Published: 02 Apr 2019

Information is key

As an industry you'll be aware of the documentation required to be provided with each application, but what do you do when you’re unsure?

A good idea is to involve other experts in design areas that you may not be familiar with, eg Fire, Structural or Geotech engineers, complex claddings, Plumbing and Drainage, Ventilation or Hazardous substances. Our industry has many specialisms, and it is important that you make use of this knowledge and experience.

Once you believe that you have some or all of the info needed, you can arrange a “Pre Consent” meeting at council with the Building Advisory Officer by calling 03 687 7236.

When completing your application either online or in hard copy, please take the time to check it over, ensuring that you are providing all necessary information before you submit it to council.

You can access more info from these pages:
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/building
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/building/building-consents/forms-and-checklists

Your Consent Needs You

Do you know if all the consents relating to your property have been signed off (CCC issued)?

A code compliance certificate or CCC is one of the most important documents you can ever have. The CCC is confirmation that your building work has been completed in accordance with your consent.

There are many consents within our district that do not have their CCC issued and yours may be one of them.
A number of issues can arise from having no CCC, these can anything from insurance claims being denied to council refusing to issue CCC.

The building owner is ultimately responsible under the Building Act, however if you have been contracted by the owner to deal with the consent you have certain contractual responsibilities as well. Therefore it is very important that an application for CCC is submitted to council as soon as practicable once the building work has been completed.

Producer Statements

Producer statements have an important place in the building and construction industry. These documents (an alternative solution) can be used as a means of compliance and a tool for the Building Consent Authority (BCA) to be satisfied on reasonable grounds. However they are not a “given” as the BCA will only accept them in certain situations and if specific criteria have been met.

Please make sure that when you submit a producer statement, or you incorporate it with the building consent application, they are completed in full, identify the relevant code clauses and that the author of the statement is suitably qualified and authorised to provide it.

Refusing Building Consents

The building unit are looking at reviewing its policy on refusing Building Consents. The review outcome is designed to reduce any unnecessary time and money relating to the technical checking process of an application.

Unfortunately many applicants have been using this process, including the requests for further information (RFI’s), to effectively have the BCA peer review their designs and tell them what else they need to provide. This has slowed the process down making it less efficient, less effective and costlier.

More information of this review will be sent out and published on the TDC website once completed. It will include guidelines as to how the BCA will work through this refusal process.

Building Warrant of Fitness Audits
At the start of this year we have undertaken the process of auditing Building Warrants of Fitness or (BWOF’s). Buildings that have a BWOF have one or more specified systems such as fire alarms, auto doors or sprinklers.

This onsite audit is in addition to the annual inspection carried out by the Independent Qualified Person (IQP) as required by the Building Act 2004.

We started this auditing program on relevant council owned buildings and will then move onto other buildings that exist on council's register. We will be contacting building owners prior to the audit allowing them time to get any necessary information together in preparation.

For more information, contact our compliance officer on 03 687 7469.

Other updates

EARTHQUAKE-PRONE BUILDINGS UPDATE:

The Timaru District Council has now confirmed the priority thoroughfares and strategic routes of the district.

This means that we can now start the process of identifying priority buildings that are potentially earthquake-prone and contacting their owners.

However before we start contacting building owners we will be conducting another round of information workshops to let you know how this next phase will work and the timing of it. These workshops will be at the end of April and beginning of May 2019.

If you are a building owner and you have questions on how this process will affect you, please feel free to contact Jonathan Craig on 03 687 7264 or jonathan.craig@timdc.govt.nz and he will be able to provide the help and guidance you will need.

SWIMMING POOLS:

We are well underway with the three year cycle of inspecting the safety features of pools and pool fencing.

There are approximately 470 pools within our district that require an inspection by council and we are well on track to ensure they are all inspected by January 2020.

If you are a pool owner and you have been contacted by my team you will be aware of how this process works and if not we will be in contact with you within the next 12 months. To help with this process it is a good idea to check out you pool fencing to make sure that it is compliant prior to the inspection.

For details of these requirements you can visit: https://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/building/residential-pool-safety

Getting to know the building team

Building Control Manager – Jayson Ellis
I have been involved within the building industry for over 30 years. I am a qualified builder and have Diplomas in Building Control Surveying and national certificates in Front Line Management and Local Government.

I have been with council for over 10 years starting as a plan processor then to a team leader and have been the manager for two years.

I am a board member of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) and a member of the Building Code Technical Risk Advisory Group (BCTRAG) providing advice to the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment (MBIE).

The manager's role is incredibly varied, and deals with many types of challenge. It also involves travelling to a number of places around the country which means that I am often out of the office. However I am fortunate to have a very dedicated and competent team ensuring our obligations are met and our customers receive the best service possible.

Team Leader Compliance – Murray Winmill
I have been involved within the building industry for over 40 years. I am a trade qualified builder and have level 5 & 6 Diplomas in Building Control Surveying.

I have been with council for over 12 years starting as a plan processor and then as Team Leader Compliance for the past seven years. In one way or another I am involved in nearly all aspects of the Building Unit functions, I am also a member of NZ Standards Development Committee.

Team Leader Approvals – Mark SterickerI have been with the Council Building unit for almost six years now working as a plan processor, then taking over from Jayson as team leader approvals two years ago.
Within my time with the building unit I have achieved the level 5 & 6 Diplomas in Building Control Surveying.
I maintain my registration as a Certifying Plumber, Gasfitter & Drainlayer which assists the team in day to day business.
My role has many challenges when it comes to assessing compliance with such a varied range of consent applications and this keeps the team on their toes.

Vicki McMillan - Quality Assurance Coordinator & Team Leader Administration
I have been with the Building Unit for the past eight years.
Having started work as an Administration Assistant, after 18 months in this role I moved into the Administration Team Leader. In addition to this, for the past three years the role of Quality Assurance Coordinator has been added to my Administration Team Leader role, so as you can imagine I’m everyone’s go to person for all things Administration and Quality Assurance.

Service Consents (connecting to council infrastructure - water - sewer - stormwater)

Council has undertaken improvements to the linkages between Building Consent and Infrastructure Services Consent processes.

Why Change?
In the past these two consenting processes have run independently of each other.  This means a building project could obtain a CCC without necessarily complying with other regulatory requirements for the project.  This may result in delays at time of sale of a property due to the Infrastructure Services Consent either not being obtained, physical works not being satisfactorily completed or outstanding documentation not being supplied.

What does this mean?Council will now be including an Infrastructure check as part of the CCC process to ensure that items identified on either the Building Consent Supplementary Information or the Project Information Memorandum have been complied with.

How will this affect you?In some cases the issues of non-compliance will be notified and will continue to be resolved independently (for example formation of vehicle access).

In the case of connection to public infrastructure (water, sewer, stormwater), instances of non-compliance will be required to obtain “Infrastructure Compliance Certification” prior to issuing the CCC for the Building Consent.  This is enforceable under Clauses G12.3.2 and G13.3.3 of the Building Code.

For any further questions relating to this you can contact the Infrastructure Consents Team on 03 687 7200.

Final Thoughts

"If we always do what we have always done,
we will always get what we have always got”