2nd April 2024
In this newsletter:
Welcome the new Chair and Deputy Chair of BIF NZ
New 'Fast track' bill, what it is and what it could mean
NZGBC Housing summit
StatsNZ: A rise in non-residential work in the 4th quarter of 2023
RNZ: Seismic risk standards are bumping up construction costs
NZHerald: Calls for a ban on engineered stone benchtops, citing potential 'Silicosis disease'
Welcome the new Chair and Deputy Chair of BIF NZ
Please welcome aboard our Chairperson Jason Bardell, as well as our new Deputy Chairperson Simon Burden.
Jason Bardell is currently the managing director at Independent Building Solutions, having been present there for over 30 years.
Simon Burden is the CEO of Buildlink Group, a role he has been in for several years now.
The Construction and Infrastructure industries are going to be vitally important both now, as well as in the coming years, so we're thankful to have two incredibly seasoned and veteran leaders representing our board.
A full list of our board of directors can be found here.
New 'Fast-track' bill, what it is and what it could mean.
One of the most exciting and interesting developments in the previous month is the newly introduced 'Fast-Track Approvals' Bill. It's aim is to 'fast-track' infrastructure projects that are 'considered to have significant regional or national benefits'
To access the fast-track approvals process, project owners would need to apply to the joint Ministers. A project would then be referred to an expert panel to assess the project and make a recommendation to the joint Ministers, who would then determine whether the approvals should be granted or declined.
The end goal of this bill would be to get construction of infrastructure underway faster, with the aim to reduce the costs associated with longer stages of planning and projects being delayed.
To read the full bill and make submissions, click here.
GBC - Housing summit
A link to the event page can be found here.
The date for the 2024 New Zealand Green Building Council Housing Summit has been announced. Taking place on the 22nd of May at the Aotea Centre, this summit has a packed programme and an extensive list of speakers from the private sector as well as the public.
The programme contains topics ranging from
What's next for New Zealand's building code?
Economic reality for healthy homes, our economy and climate goals
The value of embodied carbon analysis – International vs local manufacturing
This is sure to be an informative event, with many different perspectives, ideas and industries meeting together to tackle housing, with an environmental angle that you would expect from the Green Building Council.
StatsNZ: A rise in non-residential work in the 4th quarter of 2023
StatsNZ has released its findings on the number of residential vs non-residential construction for December of 2023, showing an uptick in seasonally adjusted non-residential work (measured by dollar amount), when compared with the year prior. Most interestingly is that the total number of residential and non-residential is down compared to last month, while non-residential is the highest it's been for the past few years.
A noticeable positive is that the annual value of building work is up by 7.1 percent. Below is a list of some of the keys areas that contributed to this rise:
hospitals, nursing homes, and other health buildings, up 41 percent to $1.6 billion
offices, administration, and public transport buildings, up 24 percent to $2.1 billion
social, cultural, and religious buildings, up 43 percent to $1.2 billion.
To see a full breakdown of the stats, graphs and data, click here.
RNZ: Tighter seismic risk standards bump up building costs
Tighter standard for seismic activity could add from 5 to 7% onto new building costs, this comes after standards have updated proposals to make them more in line with other areas that are prone to earthquakes, such as California and Japan.
Standards have been tightening since the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. Currently the proposed standards are only guidelines, but there are aims to make it mandatory.
Commercial property lawyer Doran Wyatt says that
"it would be sensible to take [the new design standards] into account now in the design of new buildings"
"A failure to do so could well mean a new building that underperforms."
To read the whole article, click here.
Photo obtained from NZ Herald via 123rfNZ Herald: Doctors urge ban on benchtop material engineered stone, warn tradies of risk from silicosis lung disease.
Engineered stone tops with up to 95% Silica in them could cause serious, uncurable damage to workers. This comes after Australia banned the use of it after July this year, as dust from cutting and shaping the material, inhaled in even small amounts in an occupational sense has been linked to Silicosis, heart and lung disease.
Australia even banned low amounts of Silica-engineered stone, citing Safe Work Australia “there is no toxicological evidence of a ‘safe’ threshold of crystalline silica content”
It's possible that the long term effects on Silica dust will not be fully apparent until decades later “Accelerated silicosis is going to be the first serious disease we see. But in five or 10 years we could be having a different conversation about all these cancers that we know can develop.”
To read the full article, click here.
