Information for the Building Trade

The information on this page is for the Building and Development Community and applies to Building Services delivered in both Council areas.

Building Services provides all aspects of Building Control under the Building Act (2004) across Manawatu District Council (MDC) and Palmerston North City Council (PNCC).

It is based on the Palmerston North City Council Building Consent Authority providing its services under contract to Manawatu District Council with both Councils working in partnership.

Latest information and updates:

IMPORTANT NOTICE IN RELATION TO RESIDENTIAL BUILDING CONSENTS FROM 1 March 2012

From 1 March 2012, changes to the Building Act 2004 mean that building work (including design work) that relates to either the structure (load-bearing walls; foundations etc) or moisture penetration (roofs; cladding etc) of homes including small to medium sized apartments will be classified as 'Restricted Building Work' (RBW) and must be carried out by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP).

This also includes the design of fire safety systems for small to medium apartments, which is deemed to be building work critical to the integrity of a building.

An LBP is a skilled and/or qualified, appropriately licensed individual who is required to demonstrate their ability to meet industry consulted competencies.

The scheme has seven license classes:

Designers
Carpenters
External Plasterers
Bricklayers and Blocklayers
Foundation specialist
Roofers
Site (These are on-site supervisors or managers)

Registered Architects, Chartered Professional Engineers, Plumbers and Gasfitters are automatically classed as LBP's under their related registration systems.

From 1 March 2012, building consent applications which relate to RBW will not be accepted unless they include a Memorandum (Certificate of Design Work) from an LBP certifying that the design work complies with the Building Code.

Trade LBP's must be notified to Council, either at the Building Consent application stage (if known) or prior to the work commencing. Council is unable to accept inspection bookings until this information is provided.

Trade LBP Form - PDF (209kb)

To enable Council to issue a CCC, building owners are required to provide memoranda (record of building work) for all of their Trade LBP's.

While most industry practitioners are aware of the upcoming changes to this legislation it is important that members of the public who intend to undertake building work are also aware of the new requirements.

For further information regarding the Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme, please refer to: - http://www.dbh.govt.nz/lbp