Media Release

18 May, 2007

Building Consent Authority has been established

Waitakere City Council has been “working flat out” to create a Building Consent Authority (BCA) within the council, to enable it to continue issuing building consents after 30 November.

All councils are required to establish a BCA under the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 - strict new regulations established by the Government in the wake of the weather-tight homes issue.

The new BCAs have to comply with 19 different regulations which set out how the BCA will operate and what resources it staff must have.

Of these, 13 regulations must be met by 30 November 2007.

Councillor Vanessa Neeson, chair of Waitakere City Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee, says, “the timeframes are challenging to say the least but we believe we can meet them".

"The establishment of a BCA and its accreditation requirements will lift the overall standard of building consents within Waitakere but the reality is that there are also increased compliance costs."

"On the plus side, we are already seeing an increase in the number of consents processed within the 20 day statutory timeframe,” she says.

The BCA sits as a ‘virtual organisation’ within the Waitakere City Council.

Existing consent processing and management staff have become part of the BCA and they are now moving to meet the accreditation requirements.

ENDS

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