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Further reviews

The Department will continue to carry out technical reviews of territorial authorities and building consent authorities, including further reviews of Ruapehu District Council, in accordance with its statutory requirements under the Building Act 2004.

The Department aims to help achieve efficient and effective building controls in the industry through collective input from itself, territorial authorities, building consent authorities, building practitioners and other relevant industry stakeholders.

The technical review process is an important tool for territorial authorities and building consent authorities to assess their readiness and help their preparation for a new regulatory system, which is being designed and implemented.

New system of accreditation and registration

The Building Act 2004 introduces an accreditation and registration scheme to regulate building control provided at the local level. This will bring about significant changes to regulatory building control in New Zealand.

Accreditation in the building control sector aims to strengthen the decision-making processes at the critical building consent and inspection stages of the building process. Successful implementation will bring about greater consistency in regulatory building control across New Zealand. It will help lead to performance improvements, raised standards in the sector, and more consumer confidence in the system.

Under the Act, any organisation that wishes to undertake building control functions after 30 November 2007 must be a registered building consent authority. To be registered, an organisation must be accredited by the building consent accreditation body (International Accreditation New Zealand) as a building consent authority.

The Department's Consent Authority Capability and Performance Group is leading the work to design and implement this new system. The accreditation process will involve prospective building consent authorities being assessed by an independent accreditation body against a set of standards and criteria, the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006, covering the main components of good-practice regulatory building control.

The accreditation assessment process will incorporate many of the critical regulatory building control components of the Department's existing technical review process. The Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 have a strong industry focus and cover three main areas.

  • Formal policies, systems and processes
  • Technical competence
  • Quality assurance

Further information

Further information about both the technical review programme and the building consent authority accreditation and registration scheme can be accessed online.

Guidance documentation

Under section 175 of the Building Act 2004 the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing has a statutory role in the publishing of guidance information for territorial authorities and building consent authorities. The Department has published a range of guidance information to help territorial authorities and building consent authorities understand how to comply with the Building Act 2004 and their building control responsibilities.

  • Building officials' guide to the Building Act 2004 (August 2005, second edition)
  • Building consent authority development guide (February 2006)
  • Building officials' FAQs (August 2005)
  • Earthquake-prone building provisions of the Building Act 2004: Policy guidance for territorial authorities (June 2005)
  • Dangerous and insanitary building provisions of the Building Act 2004: Policy guidance for territorial authorities (October 2005)
  • External moisture - a guide to using the risk matrix (June 2005)
  • External moisture - an introduction to weathertightness design principles (June 2005)
  • Critical requirements for the assessment of 'monolithic' claddings (April 2004)
  • Practice advisory 6: Achieve best practice - every step of the way (December 2004)
  • Practice advisory 5: Allow for movement (December 2004)
  • Reinforcing steel in New Zealand - a quick guide for designers, building consent authorities and contractors (July 2005)
  • Guide to applying for a building consent (simple, residential buildings) (January 2007)
  • Building consent authority accreditation preparation and self-assessment guide (February 2007)

This and other guidance information is available online. The Department also participates regularly in training workshops and conferences to provide updates and information to the building control sector.