The review process

Review timeframe

Technical reviews are undertaken using a three-phase process, which usually takes approximately 12 months from start to finish.

Phase one: The Department undertakes an on-site initial review of the building consent authority's or territorial authority's building control operations and produces a report with recommendations. The organisation then provides feedback to the Department on the report and addresses recommendations made by the Department over the following 6 to 9 months.

Phase two: A follow-up review is undertaken 6 to 9 months after completion of phase one, which focuses on how the building consent authority or territorial authority has addressed recommendations from the initial review. A draft follow-up report is provided to the organisation so it can make a written submission on the final findings. Following consideration of any submission, the follow-up review report is finalised and provided to the building consent authority or territorial authority.

Phase three: The review process is then completed by preparing a summary review report for publication on the Department's website.

The figure below shows the stages of the review process. This report is the summary report indicated in phase three for Grey District Council.

Figure 1: Overview of the technical review process

Investigative method

The Department measures a territorial authority's or building consent authority's performance using a number of methods including:

• observing staff doing their work, both in the office and on site
• reviewing written material used and produced by staff (eg, policies, procedures, checklists, manuals and consent documentation)
• interviewing staff about their use of material and their work
• assessing a random sample of building projects (case studies) that have recently been, or are currently being, handled by the territorial authority or building consent authority.

The December 2003 visit to the Grey District Council was undertaken over a 4-day period using a three-person team. In February 2006 the follow-up review visit was undertaken over a 3-day period using a two-person team. This provided a snapshot of the Council's building control operations at these points in time. The Department looked at the processing and approving of building consents, and the undertaking of inspections, including those buildings that had recently been completed and had code compliance certificates issued. These case studies were selected randomly.

Terms of reference

The table opposite sets out the 18 broad terms of reference that were the basis for the technical review of the Council's building control operations. The purpose of each term of reference is described more fully in the summary of findings that follows.

Terms of reference for technical review
1	Organisational and management structure.
2	Consent statistics.
3	Use of the processing clock.
4	Procedures for determining compliance with the Building Code: Consent application vetting and lodgement processes Project information memorandum processing Building consent processing Use of notations and endorsements on building consent documents Peer reviews Use of external assessment Audit trail for determining compliance
5	Assessing alternative solutions.
6	Procedures for accepting producer statements.
7	Weathertightness compliance.
8	Compliance with other Building Act requirements.
9	Compliance schedules and the building warrant of fitness regime.
10	Accessibility compliance.
11	Human resources.
12	Technical knowledge and ability of staff.
13	Adequacy of resources.
14	Adequacy, security and availability of public records.
15	Relationships with private building certifiers and other territorial authorities.
16	Case studies of completed buildings.
17	Accompanying personnel during inspections.
18	Feedback from the Council to the Department.