Drainage! Who said it's boring?

Check the connection

We continue to discover small but unacceptable levels of cross connections (wastewater flowing into stormwater pipes or vice versa) throughout the Queenstown Lakes District, and would like to remind those connecting water supplies to buildings that you ultimately have a responsibility to check foul water is flowing down the right pipes in the street.

This simple last check at the commissioning of a building can save a lot of environmental impacts/costs on the community in the event it goes wrong.

As-built drainage plans

Many in the industry use these plans for maintenance and alteration works years after a building is completed, and the plans stay on QLDC’s property file for the building’s life. There are no national specific standards for the requirements on these plans, but they need to be legible for our administration staff to understand.

Our staff would like to thank those who are going above and beyond in this space. We really appreciate it!

"As-Built Award" winners

To continue with chatter about drainage, our second annual “As-Built Awards” were recently awarded to Gordon McTavish of Alba Plumbing from the Upper Clutha and Wayne Boatwright of New Flow Plumbing from the Whakatipu, with both winners receiving a $250 Mitre 10 voucher.

Sponsor of this year’s awards, Mitre 10 New Zealand would like to recognise a commitment to the plumbing and drainage sector, and continue to support businesses in the supply of a wide range of products from basic consumables to full bathroom solutions.

Our CCC staff selected the finalists, with other notable mentions including Jake McCook from Go Fox Plumbing Queenstown and Alistair Gillespie from Simply Plumb Wanaka.

If you or your company are interested in promoting best practice and sponsoring the awards in 2024, send us an email at cccprocessing@qldc.govt.nz and let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

Christmas shutdown for QLDC offices

With the festive season nearly upon us, Council offices will be closed from Saturday 23 December 2023. We'll be open again on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

It’s important to note the statutory processing clock will be stopped over the Christmas break from Wednesday 20 December 2023 to Wednesday 10 January 2024. This period is excluded from the 20 working day period councils are given to process applications.

Please keep this in mind when submitting your Building Consent and CCC applications.

New regulations for building product information

From 11 December 2023, new regulations for building product information requirements will come into effect. The new regulations will provide building product users with better information about how building products contribute to compliance with the Building Code. They’ll place new obligations on Aotearoa New Zealand-based manufacturers, importers, retailers, and distributers of building products to ensure the products they distribute meet the new information requirements.

Information on these products will also help designers, builders and consumers choose the right products, install them in the correct way and make informed decisions about using alternatives in the event of a product shortage.

QLDC will still need to check that building work and the products used are compliant with the Building Code during the building consent process, because:

• the building product information required under the new regulations does not need to be accepted by QLDC as proof of compliance, and
• QLDC cannot reject the use of a product simply because the information is not available.

However, this information will help QLDC in our decision-making process and we recommend it is included with a building consent application as part of the specifications.

More information on the new regulations for building product information can be found here.

Plumbing and drainage

Changes to Acceptable Solution G12/AS1 include measures to lower the maximum hot water temperature delivered at the tap for most buildings from 55°C to 50°C (the maximum of 45 °C remains the same for early childhood education and care centres, schools, old people’s homes, and hospitals). These changes do not apply to the hot water used for kitchens or laundries. They apply only to personal hygiene taps and baths in new buildings and new plumbing work. Additional temperature control devices have also been introduced to give plumbers more ways to limit hot water temperatures.

From January next year our Inspections team will be measuring and recording the temperatures during the final inspection to ensure compliance. We will be accepting the current setting of 55°C/ 45 °C during the transition period of 12 months which ends on 1 November 2024.

As of 2 November this year, plumbing and drainage standards in the AS/NZS 3500 2021 series have been adopted as acceptable solutions joining AS/NZS 3500.2, which has been an acceptable solution to G13 since 2007.

• AS/NZS 3500.3, with some modifications set out in the newly introduced E1/AS2, becomes an acceptable solution for surface water drainage design to comply with Building Code clause E1 Surface Water.
• AS/NZS 3500.1 and AS/NZS 3500.4, with some modifications set out in the newly introduced G12/AS3, become acceptable solutions for cold and heated water supply systems designed to comply with Building Code clause G12 Water Supplies.

Structure

Clause 18.7.4.4 of NZS 3101.1:2006 has been removed from the citation in Verification Method B1/VM1. As part of this change, precast hollow-core floor assemblies can no longer be designed using this verification method.

This change has no transition period and is effective from 2 November 2023.

Protection from fire

C/AS1 second edition has been released and is now the current acceptable solution to Building Code clause C for risk group SH buildings.

There have been a lot of changes and clarifications, particularly to ‘Part 3. Means of escape’.

This includes clarifying that the final exit may be beyond the exit door of the building, and includes requirements for the height and width of escape routes, maximum travel distances when no alarm is installed (i.e., outbuildings), calculation of open path lengths, location and requirements for external safe paths, and doors in escape routes.

The most significant change may be in ‘Part 2. Firecells, fire safety systems and fire resistance ratings’, with the minimum fire safety system required in household units now specified as interconnected smoke alarms complying with the recent standard NZS 4514:2021.

These interconnected alarms can be battery powered, so they don’t need to be hardwired but are required in more locations than previously (all bedrooms, living spaces, hallways and landings within the building).

You can find NZS 4514 at Standards New Zealand. It contains information on locations required, locations to avoid, commissioning, and examples of layouts. We recommend designers and builders familiarise themselves with the new requirements, as these will be in force once the transition period ends on 1 November 2024.

These changes have been reflected in the fifth edition of the new F7/AS1 Warning Systems which now points the designer to C/AS1 and C/AS2 as a means of compliance with Building Code clause F7.

Energy efficiency

The staged implementation process for window and door insulation requirements for new residential buildings has now ended. All areas of Aotearoa New Zealand now have similar levels of window performance in H1/AS1 and H1/VM1.