“Major reform” could be coming for the building consents system with the Government investigating options to replace the more than 60 consenting authorities around the country.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the Government was considering three options for replacing the current Building Consent Authority (BCA), which included 67 authorities across the country. The options were:

• Voluntary consolidation - Allowing councils to group together to deliver building control functions. Penk said a number of councils already pooled some resources but barriers to full integration existed, and this approach would focus on removing these barriers.
• Regional BCAs - Establishing regional BCAs to replace the current 67 district and city council BCAs. Penk said this approach would focus on improving consistency and forming entities with the critical mass.
• Single point of contact - Setting up a single point of contact for builders to submit plans to. Building inspection may be contracted out to existing BCAs or private consenting providers, creating competition and encouraging specialisation.

“There are currently 67 BCAs across the country, each with different practices and approaches. We have a single building code that is supposed to apply consistently to all building work nationally.

“However, there are many instances of builders submitting the exact same plans to different BCAs and finding considerable additional costs and delays result from differing interpretations of the building code.”

Penk said the “cumbersome” consenting system was partly to blame for the country’s unaffordable housing, alongside “unreasonably high” building costs.

“The status quo is not serving New Zealanders well. We need to incentivise innovative solutions that improve productivity and enable building at scale.

“That’s why we are beginning discussion on options to replace the current BCA system.”

Penk said the Government would also review liability settings across the whole building system.

“Under the current settings, councils and their ratepayers are liable for defective work. Joint and several liability means councils can be the ‘last person standing’ available to foot the bill when things go wrong. This creates a highly conservative and risk-averse approach, which contributes cost and draws out deadlines.”

Labour’s building and construction spokesperson Arena Williams said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had been told to cut 6% of its staff and the Government needed to ensure the right people remained to see through such a policy change.

“Building consents were tightened up after the leaky buildings crisis that cost the country upwards of $11 billion.

“I am in favour of continuously improving the system, but we need the time and resource to get this right or else we risk transferring huge costs to homeowners down the track.

“It’s this sort of policy change needs the right people, and we need to know it’s a priority for the minister. If he can’t resource it well, he should leave it to Labour to get right.”

Act’s building and construction spokesman Cameron Luxton said the proposals were “fantastic” but the Government needed to “go harder”.

“The best option is to let builders opt out altogether with private insurance for new builds. That would get councils out of the way completely, for faster, more innovative and ultimately more reliable building consents.”

Master Builders, an association of building and construction companies, welcomed the move, saying the proposed reforms would aim to address long-standing issues within New Zealand’s building sector.

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.