Board Bites

Here is an update on the advocacy work the New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) Board has been doing lately.

BRAC meeting

28th March | Wellington

The Building Research Advisory Council (BRAC) consists of 18 members, representing 13 nominated bodies from the industry and trades, the business sector, consumers, and the Government.

BRAC plays a vital role in ensuring the Building Research Association of New Zealand’s (BRANZ) accountability and responsiveness to the New Zealand building and construction industry. It meets twice a year and the focus of this meeting was electing new directors to the Board of BRANZ.

We also discussed: • The new buildings under construction at the BRANZ premises at Judgeford Wellington. • A seminar on carbon in our buildings and how we could deal with carbon in the future. • The H1 energy efficiency requirements coming into force in November this year and if it will be possible to implement these changes with all the other issues facing the industry. • The building industry in general, including the supply issues. • Artisan, the mobile phone app and web solution developed by BRANZ, which allows remote digital building inspections. We reviewed it and discussed adding the option to allow the Record of Works to link to the Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) Registry. Takeup of this technology is starting to make headway with councils throughout New Zealand. Mike Craig NZCB Board Member Director

MBIE regulatory environment projects

29th March | Zoom meeting

The Building Accord Sector Working Group and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) are carrying out three regulatory environment projects specifically targeted at the residential sector. These projects look at the three areas below (the content in italics is what I have put forward for consideration.) In all aspects, I reinforced the need to look at the big picture, including LBPs being able to sign off aspects of their own build, which was the original plan. Using a QA system such as Artisan would assist builders with this process.

• Quality applications – the objective of this project is to lower the number of Requests for Information (RFIs) and reduce the time Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) spend on poor quality, poorly structured, or incomplete building consent applications.

BCAs are very risk-averse due to the current weight of liability resulting in increased requests for RFIs. Designers appear to be attempting to avoid RFIs and delays by including a list of all previous RFI information in their plans. However, not all of these are relevant to the building plans being submitted. This makes the consenting process longer, making it harder for the builder to price a job and find the relevant specifications. A better outcome would be for only relevant information and specifications to be included in plans.

• Partnership programmes – this project will identify and structure a nationally consistent approach and develop good practice/industry standards, and criteria for when discretion can be used within this setting.

Some councils already have partnership programmes with group house builders and some independent builders feel unhappy the processing of their plans may be delayed due to partnership programmes getting priority. If BCAs could recognise designers who consistently produce high-quality plans with only relevant information, and prioritise these consents, it would encourage this positive behaviour.

• Remote inspections – this project seeks to standardise documenting requirements and promote robust digital records of a build to support remote inspections.

If the Artisan app could be released for builders to use as their QA system, they could gain familiarity with the assessment and inspection process and increase their awareness of the requirements. It may also encourage builders’ participation in the remote inspection process, especially when building inspection times are pushed out. Builders currently using the Artisan app have increased their knowledge of the building code and understanding of why certain components are inspected by the BCAs.

Ian Chamberlain NZCB Board Chairperson

P3604 Committee meeting

31st March | Zoom meeting

The P3604 Committee met to revise NZS 3604 Timberframed building. This standard is being updated to reflect the current market trends and housing requirements. It is hoped that the draft-reviewed standard will be available for public review later this year. Ian Chamberlain NZCB Board Chairperson