The value of history

Two seemingly unrelated articles on the same day (Oct 29) reveal important lessons on the value of history.

In Another step toward healing the past, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is quoted that teaching history in our schools is ‘‘the most significant and important thing we can do going forward’’.

Though the focus was on the 19thcentury Land Wars, this perspective applies to every human endeavour, including the building industry.

Spotlight on building guarantees said that ‘‘compulsory building guarantees are being considered under Building Act reforms’’.

History tells us we’ve already done this, and not so long ago. For 10 years (1977-87) new houses were guaranteed by the government through the Building Performance Guarantee Corporation (BPGC). Though this guarantee covered only about 25 per cent of new builds, many in the industry believed it contributed significantly to quality in house construction.

In 1987 the Fourth Labour Government abolished the BPGC. The parliamentary record shows little unhappiness with the BPGC. Rather, the reason for abolition

seems to have been the overriding neoliberal faith in the ability of the ‘‘free market’’ to do things better and at lower cost once government was out of the way.

The NZ Institute of Architects later wrote that, had the BPGC been reinstated, the leaky buildings disaster ‘‘would never have developed with the speed or to the extent that it did’’.

History has much to teach us.

Peter Dyer, Thorndon