005 requires Compliance Documents to be freely available on the Department's website (section 25A). The intention of the Amendment Act is to ensure the documents are accessible.

The Victoria University Bookcentre continues to sell the Compliance Documents in hard copy and CD-ROM formats, and offers a PDF subscription service.