Building industry occupational board appointments announced

Appointments to the Building Practitioners, Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers and Registered Architects Boards and the Chartered Professional Engineers Council were announced today by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith.

“Building work across New Zealand is at record levels and ongoing strong growth is forecast. An extra focus is required in these boom times on maintaining high professional standards across the building and construction sector,” Dr Smith says.

“These appointments and reappointments bring a wealth of skills and knowledge to their respective boards, with backgrounds and many years of experience across professions. The strength of these boards is the mix of industry, higher education, commercial operations, governance and leadership.”

The appointments and reappointments are:

Building Practitioners Board

• Christopher Preston (chair)
• Richard Merrifield (deputy chair)

Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board

• Deborah Cranko
• Kenneth Douglas
• Barry Wilcox
• Nicholas Fleckney (reappointment)
• Graham Hardie (reappointment)
• Craig O’Connell (reappointment)
• Richard Merrifield (reappointment)

New Zealand Registered Architects Board

• Warwick Bell (chair – reappointment)

Chartered Professional Engineers Council

• Jonathan Williams (chair – reappointment)

“The challenge for these board members is to help ensure these industries contribute to the Government’s goals of increasing housing supply, and maintaining high standards while keeping compliance costs to a minimum,” Dr Smith says.

Background information:

Building Practitioners Board

The Board was established under section 341 of the Building Act 2004. Its functions are to: approve rules relating to licensed building practitioners; investigate, hear complaints and discipline licensed building practitioners; and hear appeals against decisions of the Registrar in accordance with the Act.

Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board

The Board is a statutory body established under the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006 and is responsible for administering the registration and licensing systems of plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers and in doing so, is responsible for setting the minimum standards for registration and ensuring those persons carrying out regulated work are competent to do so.

New Zealand Registered Architects Board

The Board is an independent statutory body established under section 47 of the Registered Architects Act 2005. The Board’s role is to regulate the architecture profession, and it is responsible for the development and administration of rules about competency standards, ethics, complaints and discipline of members of the profession.

Chartered Professional Engineers Council

The Council was created under the Chartered Professional Engineers of New Zealand Act 2002. The Council reviews and approves rules containing chartered professional engineering standards and hears appeals on registrations.