8 September 2004

Builder Certifier Impacts On Council

Builders, developers and homeowners who had been using the private certifying company ABC could face delays in getting consents and approvals following its deregistration.

Waitakere City Council at any one time has approximately 400 cases on its books which have been submitted by ABC Certifiers. Waitakere City Council’s Group Manager; Regulatory Grant Gillard says that all those files will now have to be reviewed and outstanding inspections will need to be undertaken to ensure that they meet the Council’s standards.

“That may mean delays of three or four days for these inspections to be carried out, but we are trying to keep those delays to an absolute minimum. Homeowners and builders are the 'meat in the sandwich' and we are doing everything we can to help them out”. Mr Grant Gillard also says that homeowners will have to pay for those re-insepctions and that could add hundreds of dollars in fees. “One of the risks in dealing with Certifiers is that if they go out of business for whatever reason, the consent reverts to the Council and the homeowner or developer ends up carrying the can”.

The decision to deregister ABC was taken by the Building Industry Authority, following complaints from Waitakere and North Shore City Councils. The BIA investigation found the ABC had been “negligent and incompetent” in a number of areas.

Waitakere City Council advises people caught by the ABC de-registration issue to view the Building Industry Authority website (www.bia.govt.nz) or to contact the Council’s own 24 hour call Centre (839 0400).

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>