Building regulations  |  28 Nov 2019

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Christchurch City Council is working with International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) to improve how it documents some technical aspects of its commercial building consents.

A key regulatory function of Christchurch City Council is to undertake building inspections and issue code compliance certificates for building work in the Christchurch district.

The Council is an accredited and registered Building Consent Authority (BCA) and is routinely assessed by International  Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) every two years to ensure it is operating at the required standard.

"During IANZ’s most recent assessment of the Christchurch City Council BCA, it issued the organisation with two general non-compliances (GNCs), each made up of a number of items, to be addressed.

“When an assessment occurs, it is usual that BCAs receive a number of recommendations and GNCs’’ says Council Head of Strategic Partnerships Aaron Haymes.

At our last assessment in 2017 26 GNC’s were identified and cleared,so we are pleased with only two this round and have almost completed the process of clearing the points raised in this assessment,'' Mr Haymes says.

“Clearing some GNCs can take weeks or even months because typically you have to make and implement a process change and then collect evidence that the change you have made has been effective before you can go back to IANZ for clearance.

“We have cleared the first GNC with IANZ, but there is one outstanding item in the second GNC that needs to be cleared before IANZ can close out the assessment process” Mr Haymes says.

The one outstanding item relates to matching performance standards to specified systems on consent documents. Specified systems include building features such as mechanical ventilation, fire alarm systems and back flow prevention devices.  

Mr Haymes says the Council has been working to make changes and a submission outlining the steps that have been taken has been sent to IANZ for its consideration.

“The Council is regarded as a high performing BCA and we’re confident that we have addressed the one outstanding item identified in IANZ’s assessment,’’ Mr Haymes says.

A report updating elected members on the accreditation process will be considered by the Council’s Regulatory Performance Committee on 4 December.