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In these newsletters, we cover the latest building industry news, trends, and tips. In this particular issue, we touch on increasing consent activity in the district and examine a range of changes led by central government that may alter the cost of your build, the materials you use, and much more! We also shine a light on Better Building Working Group's This is How We Build campaign, which aims to reduce construction waste and make landfill disposal a last resort.
Building trends
Building consent activity is starting to increase in the Queenstown Lakes, marking a noticeable change from the historically low consent numbers we’ve seen in the district and nationally over the last six months.
As I’ve touched on before, our Building team went from receiving an average of 150 consents a month to totals as low as 90. We’re now edging our way back up to processing 120 consents a month. However, given the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has stated there will be no rates relief until well into 2025, I can’t see much more growth in consent activity while interest rates remain at their current levels.
One of the initiatives of the new government is all councils must now provide their statistics on processing building consents and Code Compliance Certificates (CCC) to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), every quarter. MBIE’s first report was released in April 2024 and I’m pleased to share Queenstown Lakes District Council sits in the top third of larger councils for the percentage of building consents and CCC’s we’ve processed within the 20 day statutory timeframe. This is a great result for our Building team!
Building inspections continue to remain high. Combined with a lack of contractor and staff resources, this has led to inspection timeframes pushing out to around two weeks in the Whakatipu and one week in the Upper Clutha. We’ve recently advertised for two Building Control Officers (BCO) to join the team, and these new recruits should help to bring inspection timeframes down to under a week across the district once they’re fully trained.
Chris English
QLDC Building Services Manager
Track your inspection's progress
Keen to stay up to date with your building consent inspection’s progress?
Simply fill out an Inspection Contact Nomination Form and send it through to building@qldc.govt.nz. After we’ve received your form, all inspection reports will be automatically emailed to you on completion of each inspection. And if your inspections are already underway, you can submit the form at any stage of your project to get all future reports!
And for those reports you might have missed, all completed inspections can be viewed on eDocs. Create a registration with a contact email and password, and you’ll be able to find all your completed inspections listed under your building consent number.
Got a question about inspections, reports, or eDocs? Our Building Services team is here to help – email us at building@qldc.govt.nz or give us a call on 03 450 0369.
Increase to building levy threshold nears
On 12 March 2024, central government announced an increase to the building levy threshold in an aim to reduce the costs incurred to home and building owners who pay the levy.
From Monday 1 July, the levy threshold will increase from $20,444 including GST to $65,000 including GST.
That means from July this year onwards, any building consent with a value of building work under $65,000 will be exempt from paying the building levy. Our systems and documents will be updated from Monday 1 July to reflect these changes, but please make sure you always use our most up to date documents and forms available on our website: All Documents - QLDC.
Changes to make it easier to build
Central government has announced a commitment to increasing housing supply by reducing barriers, improving competition in the building system, and lowering costs.
To help achieve this, MBIE will be making changes to the Building Act at each level of the building system across standards, certification schemes, and compliance pathways. Importantly, these changes will:
- make it easier to use products from recognised overseas locations
- streamline the recognition of international standards
- mandate the acceptance of certain overseas building products
- remove barriers for making minor changes to an existing building consent
- enable minor customisation of pre-approved MultiProof designs when applying for a building consent.
For more information on these changes and what to expect, head to MBIE’s website at: Making it easier to build | Building Performance
Guidance available for retaining walls
Thinking about constructing a retaining wall and unsure if you need a building or resource consent?
Great timing then, because we’ve launched a new Retaining Wall Factsheet to help you determine what type of consent you need, and it comes with plenty of other additional factors to consider before you get started too.
Looking for guidance on something else? You'll find plenty of other information and factsheets on our website: All Documents - QLDC.
This is How We Build
Did you know construction and demolition waste accounts for a staggering 32% of all waste generated in the Queenstown Lakes District? That’s about 242 tonnes landing in landfill, every single week.
While that’s a significant environmental challenge, it’s also an opportunity to help drive innovation and leadership in sustainable construction practices.
In 2022, Wao’s Better Building Working Group secured a grant from QLDC’s Waste Minimisation Community Fund, with the goal of developing an educational campaign to enlighten and engage the construction industry on the critical need to prioritise waste reduction and view landfill disposal as a last resort. And as a result, This is How We Build was born.
The campaign has highlighted incredible examples of sustainable building practices right here in the Queenstown Lakes, helping to showcase change is not only possible, but already happening! And if that sounds interesting to you, then you’ll love the This is How We Build campaign video!
Let’s continue this conversation and turn these practices into standard operating procedure across the industry, and that way, we can help build a sustainable future together.
An event of interest
Sustainable Business Network’s James Griffin is coming to Wānaka at the end of June to speak about integrated design, product stewardship, and associated reverse logistics.
Date: Wednesday 26 June
Time: 5.00pm – 6.30pm
Location: Dunlop Builders, 13 Venture Crescent, Wānaka
Find out more and grab tickets to this event at https://www.wao.co.nz/all-events/better-building-drinks-james-griffin
New electronic formats of our District Plan have arrived
Have you seen our ePlans yet? They’re brand-new electronic formats of our District Plan which you can use to see all the plan provisions that apply to a property in one single place, instead of having to switch between online maps and a bunch of PDFs and chapters.
For more information and details on how to use and access our new ePlans, head to: QLDC - ePlans
To view previous issues, please visit: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/services/building-services/additional-information/brace-yourself-building-services-newsletter
If there is a topic that you would like to see covered, please let us know by emailing: chris.english@qldc.govt.nz
