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Building Warrant of Fitness and Compliance Schedule Amendments

Thursday 24 January 2013, 2:44PM

By Marlborough District Council

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MARLBOROUGH

The New Zealand Building Act 2004 amendments came into effect on 13 March 2012. This included a number of changes to the Compliance Schedule and Building Warrant of Fitness process.

The Act requires that the Compliance Schedule be updated to remain consistent with the changes to the Act and Regulations. Primarily this means that the descriptions of “Specified Systems” under the 1991 Building Act no longer applies.

Owners are required to apply for these amendments on the prescribed Form 11 before 13 March 2013.
The main changes are:

  • The Compliance Schedules must have a description of each specified system (type and make) in the building and it is recommended that the location of each system be included in the description to ensure that the people who are employed to inspect these systems know where they are.
  • Systems such as Means of Escape from fire, Safety barriers, Hand held hose reels, Signs for Access and Facilities etc. as required by the 1991 Building Act, are no longer required to be on the Compliance Schedule and must be removed.
  • If the building contains any specified systems that are not listed on the Compliance Schedule, these systems will have to be added to the Compliance Schedule. Systems such as Fire and Smoke Separations are now required to be added to the Compliance Schedule. (Please note that any new or changes to a specified system requires a building consent.)

 

The purpose of the changes to the Act is to ensure all specified systems in a building are listed on the Compliance Schedule with sufficient information about the appropriate performance standards and inspection and maintenance procedures to ensure that the inspections are carried out correctly and completely. The Compliance Schedules of some Building Owners will already meet these requirements.

We recommend that you consult your IQP to assist you with these amendments.