Case Study
Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities (New Zealand)
Introduced in 2009, only registered Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) may perform building consenting and inspection functions in terms of the Building Act 2004. The Act provides for Territorial Authorities and private organizations to apply for registration. Also, local government authorities will need to be registered to carry out building control work on dams.
Accreditation Criteria
The Department of Building and Housing has published standards and criteria for accrediting Building Consent Authorities under the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006. IANZ undertakes the assessments of Building Consent Authorities against these standards and criteria for registration by the Department of Building and Housing. There are 19 regulations, of which applicants are expected to meet 11 of the standards and criteria by 31 March 2009. The most important are that a Building Consent Authority must have:
- appropriate policies, systems and procedures in writing record how it ensures that it implements effective policies, procedures and systems;
- it must record the key decisions it makes, the reasons for them, and the outcomes and actions of those decisions.
Assessment Criteria
To assist applicants, the Department of Building and Housing has published the Building Consent Authority Accreditation Preparation and Self-assessment Guide (published February 2007). The purpose of the guide is to:
- assist organisations that apply to become building consent authorities to prepare their policies, processes and procedures for accreditation assessment and ongoing compliance;
- assist organisations to assess how well existing policies, processes and procedures comply with the accreditation requirements;
- assist organisations to assess how well implemented their existing and new systems; and
- provide good-practice guidance that may be used (or adapted for use) by building consent authorities to demonstrate compliance with the accreditation standards.
Accreditation Criteria
