held on

Friday, 22nd February 2019 at 8.45am

at

Tauranga City Council, 360 Cameron Road

Special thanks to:

REDSTAG: Branch Local sponsor
Tauranga City Council: Host, Venue & Catering.

8:45 - 9:00am:

Meet and Greet.

Attendance:

Chamberlain Carpentry and Joinery: Ian Chamberlain
Confidence Building Inspections: Keith Tindall
Fire Design Bay of Plenty: Jed Dodson
Gusto Property: Steve Hutton
Hamilton City Council: Ken Worbir, Eric Davies, Kevin Su, Alex Mardon, Andrew McCabe, Kitrina Reed, Phil Saunders, Scott Tullock
Hauraki District Council: Paulina van der Weijden
Holmes Farsight: Nik Hardy
INCONDO: Paul Probett
Insight Inspections: Gordon Ward
Professional Building Consultants Ltd: Dan Wetherill
Region Consultancy: Dave Thompson
Rotorua Lakes Council: Bob Cameron, Berk Kapa
Tauranga City Council: Phil Roberts, Shay Harrop, Jason Sandford, Steve Higgins, Jason Sandford, Steve Higgins, Denella Brydon, James Deacon
Thames Coromandel District Council: Corinne Hamlin
Waikato District Council: Terrence Hayes, David J, Leanne Beal, Kevin Duthie
Western Bay of Plenty District Council: Case Verkerk
Whakatane District Council: Christ Watkinson

Guest / Presenters:

BOINZ Chief Executive: Nick Hill
Holmes Farsight: Nik Hardy
Tauranga City Council: Shay Harrop and Phil Roberts
Heaney and Partners: Paul Robertson
The Drug Detection Agency: Graeme Smith
Rice Speir Lawyers: Nathan Speir

Apologies:

Hamilton City Council: Cory Lang
Matamata-Piako District Council: Norm Barton, Denika Cawker, Daniel Kruger, Clive Leslie, John Needham, Malcom Neil,
Professional Building Consultants: Geri Sizoo
South Waikato District Council: Jason Reece, Dan Shaw
Supremegroup: Shannan Dewes, Jordan Double, Jason Moore, Taylor Wong
Taupo District Council: Peter Murphy, Kelvin Short, Derek Thorley
Waikato District Council: Merv Balloch

Welcome:

Start: 9:15am

Branch Chair Terrence Hayes gave a general welcome to members and visitors. Reviewed Previous minutes and matters arising.

Minutes and Matters Arising:

No matters arising.

Motion to Accept Previous Minutes:

Accepted: Christine Watkinson Seconded: Alister Arcus

Correspondence In/Out:

Letters of appreciation - Completed.

Board Members Update:

No update at this time.

General Business:

Members were reminded that the next training event is May 31st, 2019 'Theme TBA'

End of Branch Minutes and Matters Arising.

Branch Chair Introduced Opening Speaker:

BOINZ Chief Executive: Nick Hill

Nick provided a brief overview of activities and the direction of the Institute for 2019 including

• The Institutes Board held a Strategy Workshop early in February and identified 3 core strategic planks being Membership, Training and Advocacy for the short to medium term (1-3 years).

• Work has commenced on expanding the range of Advanced Courses for 2019. The "Difficult to Consent Course" has already been delivered in a number of locations. ANARP BWoF and Asbestos are due for release shortly, as are some refresher courses.A new comprehensive online Pool Fencing course will be available in April.

• The new NZ Certificate in Building Regulatory Environment (Level 4) is due to be available for various target groups of front desk BCA staff, those staff working closely with and submitting compliance documents in Architectural, Engineering and Construction businesses. It would be useful for members to advise this course would soon be available to their contacts in these sectors. There is still some work to finalise things with Skills, Org, TEC and NZQA, but we will keep you posted.

• The NZ Diploma in Building Surveying currently has 70 plus students enrolled in cohorts for 2019 (including the 17 who enrolled in 2018 now moving into their 2nd year of study). It is important for members to note the course is a qualification and as such it is run by Otago Polytech/Future Skills. The Institute only has a guidance and support role.

• For Training enquiries please contact Jason Goei at National Office at training@boinz.org.nz. Also remember if you have any thoughts around what courses you believe will be of value to members competency, please contact BOINZ first with the opportunity for consideration. The Institute is after all, your organisation so please support it.

