South Wairarapa District Council registered as building consent authority

South Wairarapa District Council has been registered by the Department of Building and Housing as a building consent authority under the Building Act 2004.

The council’s Senior Building Control Officer, Derrick Thorley, is pictured being presented with its registration certificate on 6 August by the Department’s Chief Executive, Katrina Bach. It was the 45th of the 76 territorial and regional authorities nationwide seeking to be registered. 55 councils have been accredited and registered to date.

Councils can be registered by the Department once they are accredited by International Accreditation New Zealand as meeting regulated standards for performing their building control functions.

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 – ie, 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, which 10 Councils currently intend doing.

South Wairarapa District Council has now been entered on the Department of Building and Housing’s online, publicly accessible register of building consent authorities - http://www.dbh.govt.nz/bca-register-n-z#bca-s