Technical Review of the Building Control Operations of Selwyn District Council Summary Report

The review process

Review timeframe

Technical reviews are typically undertaken using a three-phase process, which usually takes approximately 18-36 months from start to finish. In 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 9-12 months.

Phase two involves a follow-up review being undertaken after an appropriate period of time has passed since the completion of phase one. This phase 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 submissions, the follow-up review report is finalised and provided to the building consent authority or territorial authority.

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 for Selwyn District Council indicated in phase three.

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, inspection checklists and records, manuals and approved 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.

Figure 2: Preparing for and conducting technical reviews

Terms of reference

The table below sets out the terms of reference that were the basis for the review.

Terms of reference
1	Organisational and management structure
2	Consent statistics
3	Use of the processing clock
4	Procedures for determining compliance with the Building Code. 4.1 Consent application vetting and lodgement processes 4.2 Project information memoranda processing 4.3 Building consent processing 4.4 Use of conditions, notations and endorsements on consent documents 4.5 Use of peer review, external or specialised assessment 4.6 Issuing code compliance certificates
5	Assessing alternative solutions for building compliance
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 and equipment
14	Adequacy, security and availability of public records
15	Relationships with other territorial authorities
16	Case studies of completed buildings
17	Accompanying personnel during inspection work
18	Feedback from the Council to the Department