Residential construction reforms save time and improve quality control

august - september 2021 Residential construction reforms save time and improve quality control

Amendments to the Building Act seek to improve the efficiency and quality of building work and ensure that any problems are resolved fairly

CONSTRUCTION One down and one to go

The Building System Legislative Reform Programme is a series of legislative changes to the building system that will lift the efficiency and quality of building work, and provide fairer outcomes if things go wrong.

It is hoped that streamlining and certification of various functions in the newly signed-off first phase will ensure standards, do away with an endless string of repetitive consents and substantially cut building times for residential homes.

The changes are being progressed in two phases.

Phase One, the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, gained Royal Assent on 6 June.

This bill is focused on improving the assurance system for building products, including CodeMark, and creating a voluntary certification scheme for modular component manufacturers (such as prefabrication and offsite manufacturing).

Phase Two focuses on the professionals in the sector. It will progress reforms to occupational regulation of engineers and practitioners in the building and construction sector, so that people can have more confidence in these professions and their work.

The first set of changes includes introducing a code of ethics for Licensed Buildings Practitioners, improving the efficiency of the licensing process, and the structure of the complaints and disciplinary model run by the Building Practitioners Board.

Minister for Building and Construction, Poto Williams says the Government is committed to working with the sector to improve the occupational regulation of the various professions within the sector “as we continue to advance the biggest changes to the Building Act since its inception.” The bill introduces minimum information requirements about building products to “support better and more efficient decision-making and strengthen the product certification framework (CodeMark) to improve trust and confidence in the scheme.”

The bill would ensure that products sold in New Zealand comply with the building code and establish a new manufacturer certification scheme for non-traditional methods of construction, such as modular components and off-site manufacture.

It strengthens penalties for breaches of the requirements and creates new offences for noncompliance.

The definitions of building products and building methods was not amended because “building products and building methods may evolve over time, and the regulation-making power would allow for this, without the need to return any legislation to Parliament.”

Simply put, building product with various qualifications is defined as “a product that could reasonably be expected to be used as a component of a building and building method means a method for using one or more products or things as part of building work”.

Because a number of complex new regulations would be needed to implement some of the changes proposed by the bill, the final commencement date has been pushed out to 15 months except for range of amendments able to come into force with immediate effect.

Under section 48 of the Building Act, the standard time limit for decisions on building consent applications is 20 working days, but this is shortened to 10 working days in specified circumstances.

The 10-day time limit would apply when the building consisted entirely of a single modular component and had been manufactured by a single certified manufacturer.

The new bill allows the introduction of a new voluntary manufacturer certification scheme for Modern Methods of Construction

(MMC). This works by certifying manufacturers to produce consistently safe and reliable building components and modules.

The end-to-end process from design (where relevant), manufacture, assembly, and right through to transportation and installation on-site, are assessed with ongoing checks and balances to ensure construction meets the requirements of the building code.

Once certified, third party inspections, audits and post-certification surveillance will provide confidence of quality construction.

Consenting authorities can focus on on-site building work not covered by the MMC certification such as site works, foundations, plumbing and electrical connections or connections to utilities such as sewerage and storm water.

A manufacturer’s certificate for a modular component will be considered or accepted as proof of compliance with the building consent.

Under the amendments to the Act, the government says manufacturers who prove their systems and processes are compliant will benefit from a new streamlined nationwide consenting process for prefabricated buildings.

This will enable the mass factory production of high-quality buildings, halve the number of building inspections for factory produced buildings and ensure only the location where a prefab house is installed requires a building consent, removing the possible need for two separate consents.

Current consenting processes are geared to traditional construction methods and create barriers, duplication and delays for more innovative products and methods.

The industry is well ahead of the game and already can deliver innovative and affordable housing efficiently, using techniques such as prefabrication and off-site manufacturing.

Concision off-site manufacturing in partnership with Versatile recently completed a four-bedroom, two bathroom, brand new family home in just 10 weeks, start to finish.

The home’s 43 panels were manufactured in Concision’s factory in just two days. They were then delivered to site and installed in a single day.

“In general, we can turn around the panels for a standard 150m2 home in about four hours and have capacity to build 1000 homes a year.

Concision panels have recently been put to use in a 41-apartment block in Wellington, schools in Canterbury and Auckland and state housing units in Napier.

Fletcher Building through its Clevercore brand has a hi-tech facility up-and-running in Wiri to “accelerate the manufacture of quality homes at scale by producing the core structural components of a home in a factory environment, in as little as a day.”

This reduces onsite build times by 60 percent, or from 22 weeks to around 6-10 weeks, the company says.