Oh the irony…
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From National’s website, I found this little “gem”,
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Now, considering that the whole sorry saga of the Leaky/Rotting Homes fiasco began with the Building Act 1991 – when the then Bolger-led National government de-regulated the New Zealand building industry – it seems that National has not learnt a single, damned thing about that failed experiment in de-regulation.
“As Auckland Mayor John Banks says, “It was a previous Government that put in the legislation that allowed for untreated timber, cavity-less walls, chicken wire and plaster. So they should at the least accept an equal liability with local government.”
Mr Banks should know. He was a member of the Jim Bolger-led National Cabinet that passed the permissive 1991 Building Act which was naively based on the premise that National’s developer mates could be trusted not to cut corners.” – Source
Fast forward from 1991 to 2012,
” Fast-track building consents for standard, multiple-use building designs ” ???
” Make building law changes to allow more do-it-yourself building, and to make a broader range of minor and low-risk building work consent-free “???
It is appropriate that #55 – “Leaky Homes: Develop a $1 billion financial package to help owners of leaky homes get their homes fixed” – follows on from #53 and #54. Because de-regulating Building Consents and making DIY easier, without professional over-sight, will probably end up with yet more dodgy building; more rotting homes; and more New Zealanders having to pay thousands of dollars to repair shoddy workmanship.
Nice one, Mr Key, Mr English, Mr Brownlee, et al.
Never let it be said that you guys “waste any time” learning from your previous mistakes…
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I have it on good authority that many building inspectors have often approved work on building sites that didn’t even meet the most basic building codes because of the building boys network and this may have been the reason why so much damage was caused to buildings in Christchurch during the earthquakes.
You might have a point there, Miles. Some of the reports coming out of Christchurch seems to point to (some) building inspectors being fairly “relaxed” about their role…