Building team reports ‘significant improvements’

The Invercargill City Council building department has made ‘‘significant improvements’’ to its operations following discontent from the construction sector close to 17 months ago.

In late 2019 members of the building industry raised concerns about challenges to get consents processed by the council in a timely fashion.

It hit the headlines when Geoff Thomson pulled $21 million of his investment into the city block development sighting frustrations working with the council.

It prompted then Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie to speak out saying the council was holding Invercargill back because builders and developers struggled to work with the council.

Invercargill lawyer Liz Henry, representing clients, also raised concerns where she suggested under-resourcing in the building and planning team had hindered getting building consents sorted.

At the time councillors asked that MBIE be engaged to look at its building consent processes.

Council’s planning and building manager Jonathan Shaw has prepared a report for Tuesday’s performance, policy, and partnerships meeting which outlines the results of council’s building consent authority strategic review.

It highlights the progress that has been made.

‘‘The building team are pleased to report a significant improvement in their performance over the last 12 months,’’ Shaw says in the report.

There is a requirement to process building consents within 20 working days of the application, and also to certify the completed work with a code compliance certificate within 20 days.

The council previously had a 54 per cent record of hitting that 20-day mark for building consents, and 67 percent for the code compliance certificate.

However, Shaw says they hit 100 percent for both, as of February this year.

Inspection time frames have also shortened from approximately three weeks at the end of 2019 to three days as of late 2020.

Shaw attributed it to a change in culture and an innovative approach from the team.

He used the introduction of electronic applications and processing for building consents and the use of video technology for ‘‘remote’’ inspections as examples of that innovation.

The improvement in processing times has come despite an increase in building consents being lodged.

In the first two months of 2020, 218 building consents were issued compared to the 257 issued in the first two months this year.