National proposes mega BCA and more self-certification

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says National would establish a nationwide specialist Building Consent Authority (BCA) for large commercial buildings and allow qualified engineers to sign off building work if re-elected

If elected for a second term, Penk said that National will introduce further reforms to the building and construction industry’s operational settings.

“We will allow qualified engineers to sign off building work without the need for a council inspection by formalising the role of producer statements in the Building Act,” he said.

Penk added that producer statements are already widely used in the industry to indicate that work complies with the Building Code, but they currently have no formal status.

“That creates inconsistency and leads councils to duplicate checks over liability concerns,” he said.

“Under National’s policy, BCAs must accept that producer statements from qualified experts mean that the work complies with the Building Code, where those statements meet prescribed requirements.”

Nationwide BCA election pledge

Penk said National would designate a specialist BCA to consent large commercial buildings, providing major projects with a single, nationally consistent pathway supported by specialist expertise.

“This means complex projects will no longer need to depend on a local council happening to have specialist staff available. It will also free up councils to focus more on standard and residential consents to support more Kiwis to build or renovate their home,” he said.

There has been no confirmation about what a “major project” is, although it has been indicated that it would cover buildings of four storeys or more, with 500 or more occupants.

While the move is intended to streamline building consent and help major projects progress faster and cheaper, not all are convinced. Writing for The Post, Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) Chief Executive Nick Hill said the move would “reduce competition, strip local knowledge from decisions and weaken council capability”.

BOINZ raises concerns

“BCAs are frequently blamed for project delays and costs that are caused by poor quality consent applications and failed inspections,” said Hill. “According to 2023 Model Docs research, 80% of building design applications failed and 50% of inspections failed. That’s from poor quality inputs from designers and builders, not BCAs being tardy.

“Rather than being an obstacle, BCAs are one of the few building quality safeguards consumers have.”

He added: “A single large commercial BCA would not magically remove risk. But it could reduce competition, strip local knowledge from decisions, weaken council capability and concentrate too much influence in one organisation.

“If it was profit-driven, the public would be right to question whether commercial incentives really belong alongside decisions about safe, compliant and durable buildings.”