Thursday 21 March 2013

Commercial consent values top five hundred million in last 12 months

The value of works for major commercial building consents has topped $500 million dollars in the last 12 months, exceeding figures for the last six years.

Major commercial projects are those where the value of consented building work is over $1 million. The Council’s figures show from the beginning of March 2012 to the end of February 2013 the value reached $528.8 million. This is $98 million more than the same period for 2009-2010 when the Christchurch International Airport project brought the total value of works for that year to $430.7 million.

Planning Committee Chairperson Sue Wells says the figures provide positive news for the business sector and the local economy.

“The combination of a confident, determined private sector and hard work from the Council on processing consents can only be good for the local economy. It will result in more building activity, more jobs and more spending taking place in our local economy.”

The Council’s consenting staff are processing 92 per cent of all commercial consents within the 20 days required and staff are committed to reaching the 100 per cent target set by the Council.

“It’s interesting to take a closer look at processing times for major commercial projects. When no further information is required from an applicant, which means they have submitted a complete and technically accurate application, we are processing applications in an average of 15 days, five days ahead of the required statutory time frame.”

Chairperson Wells says that this shows what can happen when the Council and customers work together.

“Major commercial projects tend to be rebuilds with complex technical requirements. I really recommend a pre application meeting as one of the best ways to find out what to include in an application and to get the Council staff and applicants around the table early on in the project. That means fewer requests from the Council for more information and can save owners of major commercial rebuilds time and money – it’s simply a smart investment and an important part of the rebuild tool kit.”

The majority of the 169 building consents were for major commercial projects across the city with 40 of the projects within the central city’s Four Avenues.

ENDS

Definition of value of works: The value of consented works is listed on the application form for a building consent by the customer and reflects cost estimates for the build.

CCC_Go_Ahead_Media_resource_Commercial_consents_over_1_million_Location.pdf

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