• The 2019 Conference is to be held in Rotorua 19th - 22nd May. Bookings are open, and there is a special "Registration/Accommodation Bundle" package available

• The SBCO Forum this year will be held in Wellington 22-23rd August. Please contact Sarah at National Office for any queries events@boinz.org.nz

• Regarding legislation, MBIE have a Building Regulatory Reform Programme underway. Essentially the base issues have been around for many years, so in essence nothing is new from this perspective, rather the new MBIE BSP management team have spent the last two years reassessing them; and will propose solutions in a consultation document around March. The areas include Risk and Liability (limitation to BCA liability and greater accountability for those in the design build chain), Occupational Regulation (LBP, PGD and Engineering), Product Assurance (the Institute supports Independent 3rd Party Certification for Critical Building Products in the structure, cladding, fire and health areas, and has long articulated Codemark is a flawed product.).

• Finally, the Institute continues to work in partnership with organisations to improve member knowledge. On Thursday 21st BOINZ collaborated with Prefab NZ on a workshop in Wellington on the subject of "How to apply for building consents for panelised systems". This successful interaction between senior Council staff and BOINZ members from Wellington and Hutt city councils with PrefabNZ designers and manufacturers provided thoughts and ideas on how to streamline the consenting systems for these products for both parties.

End of Opening Commentaries.

Guest Presentation:

The Branch Chair introduced the following presentations and speakers:

9:45 - 10:30am

Holmes Farsight: Nik Hardy

Nik is a Senior Regulatory Consultant for Holmes Farsight working in the area of code compliance consultancy. Nik's presentation was around providing tips on the risks associated with weathertightness and how to deal with them.

Summary of Presentation:

Nik advised the theme of the presentation would be about dealing with serious areas of Risk Management. He talked about the liability issues (last man standing must shift). He advised Territorial Authorities (TA) can't simply rely on Code Mark and not carry out duty of care assessing the product on its merit.

Nik highlighted examples from simple R 1 to more complex R 3. Indicating designs are changing, and the process needs to change with it, e.g. How to deal with Modular Housing - Think about the decisions we make, 'Every Decision has a Consequence'

Nik highlighted ways to mitigate risk

• Think about Risk Tools. On the Risk Scale if something exceeds 20 points then it is outside the scope of acceptable solutions. Use PS1, 2,3,4 and commentary/data from manufactures as they will have hopefully provided expert opinion.

• Risk is Relevant - The more reasons you can put together, the lower the risk will be.

• Mitigating Risk - Use the right tools and knowledge.

• Risk Managing Outcomes. When accepting risk at inspections, there are ongoing consequences. When reviewing the data received - check who is it from, what does it cover, does it reference the relevant testing criteria and is it NZ compliant?

General Questions from the floor were acknowledged.

End of Presentation.

10.30 - 11:15am

Tauranga City Council: Phil Roberts and Shay Harrop

Both Shay and Phil have management and leadership roles with Tauranga City Council within the building section. Collectively they have a depth of experience in all areas of BCA/TA work and today are going to discuss some of the innovations that Tauranga have implemented or are working on in connection with risk and managing risk.

Summary of Presentation:

Shay Harrop and Phil Roberts presented an engaging, well received presentation to gathered members and guests on how Tauranga City Council's building services team are using modern technologies and challenging old thinking with ways of processing and inspecting large complex or unusual buildings, including modular buildings now coming into their area from China and other areas.

Shay spoke about the huge amount of commercial work currently being undertaken in Tauranga, including the landmark development of Farmers which included 23 two storey duplexes and 115 apartments in its two towers overlooking the waterfront and harbour. The Bayfair and Tauriko shopping centres were also discussed. Combined with these and the Farmers development, Phil's Principal Building Officer team were currently working on more than $350 million dollars' worth of work in these 3 projects alone.

Phil then provided an example of a local 3 storey resident dwelling using galvanised steel super structures with each modular floor stacked on top of the last one and bolted together. This inter-activate presentation challenged members, thinking about how they would process something like this and what number of required site inspections during construction would they think be appropriate to issue Code Compliance Certificates.

Phil also highlighted how they are making use of remote type inspections technology including mobile devices. A contractor can show the entire building via a walk through the house in real time.

General Questions from the floor acknowledged.

End of Presentation.

11:15 - 12:00pm

Heaney and Partners: Paul Robertson

Paul is a partner of Heaney and Partners and has been a key player in several building law and litigations and importantly, he has successfully represented many BCA's in the area of weathertight building claims. Paul's presentation was about Consenting and Inspecting and what to watch out for.

Summary of Presentation:

1. Paul highlighted the Do's and Don'ts for BCO's worthy of consideration:

• As a lawyer involved in resolving claims involving councils, I have a warped view of what BCO's do. I see mistakes from the claims that are made, usually many years later, so my perspective is broad

• My mission today is very much like describing good driving habits having only visited car crashes years after the accident.

