Changes to the Building Act 2004 Come into Effect 1 March

From 1 March 2012, critical building work, known as Restricted Building Work, must be done by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP). This change is one of several that were made to the Building Act 2004 in 2007 to encourage better building design and construction.

While most industry practitioners are aware of the upcoming changes to this legislation, it is important that members of the public who intend to undertake building work are also aware of the new requirements.

Building practitioners must be licensed in order to carry out, or supervise, work on homes and small-medium sized apartment buildings that is critical to the integrity of the building.

This 'restricted building work’ applies to, but is not limited to:
- Foundations
- Framing
- Roofing
- Cladding
- Active fire safety systems in small-medium sized apartment buildings

An exemption will be available to owner-builders (do-it-yourselfers) when the Building Amendment Bill No. 3 has been passed into law.

From 1 March 2012, building consent applications will not be accepted unless they include a Memorandum (Certificate of Work) from a LBP certifying that the design work complies with the Building Code.

Licensed Building Practitioners include, but are not limited to:
- Designers
- Carpenters
- Roofers
- External Plasterers
- Bricklayers
- Block layers

Registered architects, chartered professional engineers and plumbers are deemed to be LBPs.

For more information on the LBP scheme, please refer to http://www.dbh.govt.nz/lbp or contact the Dunedin City Council’s Building Control department on 477 4000.