# Minister for Building and Construction (New Zealand)

The Minister for Building and Construction is a minister in the New Zealand Government with responsibility for the government's building, construction and housing programmes. The position was established in 2004 as the Minister for Building Issues.
The present Minister is Chris Penk, a member of the National Party.

## Responsibilities and powers

The minister's responsibilities include the regulation of the building and construction sector, including setting the performance requirements for buildings and building products. The portfolio is administered by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The primary legislation for the portfolio is the Building Act 2004, which sets out the rules for the construction, alteration, demolition and maintenance of new and existing buildings in New Zealand. The minister also oversees the regulation of engineers, plumbers, gasfitters, drainlayers and architects.

## History

In 2004, following its 2003 review of the housing sector amid the leaky homes crisis, the Fifth Labour Government announced plans to reconfigure government services related to building and housing. A new Department of Building and Housing was created by disestablishing the existing Ministry of Housing and transferring relevant functions from the Ministry of Economic Development, Department of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Social Development. The new agency was to report to two Ministers: the Minister of Housing (an existing role) and the new Minister of Building Issues.
It had been suggested that John Tamihere, an Associate Minister of Commerce who had overseen the passage of the Building Act 2004, would be named Building Minister; however, he resigned from Cabinet in October 2004 and Commerce Minister Margaret Wilson was named the inaugural Minister of Building Issues instead.
The portfolio was renamed Minister of Building and Construction in 2007. In 2014, it was amalgamated with the housing portfolio (as Minister of Building and Housing); this was reversed in 2016 with housing responsibility now sitting with the Minister for Social Housing.

## List of ministers
### Key

National  Labour
| No. | No. | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Prime Minister |
| As Minister of Building Issues ||||||||
| | 1 | Margaret Wilson | 1 November 2004 | 21 December 2004 | Clark |
| | 2 | Chris Carter | 21 December 2004 | 19 October 2005 | Clark |
| | 3 | Clayton Cosgrove | 19 November 2005 | 5 November 2007 | Clark |
| As Minister for Building and Construction ||||||||
| | 4 | Shane Jones | 5 November 2007 | 19 November 2008 | Clark |
| | 5 | Maurice Williamson | 19 November 2008 | 1 May 2014 | Key |
| | 6 | Nick Smith | 1 May 2014 | 26 October 2017 | Key |
| | 6 | Nick Smith | 1 May 2014 | 26 October 2017 | English |
| | 7 | Jenny Salesa | 26 October 2017 | 6 November 2020 | Ardern |
| | 8 | Poto Williams | 6 November 2020 | 14 June 2022 | Ardern |
| | 9 | Megan Woods | 14 June 2022 | 27 November 2023 | Ardern |
| | 9 | Megan Woods | 14 June 2022 | 27 November 2023 | Hipkins |
| | 10 | Chris Penk | 27 November 2023 | Incumbent | Luxon |
Table footnotes:
* ↑ as Minister for Building and Housing (8 October 2014 to 20 December 2016)