Page 3618 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019
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Successfully completing the course is now compulsory for people applying who have not previously held a building surveyors licence. Releasing the course completed a further reform, taking the total to 29 of the 43 reforms now completed. We will be promoting the course to licensees, industry members and associations to help people better understand the building regulatory system.
The construction occupations registrar and Access Canberra continue to increase regulatory and enforcement action. Additional funding announced in this year’s budget will add to the number of building inspectors available to inspect and audit building approvals and building work and support further compliance work.
Over the past 12 months Access Canberra has issued 10 notices directing building work to be undertaken to address non-compliant buildings, three rectification orders and 197 demerit points to construction licensees for issues including failing to comply with the Building Code. In the 2018-19 financial year building inspectors issued 29 stop notices to builders for building work that was contrary to building standards and would have potentially led to ongoing problems for the eventual owners and occupiers.
I am pleased to report that the rapid regulatory response team is continuing, following the success of the initial pilot. The team has resolved 224 cases by engagement, education and negotiation, without the need to undertake formal enforcement action. This gets outcomes for building owners more quickly and cheaply for minor matters and avoids the need for formal action which can be time consuming and expensive. If the team considers that the information that they have gathered shows that the matter requires further investigation or more serious action, it is escalated to the building investigations team. Another important reason for the success of this approach is the team taking the time to talk and listen to all parties so that they can determine what the real cause of the issue may be.
As well as regulation, we have a strong focus on education for both the community and the industry. In June I launched the build, buy or renovate web portal, which makes it easier for owners to navigate the building, buying or renovating process in the ACT. It also provides a centralised portal for easier access to information for the building industry on regulations, codes and standards.
I am pleased to advise that in the two months since the website launched there have been over 75,000 page views. The most viewed pages include pages for builder and electrician licensing, building approvals and development applications. We have also had over 1,000 views each on a range of pages that inform owners and purchasers about the building process and what they need to consider before they build, buy or renovate.
The better building quality information program, which will start next week, is designed to make people aware of their rights and their responsibilities when buying, building or renovating and where to seek help if something goes wrong. It also informs industry about the ACT government’s building reforms and where they can go for information about industry requirements in the ACT construction sector. The
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