Hon Nick Smith
National Party Building and Construction Spokesman

30 March 2005

Botched building laws could force Labour out of Beehive

Labour will be in breach of its own flawed building laws if it continues to occupy all floors of the Beehive after this Friday, says National’s Building and Construction Spokesman.

Section 363 of the Building Act 2004, which takes effect on Friday, states that a building intended for public use cannot be used while construction is under way. The Beehive is presently undergoing extensive refurbishment.

“I would wish to evict Labour from the Beehive in a more conventional way but it will be richly ironic if their own poorly drafted laws do it prematurely.

“The Department of Building and Housing has accepted that the law is unworkable and says it is drafting amendments to this and a number of other flawed sections.

”This botched new law is proving to be a nightmare for councils and builders trying to implement it.

“It will be just desserts if Labour ends up being inconvenienced by a law that is causing grave difficulty for hospital redevelopments, airport refurbishments, and the construction of apartment blocks,” says Dr Smith.

“The sensible way forward is to urgently amend the law to provide for interim code compliance certificates as the 1991 Act provided. This would allow staged projects to be used quite safely as each part is completed.

“Labour must amend the law or comply with it. To ignore the error simply brings the rule of law into disrepute.”

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