• However, I believe my value today is from my sight from observing what hasn't worked in the past, and hence what BCOs should logically strive to do in the future. I will share some today.

• I have also spoken to a range of senior inspectors and they shared with me some pointers to pass on.

• The only thing stranger than a lawyers view of what BCO's do, is the perspective of judges. They believe that you are supermen.

- You know everything about ensuring compliance with the Building Act, the RMA and any other Act imposing obligations on a council;

- You can see from the briefest of inspections everything that is non-compliant / wrong with building work / earthwork; and

- You can stop all building work with one finger.

• Judges are happy to make the council, your employer, pay for any claim where they believe that the council's involvement falls below this impossible standard.

• Don't take this personally. This approach is because of economics rather than fairness. Judges know that, unlike the poor property owner, a council can always afford to pay. They also believe that if councils are made to pay for claims, they will take more care in the future, such as by employing more inspectors.

2. The key points of this presentation and my messages are simple:

• Nothing is off the record

• Ask yourself when processing building consents and applications for CCC's

- Do you have all the information / documentation that you need?

- Are the documents authentic and can the council rely upon them (especially producer statements)?

• Inspecting

- While you can't know everything, make reasonable enquiries;

- If dissatisfied, ask for more information, or simply 'say no';

- You can place limited reliance on the building parties; and

- Record your decision making in a way that makes it obvious to those that follow what you were approving / inspecting, viz, keep a good document trail.

General Questions from the floor were acknowledged.

End of Presentation.

12:00pm - 12:45pm

The Drug Detection Agency: Graeme Smith

Graeme and his wife Leona own The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA Waikato/Coromandel Branch). Graeme has 30 years in the NZ Agricultural sector, predominantly in senior leadership roles with Hamilton's Gallagher Group, fertiliser company Ballance Agri Nutrients and three years as CEO of the Animal Nutrition division of Ballance, SealesWinslow.

Graeme's talk was around risks and what BCA's and BCA employees should look out for in terms of exposure to drugs and drug dependency, risk to the construction industry and in respect of meth affected properties what to look out for.

Summary of Presentation:

TDDA is national and IANZ accredited to test business staff. Graeme's topical and industry relevant topic covered the use of drugs and the role-on effects drugs have on individuals and those around them.

The argument he stated isn't about whether marijuana should be made legal or not. This has no bearing on the main issues at stake. The simple fact of the matter is 'You can't go to work under the influence - or being impaired by drugs or alcohol'

Graeme talked about managing risk and H&S legal obligations to ensure the safety of workers, identify hazards at BCO construction sites and what your liabilities with H&S from a BCA point of view are.

When you talk about managing risk. it has an impact on the performance of staff. H&S doesn't have to be fatal, it's about making workers safe and managing risk.

General Questions from the floor acknowledged.

End of Presentation.

12:45pm - 1:30pm

Lunch kindly sponsored by Tauranga City Council

1:30pm - 2:15pm

Rice Spier Lawyers: Nathan Spier

Nathan a partner at Rice Spier Lawyers, has considerable experience in the area of compliance and enforcement. Nathan leads the compliance and enforcement team and is an experienced prosecutor who has been involved in cases covering the full spectrum of criminal and regulatory offending. Nathan spoke about media risks and how to deal with risks in this area where people can be easily caught out.

Summary of Presentation:

Nathan spoke about the risks to Building Control Officers in the "world of social media". Nathan suggested why we are tempted by social media, what the risks are, some tips and tactics for spotting and dealing with "keyboard warriors" and the legal mechanisms available for those dealing with online abuse.

Nathan also highlighted the need to avoid the temptation to respond to 'The Keyboard Warrior'

There is no need to set the matter straight as this is time consuming. Some are of these 'Keyboard Warriors' are very good at what they do, and can be obsessive and persistent complainers, presenting broad arguments, often alleging their rights have been breached. They are unreasonable and engage in counter-productive behaviour - sometimes including anger, intimidation, threats and violence.

General Questions from the floor acknowledged.

End of Presentation.

2.15 - 3:00pm

Panel Discussion

The focus of the panel will be to review pertinent questions raised during previous presentations, questions from the floor and any question members may have regarding 'Risk and Risk Management'.

Phil Roberts facilitating.

Panel Presenters:

Nick Hill, Shay Harrop, Nathan Speir, Paul Robertson.

Summary of Presentation:

The panel discussion was well received by members and guests, several questions were raised from the floor and were well responded too by the panel.

End of Meeting

Special thank you to: Branch Sponsor Red Stag and Tauranga City Council for supporting this Training event.