Tuesday 16 July 2013

Crown Manager welcomes audit findings

Crown Manager Doug Martin says it is reassuring that no safety problems have been found with a sample of building consents issued by the Christchurch City Council this year.

The Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment today released the findings of a review of 24 consents issued by the Council over past six months. It found that while there were administrative processing errors, the consents were technically sound.

“This review follows similar findings of last week’s audit of 17 consents identified by IANZ in September last year as not demonstrating full compliance with the Building Code or Act, which also found there were no safety issues,” Mr Martin says.

“As the Minister says, I will be initiating a wider audit of recently issued building consents. Given the scale of the rebuild in Christchurch, it is important that public confidence is restored in the Council’s consent processes.”

Mr Martin, who started in his role this week as Crown Manager, says he has started his review of the Council’s building consent processes.

“We need to position the Council to handle the anticipated increased demand for consents and so that when we apply for reaccreditation as a building consent authority, the Council passes with flying colours,” Mr Martin says.

Mr Martin expects to provide an initial action plan to address problems with the Council’s building consent processes to the Minister of Local Government and the Minister of Building and Construction by 15 August.

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