Council on track for consents accreditation

Christchurch City Council is in the final stages of proving it is at a standard to achieve accreditation as a Building Consent Authority.

A follow-up visit over four days (3-6 November) by a small team from International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) has shown most of the issues raised in the initial assessment in July have been cleared.

“We have had some great feedback from IANZ who have ticked off the majority of issues from when they were here in July. We remain on track to gain accreditation by the end of the year as planned,” says Building Control and City Rebuild Director Peter Sparrow.

“IANZ is happy with our processes and systems and now just want to see more evidence to support some of the changes we have made, especially those that have been put in place very recently.

“When they were here this month, IANZ told us they were impressed with the work done, remarking on our innovative approach to addressing the issues raised in July. They described the Council as a fully functioning Building Consent Authority and we look forward to providing the evidence required over the next few weeks to clear the remaining issues.”

Regulation and Consents Committee Chair David East says staff have worked hard over the past four months to bring the Council in line with the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006.

“The assessment team had some very positive things to say about the skills and effort of our staff. It is especially refreshing to hear the comments about the culture as this is something we have been working very hard on as an organisation.”

Mr Sparrow says the rebuild has led to an unprecedented surge in consenting work and the Council will continue to work with central government agencies and the industry after it has accreditation to keep improving its processes.

IANZ indicated that once accreditation is achieved it will return to the Council again next year when the Council will be subject to a standard accreditation assessment.

For more information about accreditation, go to www.ccc.govt.nz/bcactionplan

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