1. Pursuant to section 249 of the Building Act 2004
("the Act"), the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing ("the department") hereby gives notice of requirements for the building consent accreditation body appointed under section 248 of the Act.
2. The previous notice by the chief executive dated the 2nd day of March 2007 and published in the New Zealand Gazette, 8 March 2007, No. 27, page 706, is hereby revoked.
Minimum frequency of audits
3. Subject to paragraph 4 of this notice, the minimum frequency of audits that the building consent accreditation body must conduct on accredited building consent authorities must be not less than one full technical reassessment audit of each building consent authority
every two years.
4. The building consent accreditation body must conduct the initial full technical reassessment audit of the following territorial and regional authorities no later than three years after the date on which the relevant authority was accredited as a building consent authority (if applicable):
- Auckland City Council
- Auckland Regional Council
- Franklin District Council
- Manukau City Council
- North Shore City Council
- Papakura District Council
- Rodney District Council
- Waitakere City Council
Other matters
5. The building consent accreditation body shall enter into and maintain an agreement with the department in respect
of its appointment under section 248 of the Act.
6. The building consent accreditation body shall:
Conduct of audits
(a) undertake special assessment audits of building consent authorities for the building consent accreditation body's own assurance purposes, or upon a written request from the department or from the building consent authority itself;
(b) with specific reference to prescribed standards
and criteria for accreditation, undertake all audits generally in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011:2004 General requirements for bodies providing assessment and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies, including:
(i) accompanying and assessing building officials as they undertake their day-to-day duties;
(ii) reviewing building consent files;
(iii) interviewing a range of building consent authority staff; and
(iv) conducting case studies of completed or partially completed buildings.
Records and provision of information
(c) maintain accurate and complete records of audits undertaken and:
(i) hold safely and securely all such records and any documents received or prepared in the course of audit work; and
(ii) provide to the department, upon written request, all such records and documents (and/or copies thereof) in accordance with the terms
of the request;
(d) provide to the department regular, extraordinary and annual reports on audit work and related matters;
(e) supply to the department a copy of every building consent authority accreditation assessment report
as soon as practicable after the completion of the report; and
(f) provide the department, upon written request, with timely information and assistance to enable the department to meet obligations under the Building Act 2004, or any other relevant Act, Regulation, Rule or Government Directive;
Complaints procedure
(g) maintain a standard operating procedure in
respect of complaints about the performance of
any building consent authority, and in respect
of disputes, appeals or complaints made in respect of building consent accreditation body decisions or actions. The complaints procedure will include:
(i) the time period within which the complaint must be acknowledged;
(ii) according to the nature of the complaint,
the steps that will be taken to substantiate the complaint;
(iii) a requirement to document details of the complaint, actions taken to acknowledge and substantiate the complaint, and any subsequent decisions or actions taken in respect of the complaint; and
(iv) a requirement to keep the complainant informed about subsequent decisions and actions taken.
Notice of accreditation intentions and
substantiated complaints
(h) before granting or revoking any accreditation,
notify the department of the intention to grant or revoke and take no further action in respect of
that accreditation until written comments from the department have been received (see Note below); and
(i) provide the department, without delay, details of every substantiated complaint about the performance of any building consent authority.
Dated this 24th day of April 2009.
KATRINA BACH, Chief Executive Officer, Department of Building and Housing.
Note: Clarification of the Requirements of Paragraph 6(h)
The requirement under paragraph 6(h) to take no further action shall be void if the department does not, within 5 working days of the day on which the department receives the notice from the building consent accreditation body, provide any written comments to the building consent accreditation body.
For the avoidance of doubt, the requirement under paragraph 6(h) does not provide the department with any right to direct, veto or otherwise unduly influence the accreditation decisions of the building consent accreditation body. Rather, the requirement is intended to provide the department with a reasonable opportunity to:
(a) give the building consent accreditation body information that the building consent accreditation body might otherwise not be aware of; and
(b) develop or initiate contingencies the department considers are necessary in any circumstance likely to arise from the building consent accreditation body's decision to grant or revoke accreditation.