MINUTES

SOUTHERN BRANCH
TRAINING AND NETWORKING EVENT
held on
Friday, 17th July 2020 at 10.00am
at
Invercargill City Council (ICC)
(Council Chambers)
101 Esk Street
Invercargill 9840

Attendance:

Waimate District Council Stu Chapman (Chair)
Timaru District Council: Vicki McMillan (Secretary)
Abacus Architectural Ltd: Brendon Wells
Building Compliance Solutions: Chris Randell
Dunedin City Council: Peter Brookland
Gore District Council: Russell Paterson, Trevor Gilder
Invercargill City Council: Jonathan Shaw, Peter Murphy, Simon Tonkin, Michael Hartstonge, Craig Ralston, Scott Crosbie, Barry Holsted
Mackenzie District Council: Jan Sprigg
Queenstown Lakes District Council: Jill Ryan, Ghislaine Warren, Robert Aurik
Southland District Council: Angus McIntyre, Scott Belesky, Tony Osborne, Alan Wild, Leslie Ladbrook

Guests :

BOINZ Director: Daniel Scheibmair
Invercargill District Council: Maria Grace
Mackenzie District Council: Christine Scannell
Southland District Council: Cherie Newman, Daigwon Jang

Apologies:

Building Surveying Ltd: Craig Dodd
Dunedin City Council: Martine Cashell-Smith
Gore District Council: John Hunter
Life Member: William Tyrie
Waimate District Council: Dave McFarlane

Previous Minutes:

• The Southern Cluster had completed its training spreadsheet; work was underway with contractors to provide training that will be a mixture of self-paced, online via Zoom and face to face meetings to stay efficient and reduce costs. Jayson Ellis is the lead on this project with assistance from Stu Chapman. This is planned to be up and running within the next couple of months.
  
• Members are requesting more advanced training for experienced staff members and it has been suggested experienced team members help providers to guide them - this may assist cost effectiveness.
• In the past, using staff to help develop and speak at training, was a capacity issue with management but with BCA managers driving the project this was offset.
• Each council in the Southern Cluster has added to the spreadsheet and listed their training requirements. Of the five priority topics, Accessibility was the most important
• BCA's can pick and choose which courses they want their staff to attend depending on budgets. Members present agreed this was a good plan.
• It was asked if designers could attend these training sessions for consistency. Stu advised Timaru and Dunedin have tried involving designers in specific training aimed at their needs, but it had not been successful, so it was unlikely at this stage.
• More information will be available at future branch meetings.

Moved: Stu Chapman Second: Barry Holsted

Correspondence In/Out

• A project is being worked on at National Office to celebrate Long-standing Members, recognise membership tenure and involve a special membership card.
• National Office reminds members the quarterly Straight Up magazine which is emailed directly is also available online via the BOINZ Website. If you have any ideas or suggestions for content or questions in general, please contact Darlya Redfern (Events and Marketing Manager) Events@boinz.org.nz (04) 473 6008

Board Representative Update - Director Daniel Scheibmair

Daniel introduced himself, explaining one of his board roles is to listen and understand the issues members face and best represent the interests of all members across the country to the Board.

He advised members that if they recognise issues to first raise them through the Branch so its Executive Members can decide the need to elevate them to National Office, but they were welcome to speak with him.

Daniel listed the newly elected 2020/22 term Board members as: Peter Laurenson (President), Wayne Goodfellow (Vice President), Cory Lang, Jeff Fahrensohn, Karel Boakes, Phil Saunders, and himself.

Dan mentioned the impacts of COVID-19 were many including mental health, so connecting with people should be a high priority, keeping an eye on people, and making sure they are ok. While affecting everyone it is lucky NZ is in a "flat curve space" - unlike other countries. BOINZ, like all organisations is significantly affected by COVID-19 in that it has lost vital income in events and training that is returned to members in support services. It is also likely 2021 will also be a different and tough year so it is important that members recognise the value of BOINZ and support where they can.

During COVID Alert Level 3, BOINZ had half the team (four staff) in the office, and by Alert Level 2 all staff had returned and looking at doing things differently. Work is underway restructuring BOINZ training course programme, including developing competency training. Some of the new online courses have been successful including:

• Building Warrant of Fitness
• Writing for Building Control Officers
• ABS 3-day course of intense learning for those in pre-purchase property inspection
• Working from Home Video
  

Daniel commented on Southern Cluster training programme development, emphasising the need to involve BOINZ, and it is going in the right direction. If it were to be offered to designers, he would suggest offering CPD points as an incentive. BOINZ could help with this.

