Property Council welcomes changes to Building Act

MEDIA RELEASE

August 27, 2009

Property Council welcomes changes to Building Act 2004

Property Council today welcomed the announcement of a review of the Building Act 2004, saying it was high time it catered for commercial property as well as residential.

Property Council has long advocated for a move away from current complexity and delay to an environment that supports innovation, skill and knowledge and industry best practice.

Chief executive Connal Townsend says although the Act was drafted with good intention, it was inadequate in terms of fulfilling the requirements of the commercial building sector.

``The Act was framed to meet the needs of leaky homes but missed the mark completely, adding significant unnecessary costs to the commercial building sector.’’

He says Property Council is in full support of the review.

``It gets on with trying to remove some of the unnecessary costs imposed by the existing Act, which we believe is a deeply flawed piece of legislation.’’

Mr Townsend says it reflects the new Government’s view that the previous Government had got it wrong the first time around.

``Because the Building Act 2004 took some years to develop, we almost couldn’t imagine the Government would agree to review it in such a short space of time.’’

Mr Townsend says while former Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones went some way to trying to correct problems with the Act, Maurice Williamson has gone even further to meeting Property Council’s needs.

He says Property Council is extremely pleased with the names that have been announced for the review’s sector reference group.

``The review is very credible, and has given us a lot of confidence.’’

Property Council will make a submission to the review and will continue to advocate for a departure from the red tape in the building and construction sector. It intends to develop its own steering group of members, architects, lawyers and investors to assist with the review.

ENDS

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