Wagner Nicky: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Wagner Nicky: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:5081] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I rise to support the Building Amendment Bill (No 2). It has gone through the select committee process with very little debate and has been well supported. Of course it amends the principal Act the Building Act 2004. It is interesting and perhaps a little bit disappointing that the Act of 2004 proved to be so heavily bureaucratic and tied up with red tape that we have to look at it again so soon—5 years is not a long time for a bill to last. 
As I have said the amendments have been very positively received by the industry architects builders and anybody who realises the importance of construction. The aim of the bill is to amend the Building Act 2004. It is basically to reduce both direct and indirect costs to property owners and developers but all the time ensuring that quality homes and buildings are still constructed and that housing is affordable. The amendments are designed to cut time and costs out of the building process and to provide a stimulus for increased construction and the jobs that go with it. 
New Zealand has always had a great tradition of homeownership. For many years it was the Kiwi dream of a quarter-acre pavlova paradise; every house with a picket fence a big vege garden and space to play backyard cricket. Although now in the 2000s the dream remains it might look slightly different. The Kiwi dream in the 2000s could be a fifth-floor apartment or an inner-city heritage villa but regardless of style homeownership is an enormously important part of the Kiwi way of life. The National Government wants to make sure that homes are affordable for as many New Zealanders as possible. 
One of the silver linings of the current recession is that house prices have dropped and affordability has improved but it is an enormously high price to pay for affordable housing. Unfortunately over the last few years under the previous Labour Government it had become increasingly difficult for people to own their own homes and New Zealand had become one of the least affordable countries in which to own a home. The major amendments in this bill cover three main areas and each is designed to improve the timing and cost of the consenting process so that houses can be built more cost-effectively. 
The first one is to allow the Department of Building and Housing to issue national multiple-use approvals for dwellings and buildings that are replicated on a substantial scale. It was interesting to hear from my colleague Chris Auchinvole that 40 percent of houses are replicated. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: 40-plus percent. 
NICKY WAGNER 
: Actually 40-plus percent of houses are replicated. This is the tract housing that we see in suburbs around all our cities. It is also required to reduce the statutory time framework for processing building consent applications from 20 working days to 10 working days when the application includes a national multiple-use approval. But I note that those approvals still need consents for the specific site. They are only for the design or template. We all know that time is money so the introduction of these national multiple-use approvals will streamline and simplify the consenting process and cut costs. 
Secondly the bill differentiates between major and minor variations to consented building work. I do not think there would be a single building that does not have to have minor changes as it goes up. Whether it is moving a window or tweaking a door these are small but important changes that happen through the process and this new system allows for the consenting of minor changes to go through without the full consenting process which saves time and money. The differentiation between major and minor variations will simplify and streamline again and cut those costs.