Conference and SBCO have unfortunately been cancelled, but work is underway on a new hybrid event Building Pulse 2020 (BP2020) with the theme 'To the Beat of the New Normal'. BP2020 will be held 24^th and 25^th September in Wellington at the Intercontinental Hotel. Accommodation bundles are available now. This will be a great event and exhibitors are queuing to attend.

The Schedule 1 Exemptions were announced in May and came as a surprise to most of industry. BOINZ along with others were extremely disappointed regarding not being consulted given the implications of some of the changes.

Dan commented on the new virtual branch meetings capability provided by the Institute, the technology is still evolving and will only get better. Face to Face (F2F) meetings are the ideal for sharing information, but virtual has the ability for wider reach and handy in winter when traveling is not always best.

General Business:

• Secretary Vicki McMillan reminded members to:
  -Send items to be added to the agenda for future meetings by emailing her ahead of time via victoria.mcmillan@timdc.govt.nz.
  -Please also remember to RSVP if you plan to attend any meeting. This ensures the correct venue size is booked and the catering is correct. You can RSVP directly to Vicki or to Henry Cassin on 04 473 6002 or membership@boinz.org.nz.
• Remote inspections - Members noted the Zyte application was useful, but was known to crash often depending on Wi-Fi and cell phone reception. Some builders using data plans did not want to use their data on the app. Other options suggested:
  -FaceTime
  -WhatsApp
  -Facebook Messenger
• Compliance Schedules - Dunedin District Council is currently trialling new versions of forms. Overall, the new forms are better and are proving easier for processing teams.
  -After Dunedin's trial, the Southern Cluster will look at removing the Specified Systems forms as they are out of date.
  -Dunedin has a good guidance document on their website on how to fill in the new form.
  -BWOF's were missed over the COVID-19. Several members indicated their Councils were being lenient on Form 12's (issued after an inspection is passed) and when they come in.
  -MBIE has advised there will be leniency only for BWOF's missed during the COVID-19 period but not after lockdown.
• Schedule 1 Exemptions - Members discussed the lack of information from MBIE. Currently there is no information on a starting date. It was suggested Stuff and the Herald news outlets had more information than MBIE currently was currently providing.
  
• BOINZ CPD points for Licensed and Accredited members- Russell Paterson informed members he received an email from BOINZ National Office. It was agreed this is a good document and feedback as to what could be used to collect points.
  
• Next branch meeting - was to be held 25^th September 2020 in Dunedin but this clashes with Building Pulse 2020 which is being held on 24^th - 25^th September in Wellington, so the meeting been rescheduled to 18^th September 2020 in Dunedin.

COVID-19 Impacts to BCA's:

• Waimate District Council
  -This was a major impact as Waimate staff were not set up to work remotely. It took roughly 3.5 weeks to get setup and initially did not work well due to internet and connectivity issues leaving only 2 team members able to access the system.
  -Only in the last 10 days they have managed to clear up COVID consents.
  -The BCA lost very little work however, if anything, they are now busier.
  
  
• Southland District Council
  -Southland has always had remote working capabilities through a hybrid paper and electronic system.
  -Team members scanned paper consents to be worked on from home.
  -Some staff were hesitant in returning to the office due to fears of returning or enjoyed working from home. In these situations, staff from other areas within Council would scan documents and consents to those at home.
  -The team had daily 'stand-up' meetings which kept everyone included and engaged (via Zoom).
  -GoGet was set up remotely and tested during this time. Members agreed GoGet has great IT support.
  -Staff built great relationships with the wider community and were surprised by how quickly the workload has picked up again.
  
  
• Queenstown Lakes District Council
  -Were up and running working remotely within 2 days, this has proven to be more productive.
  -The team are now looking at different ways of working favouring a two-at-home and three-at-work split.
  -To keep themselves busy, the Inspection Team happily undertook the task of following up on historic consents.
  -There was some kick back from customers being contacted about old Code Compliance Certificates during this time, they did not feel this was important during a national pandemic.
  -Contractors are no longer being used by QLDC. The workload remains the same, but the commercial sector is quiet.
  
  
• Invercargill City Council
  -Members confirmed having similar experiences to everyone else.
  -The Bluff wedding cluster had ICC staff exposed to the virus.
  -Team members found it was harder coming out of lockdown than it was going in, especially when coordinating inspections.
  
