Council staff win top NZ building control awards

THE Southland District Council has won two top prizes at the national building control awards.

At the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) awards the council was named winner of the Organisational Commitment to Customer Service and Excellence Award, while building control team leader

Angus McIntyre was judged to be the Young Building Control Professional of the Year.

Manager, building solutions, Julie Conradi was delighted with the result.

‘‘Customer service is truly a councilwide commitment,’’

Ms Conradi said.

‘‘The support we have received from both the industry and all staff here at council has been overwhelming and ongoing for years.”

The Organisational award recognised the effort of the council’s building control team to achieve compliance by meeting its performance targets in a challenging environment.

With a shortage of experienced staff in the labour market, the council initiated an inhouse cadetship and training programme to get inexperienced staff up to required levels, which yielded excellent results, Ms Conradi said.

‘‘We are proud of what has been achieved in the past few

years,” she said.

‘‘The focus now is on engaging with the industry to continually improve processes and relationships as we continue to build trust with our local communities.”

Chief executive Cameron McIntosh said the two awards represented ‘‘an organisational commitment to supporting each other, our customers and the people of Southland”.