4 Purpose of the technical review

Technical reviews are performance reviews undertaken to monitor building consent authorities and territorial authorities and help them fulfil their obligations under the Building Act 2004. The review is a tool to help a territorial authority and building consent authority:

• enhance the performance of its building control activities
• implement appropriate systems and processes so it can carry out its building control operations
• effectively fulfil its obligations under the Building Act and Building Regulations.

Technical reviews also examine whether a territorial authority or building consent authority has the appropriate operational systems and resources to enable its staff to undertake their building control work effectively and efficiently.

They are not intended to evaluate the performance of individual staff and are not comprehensive audits involving detailed examinations of all aspects of a territorial or building consent authority's building control operations. Nor do they assess the territorial or building consent authority against a particular model or expressly measure it against the performance of other territorial or building consent authorities.

Legislative basis

This technical review was initiated under the Building Act 1991.² Although the Building Act 2004 repealed the Building Act 1991, the functions of the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing regarding technical reviews were carried over.³ This provides the mandate for the Department to complete technical reviews initiated by the former Building Industry Authority (BIA) and to commence new reviews.

Accordingly, this report primarily references the Building Act 2004, with supporting footnotes outlining the appropriate sections of the 1991 Act. Further information on the comparable sections of the two Acts is provided in the Department's publication Building Officials' Guide to the Building Act 2004.⁴

2 Section 12(1)(d) of the former Building Act 1991 provided that one of the functions of the former Building Industry Authority was to undertake reviews of the operations of territorial authorities and building certifiers in relation to their functions under the Act. Section 15(1) empowered the former BIA to undertake a review of the operation of territorial authorities' functions under the Act. These sections were revoked on 31 March 2005 by the Building Act 2004.

3 Sections 11(h), 204 and 276 of the Building Act 2004 are the key sections.

4 Available in hard copy from the Department by calling 0800 242 243 or in electronic form via the Department's website.