Building consent changes loom

Hutt City Council is hoping for a smooth implementation of regulations that take effect on March 1 governing structural and weathertightness work on residential building sites.

From that date, applications involving what is called restricted building work – work critical to the integrity of a building – must be accompanied by a certificate of design work from the architect. The tradespeople who turn the plans into reality also need to be licensed.

“There will be some extra paperwork involved,” says divisional manager Helen Oram, “but we’re training staff on the changes and hope to make the new rules as hassle-free as possible for people seeking building consents.

“The key thing is to select tradespeople – carpenters, roofers, bricklayers, blocklayers, external plasterers and so on – who are “licensed building practitioners”. If not, the application will be rejected, or no site inspections will take place until they do come up with licensed people.”