Building Consent Team applauded
Published on 11 April 2024
Great news for ratepayers applying for Building Consent - they can have confidence that they are getting a top quality, professional service from our Council that is nationally recognised to be of the highest standard.
Our Council’s Building Consent Team has recently been given an extremely positive rating in its routine two-yearly audit by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) assessors International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ).
In the audit conducted in March 2024, IANZ affirmed that our Building Consent Team continues to uphold the highest standards of compliance, resulting in the retention of our "Extra Low Risk" status.
Only registered Building Consent Authorities (including our Council) are permitted to consent and certify buildings. Audit accreditation assessments are a mandatory central government requirement. In 2022 we were the first Building Consent Authority in the country to achieve the "Extra Low Risk" status. In recognition of this status, we were the first Building Consent Authority to trial a pilot programme on what a reduced audit could entail. This resulted in reduced time on site and fewer costs, benefitting both ratepayers and our Council.
“The routine two-yearly assessment represents a total commitment from our Building Team and supporting staff members,” says Corinne Hamlin our Building Unit Manager. “As the assessment period nears, the preparation involves a surge of activity as we compile the requisite data and records required by the auditors. However, one of our team's core focus throughout the year remains on diligently fulfilling our responsibilities as per established procedures.”
Our Council’s Chief Executive Aileen Lawrie says the whole Council is really proud of this result. “It reflects the high standards and service upheld by our Building Consent Team and the hard work and excellent leadership they demonstrated to achieve this. This ultimately reflects the safety and integrity of our built environment for our community.”
Highlights of the audit note that our Council Building Team:
- has robust systems in place
- employs a stable workforce with experienced, competent and knowledgeable staff who are actively engaged in performing building control functions to a high level
- showed high-quality technical leadership that was an example of best practice.
IANZ noted that our Council demonstrated that it had good systems in place to identify and address any issues should they arise. The majority of the systems and technical functions performed were gauged to be performed at a high level.