MINUTES
CENTRAL BRANCH
TRAINING AND NETWORKING EVENT
held on
Wednesday, 5th June at 10.00am
at
Attendance:
Allen Jackson Limited: Desmond Allen
Central Hawkes Bay District Council: Murray Lougher
Fire and Emergency New Zealand: Murray Kidd
Palmerston North City Council: Bryan Clark, Marty Leach, Amie Rampton, Graham Wait
Rangitikei District Council: Derek Dykstra, Aldo Fehr
Tararua District Council: Trevor Burlace, Bob Dunn, Graham Howse, Russell Palmer, Alana Stewart, Caitlyn Te Huki, Rhiannon Wimsett
Whanganui District Council: Christopher Gould, Alan Hoskin
What's Up Central Districts Limited: Richard Wyn
Guests:
Building Officials Institute of New Zealand: Henry Cassin, Nick Hill
Apologies:
Katana Foundations: Dana Abraham
Welcome:
Branch Chair Bryan Clark, opened the meeting, welcoming members, new members, and guests. He extended a warm welcome to the events speaker: Nick Hill Chief Executive - Building Officials Institute of New Zealand.
Bryan also gave Dana Abraham's apologies as she was unexpectedly unable to attend and therefore could not give her presentation on Katana Foundation's Floating Slab Foundation Systems.
Previous Minutes:
General Business:
- Nick Hill gave an update on the success of the BOINZ 2019 Annual Conference and Gala Dinner.
- Nick Hill then presented Richard Wyn with the PRYDA Contributions to BOINZ Award which he was unable to receive at the Gala Dinner.
- There was discussion around MBIE holding a webinar on C/AS2 Fire Docs. No one knew anything about it happening, Nick commented it may be because MBIE was struggling to understand their target audiences and routes to market. He would like to have a meeting with the MBIE CEO regarding stakeholder engagement.
- Bryan mentioned that Wellington Branch invited Central Branch members to their 14th April meeting. He advised it was an interesting meeting and that all members should consider making efforts to go to their neighbouring Branch meetings if possible.
- Bryan also spoke to the success of the Conference and Gala dinner and advised attending members to go if they have not been before as it is an exceptional learning and networking experience.
- It was discussed some older Council staff looking at the training will be required to complete a full diploma, and may find it initially daunting, given their time away from books and study.
- There was general discussion amongst members on F9 Swimming Pools and MBIE's determination stance on it. Nick advised this will be a good Senior Building Control Officers Forum (SBCO) topic and that BOINZ was just about to launch its Online Training Academy course called 'Restricting Access to Residential Pools'
- There was general discussion around BOINZ courses. Members would like to receive notifications of all courses in their area, and how full courses need to be to ensure they run. Members agreed, with that information, it would be easy to fill a course as they would be more likely to register.
- Bryan reminded all members who have any Regulation 18 qualifications to apply for Licensed Membership by contacting Henry Cassin at membership@boinz.org.nz or 04 473 6002
Guest Presentation:
Nick Introduced himself and Henry Cassin, the Institute's Membership Relations Coordinator. The key areas of his presentation and discussion are below.
Five Years in Five Minutes.
- In 2013, National Office had four staff, we now have 8 staff. The Institute, like other organisations is subject to increasing costs associated with living and high employment which has led to high sector turnover and skill shortages.
- Deloitte Private was engaged as BOINZ's new accountant in 2017.
- In 2018 MYOB was updated and we also introduced an IPayroll system to strengthen efficiencies and deliver better reporting accuracy.
- National Office is still in the same building with a very good lease which is due to expire in 2023. Some space is also being subleased.
- We use MoST as our Custom Management Relation (CRM) system. Members can interact and update their details via this.
- Department processes have been developed and are enhanced regularly. Originally there were none.
- The HR Division is now running recruitment campaigns in Canada, UK, and South Africa, to support BCA skill shortages. Immigration processes can be a hurdle, but we are getting 2-3 solid applications a month
- Bruce Klein has joined National Office as a contracted Technical Advisor.
Strategy - New Direction
- The Board met in February to review the Institute's strategic direction. The strategy that was landed on has three platforms: Membership, Education and Training, and Advocacy.
- The membership platform has an operational outcome to create value for members and to enhance branches and their leadership.
Constitution Review Update:
- The Incorporated Societies Act 1908 was reviewed for the first time in over 100 years in 2014. The Act is still awaiting a cabinet direction to make these recommendations.
- Some key change recommendations to the BOINZ Constitution are:
- An ability to be able to change the BOINZ name or to establish a subsidiary trading name
- Rename 'Membership' section to 'Structure' to create greater definition across the organisation tiers.
- Introduce a new Director Triennial Rotation election process (2 per annum) to ensure Board sustainability. This is best practice and protects the Institute from a governance perspective.
- Create a 2 tier best practice Governance model - the Constitution which sets the overall directional requirements and Board Policies which allow the Institute to move with the times and add value for members.
Training
- There is a lot of work underway and to be done both in the education and training spaces.
