Building Amendment Bill

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I move, That the Building Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Transport and Infrastructure Committee to consider this bill.

The Building Amendment Bill is the culmination of years of work across government to address gaps and barriers relating to managing buildings after an emergency, and investigating building failures which caused, or could have caused, serious injury or death.

This bill amends the Building Act 2004. It will empower the Government to act more responsively and decisively when faced with an emergency event or threat or tragedy, and it marks an important step in futureproofing our stock of buildings.

The Building Amendment Bill has two parts. The first part introduces new emergency management powers as part of an end-to-end process for managing buildings from response through to recovery following a significant emergency. The second part provides the central building regulator, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, with a clear set of powers to investigate significant building failures. These proposals are drawn from a range of sources, such as the findings of the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission, experiences from recent emergencies, and consultation that took place across government with stakeholders and with the general public.

New Zealand’s environment is dynamic and unpredictable, which can place considerable stress on our buildings, meaning we need to be vigilant against building failure. The first part of this bill achieves this by clarifying our legislation on the management of buildings after an emergency. The existing business-as-usual powers of the Building Act proved inadequate to manage buildings after emergency events such as the Canterbury earthquakes and the Kaikōura earthquakes, and this led to ad hoc legislation and identified particular problems with the current system. There is insufficient flexibility in the current system, which can lead to unclear and imprecise responses to situations we have not faced before. There was also uncertainty on the ground around the chain of authority, which resulted in compromised decision-making, and the time frames of the powers exercised were not designed for the length of time needed to manage damaged buildings.

This bill grants new powers to the Minister for Building and Construction and territorial authorities to provide better clarity, certainty, and consistency around how we manage damaged buildings that pose a risk to people and to property. Due to the inherently unpredictable nature of emergency events, the bill has been designed to provide flexibility. It provides for a streamlined transition between powers under civil defence legislation and the Building Act. It gives the people on the ground more options for responding to the challenges caused by, and faced by, buildings in emergencies. It allows for longer-term thinking about the management of buildings and allows decisive action by expert officials without unnecessary red tape.

This bill will empower the Minister for Building and Construction to designate areas for emergency management of buildings. This is a separate power from State emergencies or transition periods under the civil defence legislation. The time frames of these designations have been specifically designed to reflect the length of time it can take to remediate damaged buildings. Consultation with Heritage New Zealand will be required where actions are directed or decisions made that affect heritage buildings. It also includes new powers to inspect buildings and place placards and require works to be carried out on buildings. Property rights are protected by a framework of checks and balances to ensure the proposed powers are used appropriately. Furthermore, for the purpose of emergency management of buildings, MBIE, as the central building regulator, will be able to access information gathered under the civil defence and emergency management powers.

The second part of the Building Amendment Bill recognises the importance of learning from when things go wrong with buildings in order to prevent future building failures. This bill will give MBIE the tools that it needs to investigate significant building failures, where such failures did result, or could have resulted, in serious injury or death. As important as it is to deal with emergencies effectively, it is also vital that we learn from when things go wrong. The current system relies on the cooperation of building owners to gather the information that is needed to identify what went wrong. There are no powers of enforcement to ensure the information is gathered promptly and in full.

This bill addresses the shortcomings in the current system by providing MBIE with the full suite of powers needed to investigate a failed building. This includes powers for MBIE to enter a site; it empowers MBIE to carry out an inspection, compel information from property owners, and publish reports on their findings. With this suite of powers, investigations can be carried out in a timely and straightforward manner, and ensure the best possible information is gathered so that we can better understand any weaknesses of our buildings. This knowledge can then safeguard against the dangers that poorly performing buildings can pose to lives and to livelihoods.

This bill will improve how we coordinate our responses to managing buildings in an emergency, and building failures. These new provisions will allow for risks to be better managed by providing for decisive action in the face of an emergency event by ensuring clarity, consistency, and certainty in the way buildings are managed, as well as greater capacity for us to learn from when things go wrong so we can be better prepared for the future. I commend this bill to the House.

Bill read a first time.

Bill referred to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee.