Upston Louise: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Upston Louise: Building Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3823] 
LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 For many hard-working New Zealanders 9 years of a Labour Government has meant that the dream of owning their own home has slipped further from their grasp. I stand to speak in support of the Building Amendment Bill (No 2). This bill means that housing affordability will get a little bit closer for those who have a dream of owning their own home. 
What are the three initiatives in the bill? The first initiative is the introduction of national multiple-use approvals which will streamline the building consent process for buildings to be replicated on a substantial scale. The second initiative is the provision of a new streamlined process for making minor variations to building plans after a building consent is issued. The third initiative is to make the requirement to obtain a project information memorandum voluntary reducing the time and costs involved for building consent applicants. 
We have had strong support from submitters for both the purpose and the proposals in the bill and the Local Government and Environment Committee has been unanimous on the way forward with this bill. It is important to note though that many submitters have also supported the wider need for a much more significant review of the Building Act. Of course that is a priority for this Government and our hard-working Minister for Building and Construction Maurice Williamson. 
Why are we embarking on this legislation? Of course it was initiated by the previous Government but this Government will be the one that takes it across the line. It is common knowledge that building a house is very time consuming and costly. Homeowners developers and builders face a mountain of compliance costs. The layers of local government bureaucracy are incredibly difficult to navigate and to wade through. There is such an amount of unnecessary paperwork steps and hoops to get through. I am thrilled that this bill will fix a number of those problems. 
In 2008 National pointed out that the Building Act was estimated to have added an extra $20000 to the cost of building a new home pushing homeownership out of the reach of many hard-working New Zealanders. The construction industry is a vital part of our economy and it is currently hurting. Many companies in my electorate in Taupo have already made the tough decision to lay off staff. Other building companies in Taupo are desperately trying to hang on to their staff and their apprentices and to limp through these tough times. They need legislative changes that will make it easier for them to focus on what they do best which is building houses not doing unnecessary paperwork. The Government will keep the focus on cutting red tape and making it easier for people to do business. Changes to the Building Act fit nicely with the Resource Management Act simplifying and streamlining reforms that are also currently with the Local Government and Environment Committee. What a hard-working and harmonious committee it is! 
Let us look at these changes in a bit more detail. Firstly the Department of Building and Housing will be able to issue multiple-use approvals for dwellings and buildings that are to be replicated on a substantial scale. I tell members that this is not making changes to the product certification process so quality will not be affected. Multiple-use consenting will help drive improvements in housing costs and affordability. Builders of group homes will be able to achieve economies of scale. They will follow a much simpler process and the impact of that will be lower costs. There will also be less time involved in getting a project to completion so companies like Jennian Homes KiwiSpan and Initial Homes which have standard house plans will be able to apply to have their plans approved. Those companies operate up and down New Zealand and they work in multiple district council areas so these provisions will get rid of some of the inconsistencies that they currently face with standard plans. 
Secondly there is also a reduction in the statutory time frame whereby the time for processing a building consent application will be reduced from 20 days to 10 days. That is significant when we consider the amount of time involved in some of those construction projects. Another key purpose of the bill is to differentiate between the major and minor variations to the consented building work which will mean that minor pieces of work do not have to go through a huge drawn-out bureaucratic process and that the amount of time and money involved will be reduced. It is a shame that Mr Shane Jones is not here— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: You can’t say that. 
LOUISE UPSTON 
: —because I will use an analogy that will help make this point. If we look at the analogy of McDonald’s that company uses a similar approach to standardise what it does. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I do not think the member needs to make his point of order. Members cannot refer to the absence of a member from the House. 
LOUISE UPSTON 
: In terms of this analogy in McDonald’s they have standard recipes and they roll out the recipes up and down the country so it is very efficient it saves costs and it makes it more affordable for members to have a Big Mac. In terms of housing that means Initial Homes can roll out a standard design for one of its homes up and down the country. If customers want to customise their Big Mac and they do not want it with gherkin it is a small variation. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Is there one in Taupo? 
LOUISE UPSTON 
: What we want to do is make it very simple and very easy for customers with a home from Initial Homes to change a window change where a door is placed or change the use of a room. That is what this bill will do. 
It will also be voluntary for an owner of a building to obtain a project information memorandum from a territorial authority. A project information memorandum is a report provided by a territorial authority to a building consent applicant that provides information about the land and other requirements that might be relevant to a proposed building project. In reality many of these project information memoranda are issued at the building consent stage so it is an additional cost with no value. 
This bill is really important in terms of saving costs making housing far more affordable and more achievable for hard-working New Zealanders. The National Government wants to make sure that through these measures in the Building Amendment Bill (No 2) housing is more effective and more affordable and that the quality is high and that it is efficient to build and construct houses. There is no point having more than one design for one building company that builds these group homes. If we can have one simple plan that is approved up and down the country we will not have the issue of whether it was a McDonald’s in Taupo or in Eketahuna or wherever it was because it will all be the same. That is why this bill makes a lot of sense. 
I hate to admit it but the previous Government did have some sense in introducing this bill but it will be the National Government that takes it over the line. It will be the National Government that reduces compliance costs and red tape. It will be the National Government that makes it easier and more affordable for New Zealanders to get into homes. We are very pleased that this bill is having its second reading. The select committee has been working hard. The submissions have been very much in favour of the bill so that shows that we are on the right track. It is great to see that the select committee members are on the same page and that there is very little dissension in terms of where this bill is heading. 
There was some concern from a member of the Greens that there might be some issues around urban design but in reality it is about getting New Zealanders into affordable housing that is still high quality. I make the point that yes we are talking about driving down and reducing costs and cutting through red tape but we are not talking about compromising quality. It is important that the houses built in New Zealand are of the standard we expect. The measures in this bill that we are talking about do not compromise the quality of housing. Those measures mean that we can build low-cost quality homes. I am very thrilled to stand in support of this bill. It will ensure that home affordability and good-quality housing become an end goal for more of our hard-working ordinary New Zealanders. This bill is the start of a much needed reform of the Building Act and that review is under way. I am thrilled to stand in support of the second reading of the Building Amendment Bill (No 2).