Got It Nailed - October '24

29 Oct 2024

#COUNCIL NEWS

Issue 51 - October 2024

This issue:

New Forms
Creating Quality Applications (relevant specifications)
Flood Risk Certificate (Timaru urban areas)
Required Inspections
Council Consents Liaison Group
Consent Stats

New Forms

We have had our new “Building Setout and Location Certificate” form in use for a few months now and is working really well, so please ensure this form is used for the purpose of verifying the buildings location, floor levels and recession plane requirements. You can access our forms from here https://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/building/overview/additional-consent-info/forms-and-checklists

We are also developing our “As Built Drainage Plan” template to an editable PDF version. We will also be using the Plumbers, Gas fitters and Drainlayers guidance to ensure the template will collate and record more accurate and valuable information for any future reference. This is still in the development stage and will be completed shortly, so I will update you all once it is ready for use.

Please remember that all council forms are subject to change at any time so to ensure you're using the right form do not save these to your computer. Always access our forms from the Building page on the TDC website to ensure you are using the most up to date version.
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/building

Creating Quality Applications (Relevant Specifications)

As part of our continual improvement programme, we would like to highlight the significance and importance when supplying specifications and manufactures installation instructions. The digital era has enabled the transfer of information (eg, submission of applications) to be very simple and instant, however the ease of this access has resulted in consent applications that include copious amounts of information which in turn requires significant time for our team to appropriately decipher and assess.

So, if you are compiling information for a consent application, amendment or minor variation, please ensure that you only provide specific and relevant information relating to the project or product (e.g. not a full manual if only one detail is applicable from it), doing this will assist the team checking the info, streamline the process and will reduce the time and cost of your consent.
Flood Risk Certificate (Timaru urban areas)
When building in urban areas (specifically Timaru) you may be requested to provide a Flood Risk Certificate (FRC) with your building consent application. These are required when the site you’re proposing to build on (new or additions) is subject to overland flow, secondary flow or ponding (natural hazards).

The assessment of these areas to produce an FRC is NOT performed or provided by Ecan (as they only manage flooding from rivers and coastal areas). An FRC is something that the Timaru District Council (Drainage & Water Team) will produce with the support of local suitably qualified people.

So, if you have been requested to obtain an FRC you can apply for this via the TDC website www.timaru.govt.nz/frc and forward the completed certificate to stormwater@timdc.govt.nz for approval. There is a fee to produce this certificate of $650.00 incl GST and this will be charged from 1 July 2024. For any further questions relating to this you can contact the Drainage & Water team at stormwater@timdc.govt.nz.

Required Inspections

Your Building Consent document outlines the amount and type of inspections allocated to your project. This document will also confirm any inspection agreed to be undertaken by a third party (eg, engineer). It is important to understand and work with the inspection list as there will often be notes that provide further context to the requirements of those inspections, eg, when and by whom.

An important statistic relating to inspections in the Timaru District, is between 50-55% of inspections fail first time round. Whilst we understand there are many complexities relating to the build process, we continuously find many reasons for failed inspections to be minor. Therefore, these can be easily addressed by ensuring your building work is completed and ready for the relevant inspection prior to the inspector arriving, thus reducing the time by all involved and making the process as efficient as possible.

It is very important that all inspections, associated findings, records, photos etc, carried out by any 3rd party, are forwarded to the BCA (via the portal) for approval “Pass” or “Fail” as soon as that particular inspection has been carried out. The BCA is the ONLY authority that can approve a building inspection. So, please ensure you have the applicable BCA approval before you carry on with your project. Failing to do this will impact the ability to issue CCC.

Council Consents Liaison Group

Earlier this year the council departments involved in approving Resource, Building and Services consents formed a group for the purpose of understanding how we can work more effectively together when processing and approving the various consents. As part of this groups vision is to look at implementing regular industry meetings/workshops next year to discuss relevant topics and invite guest speakers to assist with those discussions.

We believe this as another way to further enhance our working relationships and for you to engage with the various council team members, to better understand and share information for the benefit of us all. Whilst we have identified many areas that may need some tweaking, it will be great to have your feedback as well, so we can start compiling discussion topics for the workshops. Therefore, if you have ideas, suggestions or just want to know more about council approval processes (from your point of view) relating to any of the consent types mentioned above, please send your suggestions to building.enquiry@timdc.govt.nz attention Jayson Ellis. We encourage your feedback to be solution focused and not just an issues drop box.