  
• Gore District Council
  -Still working in hard copy format, meaning files were taken home to be worked on.
  -Some team members struggled with working from home, having all the family at home trying to work around the same table. Connectivity became an issue.
  -At Alert Level 3, the team were back in the office but very separated. It was found there was better productivity and efficiencies working in the office.
  
  
• Mackenzie District Council
  -Processing from home was setup easily and inspections were completed by remote photos and videos.
  -The videos worked well, while the photos were only as reliable as the builders that took them.
  -Members noted that current events have affected customers both financially but with mental health as well.

Barry Holsted's Retirement:

Chair Stu Chapman thanked Barry on behalf of all Southern Branch members for all he has done over the years as a member in his many roles including, Secretary and in later years Chairperson.

Stu also personally thanked Barry for his advice and support when he took over the Chairperson's role. He acknowledged how he appreciated this as he knew he had big shoes to fill.

He then presented Barry with a thank you card from the branch members who attended the meeting.

Barry in reply thanked the members attending, noting he joined BOINZ in 1997 and how fantastic it was to see so many members at this meeting. A highlight for him was when the Southern Branch won the 'Branch of the Year' award in 2012.

Barry also commented that is nice to see women and young people as BOINZ members these days.

Guest Presentation:

Chris Randell - Building Compliance Solutions

Topic: Waivers and Modifications.

Chris gave a presentation on waivers and modifications discussing the relevant sections of the Building Act including 3, 4, 17 and 67. He showed an example of the junction of an exterior wall and a deck where the cladding had been penetrated to provide structural fixing of the deck. The cladding then could not be maintained or replaced. He referred to NZBC B2.3.2 to demonstrate how this section of the code was not met by the detail and therefore in effect had been waived. He also provided an illustrated example of the effect of a B2 Durability modification commonly used when issuing CCCs for older building consents where one or more of the durability periods may have been exceeded.

If you would like more information on this topic please keep an eye on the Training Academy section of the BOINZ website or contact BOINZ Training Manager Jason Goei: Training@boinz.org.nz

Site Visit: City Block Redevelopment

Hayden Rankin, Project Manager at Invercargill Central Ltd, guided members on a tour of the City Block Redevelopment site which is bounded by the east side of Dee Street, the south side of Esk Street, the west side of Kelvin Street and the north side of Tay Street.

The first step of the work was the demolition of several buildings. This included two category II buildings (places of historical or cultural significance or value) which are on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga register. Thirteen buildings identified as sites of local significance are proposed to be demolished, while the facades of three heritage buildings will be preserved and worked into the new development, including that of the former Southland Times building, Bonsai Restaurant and Cambridge Arcade, all on Esk Street.

The tour included an information exhibition in a category 1 heritage building which has remained and is incorporated into the redevelopment.








The second step of work is the redevelopment. This inner-city redevelopment will touch all corners of the consumer experience from gourmet eateries, large retailers, and boutiques to plentiful parking, the block will have something to offer everyone. Careful consideration has been given to design a contemporary, functional centre that provides an engaging customer experience while remaining in scale with the existing buildings it is surrounded by.

If you wish to follow the development, you can see the details here:

http://www.invercargillcentral.nz

The Southern Branch would like to thank Invercargill City Council for their hospitality and hosting the meeting, it is very much appreciated as always. Special thanks go to the BCA's who released members to attend Barry's retirement /farewell and branch meeting.

Dates for 2020 Southern Branch Meetings:

Dates for 2020 Southern Cluster Meetings:

Action Log:

• Vicki to check with members when they wish BOINZ Chief Executive Nick Hill to attend a branch meeting this year.
• A request has been sent to National Office inviting Nick to the next branch meeting in Dunedin 18th September 2020. Awaiting their reply.
  
• Vicki to touch base with Carmeny Field to see if Queenstown are willing to host November meeting and end of year gathering
• Queenstown are happy to host the AGM and Branch Meeting 20^th November 2020 -If you have any suggestions you would like to put forward for this please, contact Vicki ASAP with your ideas.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting is proposed for 18th September 2020 to be held at Dunedin in the Plaza Conference Room at 10.30am.

Chair Stu Chapman thanks all members and guests for attending the meeting and closed the meeting at 2pm.

Vicki McMillan
Southern Branch Secretary
victoria.mcmillan@timdc.govt.nz