Ministerial Praise or Kaiparas Achievement

Kaipara District Council’s success in being registered as a Building Consent Authority was acknowledged this afternoon (Friday July 4) by the Minister of Building and Construction Shane Jones who presented the Council with its Registration Certificate.

Kaipara is the 46th of the country’s 85 councils to be successfully accredited and registered and the result reflects three years of upgrading and change while at the same time maintaining normal operations.

“It is a tremendous achievement, especially for a small council,” says Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller.

The Building Consent Authority Accreditation and Registration Scheme is among Building Act 2004 reforms aimed at ensuring buildings are built right first time. It focuses on strengthening the building process at the consent processing, inspection and approval stages – making sure that councils have appropriate systems and processes, resources and equipment, and improved technical capability to do the job properly.

All 85 councils must be accredited and registered as building consent authorities by 31 March 2009 or have transferred their building control functions to an accredited and registered building consent authority.

In gaining accreditation Council staff have had to establish and train for the extensive documentation required, including establishing a comprehensive procedures manual specific to Kaipara. The process also involved a thorough accreditation process undertaken by International Accreditation New Zealand.

It has come at a cost, with approximately $180,000 spent over the three years to upgrade systems and processes. Also the Council’s building team has increased from three inspectors to five plus two administration support staff, reflecting the fact that it is now a much more involved process to assess a building consent application.

Presenting the framed Registration Certificate, the Minister praised Kaipara for meeting the target date for registration while a number of other councils had needed an extension of time.

He said Kaipara had achieved the task of converting Central Government legislation, “into local reality.”

The Minister promised a period of consolidation after all councils became registered but also promised to look at reducing restrictions to facilitate small building alterations.

Mayor Neil Tiller says the registration will give builders and Kaipara property owners added confidence that systems are in place which will give them safe and well built homes.

“If we had not gained this registration we would have had to outsource the work which would have added inconvenience and a huge cost to builders and Kaipara residents.

“I heartily congratulate the team under Mark Vincent’s leadership for this achievement. All the staff have had to sit exams and set up systems while still doing their day-to-day job.”

At today’s function Development Manager Mark Vincent, presented the Minister with a symbolic hammer mounted on a piece of building grade timber.

Mr Vincent praised the efforts of the Building Team and consultants John and Cindy Woest and described the Council’s registration as a “commitment to ongoing improvement in the way we operate to make sure the Council is protected from liability, and to see that the punters get best value for money too.”

While there may be signs of a slowdown in building around the country, Kaipara can boast to having processed more building consents in the 2007/08 financial year than in either of the previous two years.