20 years ago:
• New Zealand’s first building certifiers, Peter Simpson of Dunedin and Keith Hodgkins of Mt Maunganui, were approved by the Building Industry Authority after a delay of three years caused by insurance difficulties.
Building certifiers were the private sector equivalent of territorial authorities in respect of checking building work for compliance with the New Zealand Building Code.
Each certifier was to be registered to operate within an approved scope of work. As more certifiers were registered, building owners would have the choice of engaging a certifier or a territorial authority to check plans and specifications, and carry out site inspections.
15 years ago:
• RMBF chief executive Chris Preston said 2000 had been a year of big changes at the Federation — a year that saw the appointment of four boards of directors, a vice-president and president, and the appointment of at least one outside director.
It also saw the introduction of a charter under which the governance of the Federation was to operate, which he said would allow the Federation to progress in the years to come, and to benefit members through a much more focused and commercial directorship.
10 years ago:
• Department of Building and Housing chief executive Katrina Bach told Parliament’s social services and select committee that leaky building claims could take 15 to 18 years to resolve.
“if you keep on tracking on the current rajectory, it’s got a very long tail, this problem, and it’s better to think about some alternative or additional approaches to speed up resolution,” Ms Bach said.
She said the system was not the best way to expedite resolution of claims, and that it could be improved.
The DBH estimated up to 15,000 homes could suffer significant leaks, with the cost of repairs alone estimated at $1 billion.
5 years ago:
• Adeline Wong, author of Australian company BIS Shrapnel’s Building and Construction in New Zealand 2009/10 – 2015 report, said the construction sector had been partially held up by infrastructure construction expenditure, as other building activity had remained weak.
Any earlier recovery in the housing market appeared to have stalled, and recent residential building activity had remained sluggish also.
She said softening building activity in the non-residential sector had been led by the social, cultural and religious building sector, where activity levels had dropped off following the commencement of sports stadiums.
The slow pace of economic recovery, combined with the RBNZ’s interest rate hikes to normalise lending rates, and the stalled housing recovery, had led consumers to turn cautious, as reflected in the continued sluggishness in the retail trade and housing market.
The report said there would be gathering momentum and recovery in the second half of 2011, supported by an unleashing of pent-up housing demand, which would be aided by improved affordability following personal tax cuts from October 2010