- The diploma governance committee is reviewing its operational delivery policies for the new Diploma in Building Surveying (full time and part time options). Both take two years currently, but there are different levels of support. Some Councils are working with the governance council on a three-year course duration option so the students can be in the field more, making it more economical for BCA's should they be supporting the student/study
- As members know, the new Diploma in Building Surveying meets Regulation 18, and is specific to Building Surveying/ Building Control and is the preferred pipeline for industry recruitment, qualification and consistency. Supporting staff on other qualification pathways is false economy.
- The Certificate in Building Regulatory Environment will be available shortly and will take 6-8 months to complete. Initially, it will be provided to staff within BCA's with experience (similar to the Diploma approach) and the full-time course will follow.
- The Institute is in the process of creating more online material. Training E-News has been updated to a more topical and structured format, and the new F9 Swimming Pools course is the first to be launched through the Online Training Academy.
- Advanced Courses aimed to extend thinking beyond Acceptable Solutions are now available, they are:
- Difficult to consent
- Advanced Fire
- Earthquake Engineering
- ANARP
- Asbestos
- Advanced Accessibility
- Swimming Pool (Online)
- Leadership Certificate (Emerging or Advanced)
- The Institute's approach to training courses is vested in quality outcomes for our members. We will compete - BUT won't compromise on quality.
- Members present were positive about the new courses and asked Nick if there was an option to co-ordinate a programme to deliver them across the Branch/BCA area. Nick advised he would co-ordinate them with Jason Goei at National Office and deliver a registration notice for BCA training staff to promote
Vocational Education Reforms (VER):
- This is a new reform from the Government launched by the Minister of Education Chris Hipkins.
- Vocational training is non-university training. It is available at levels 3-6 and is delivered by Polytechs and Private Training Establishments (PTE's). It does not include languages.
- The Government wants an education platform that is fit for purpose, delivers to employers and learners, and builds an international reputation.
- These changes should save Government $150m/year. The cost of implementation over 5 years is expected to be $500m, so Government are obviously confident there are real financial advantages.
Building System Legislative Reform (BSLR):
- The reform package was launched for consultation on 14th April. BOINZ has been promoting this to members seeking feedback.
- The key areas of focus are Roles and Responsibilities, Information A ccessibility and Accountability for quality work
- There are 5 Reform areas within the package: Building Products, Occupational Regulation, Risk and Liability, Building Levy, and Offences/ Penalties. Each of these were covered in detail with member feedback.
- BOINZ is looking for better clarity of definitions around products and systems, raising the entry level to become an LBP, improvements to and limitations to site/license category, and a mandatory warranty/insurance product for all residential builds and alterations, with no opt out.
- The Institute also supports capping BCA liability.
- The build sector urgently needs financial support to produce better regulatory and operational outcomes.
- Members used this session proactively to provide feedback and comment on the various areas within the document and points raised by Nick. In particular, there was a strong focus on the need for independent 3rd party certification for critical building product. Nick advised BOINZ had already queried why this was not included in the consultation document given BIONZ's strong representation on this subject to date. The reply from MBIE was primarily focused around cost (easily refuted) and lack of evidence (also easily refuted as most legal action was confidential). The Institute is extremely disappointed at the MBIE position as it fundamentally fails to protect the consumer, building owner and occupier.
BOINZ annual events:
- SBCO Forum - 21-23rd August - Shed 6, Wellington
- Conference 2020 - will be in Auckland with a day change moving from Monday-Wednesday to Sunday-Tuesday.
- Watch the website for upcoming branch meetings.
Questions:
HR Division - Nick outlined the service and progress to date
Q: Does BOINZ recruit on behalf of Councils?
A: Yes, we do, we promote a full recruitment service, and interview and assess on behalf of Councils that contract our services. We additionally undertake applicant checks to narrow down a shortlist and provide this directly to the Council.
Q: Does BOINZ's HR Division get responses from applicants for smaller or larger cities?
A: We get more people who want the lifestyle of New Zealand and like smaller areas, and a greater exposure to the diversity of work smaller councils offer.
Q: Is the BOINZ Board a regionally represented one?
A: We moved away from a regional Board model so members can all be represented by the best candidates across BOINZ.
New Swimming Pool Course
Q: Does MBIE recognise the BOINZ F9 Swimming Pools course?
A: It is a broad focused course; and we will be liaising with MBIE closer to the launch date, so they are aware of it and the advantages it will provide to those working in this area (BCAs/BCOs/IQPs)
Q: Can more BOINZ courses be made available in the Central North Island
A: Absolutely, speak directly with our Training Advisor Jason Goei. If you have ideas for courses you are interested in attending, please also contact him at Training@boinz.org.nz or 04 473 6003
BSLR Package
A: Originally it was only going to be 6-week consultation period but following feedback at a February CIC (Construction Industry Council) meeting, Anna Butler worked to change this with the Minister.
Bryan thanked Tararua District Council for hosting the meeting and extended a special thanks to Nick Hill for his presentation. He then closed the meeting at 2.10pm
Next Branch Training and Networking Event:
The next Branch Training and Networking Event is scheduled for 4th September. Bryan asked that if any members have ideas for a venue to please contact him.
