6 September 2023
LGOIMA No. 8140011858
(Please quote this in any correspondence)
Hunter K
By Email:
[FYI request #22542 email]
Tēnā koe Hunter
Local Government Official Information And Meetings Act 1987
Producer Statement Authorship
Thank you for your information request dated 23 April 2023, regarding the Producer
Statement Authorship (PSA) structural engineering register. My sincere apologies for the
delay in getting this response to you and thank you for your patience while we have worked
on this response.
In response to your request, I consulted with the council’s Building Consents department to
provide relevant information. The specific details of your request and our response is below.
Under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA), please
provide all information regarding the Producer Statement Authorship (PSA) structural
engineering register:
1. the rationale for the need to evaluate structural engineer’s qualifications for the
PSA register when there is already an established CPEng registration process
with Engineering New Zealand. Please provide decision-making and advice
documents leading to this decision;
As is stipulated in the Producer Statements (
PS) Policy, the council’s acceptance of PS is
used to complement the processing and inspection process involved an assessing building
work. The use of PS’s is not formally part of the current Building Act regime, and the
establishment of the PS Register process in a non-statutory system developed and
maintained by the council to facilitate more efficient and cost-effective consenting and
inspections processes. The separate PS Register process al ows the council to specifically
manage which PS can, in principle, be accepted (without the need further thorough expert
review) from authors who are on the register (which is regularly reviewed), provided they
work within the scope of approval.[1] That is, the council wil accept PS from authors on the
0F
PS Register on face value, without conducting a thorough review of the building work
referenced in the PS, which the council would otherwise need to do.
As can be appreciated, while this process affords considerable benefit to authors (in terms
of time and cost) this process can also imposes a level of risk on the council through
reliance on other professionals who are not under the direct control, training and
[1] See pages 4–6 of the PS Policy about Acceptance of producer statements and Policy of having
Register.
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
monitoring of the council. Therefore, the council is careful with who it adds to its PS
Register, in particular where an author wishes to be registered for high-risk work.
In contrast, if an author submits a PS who is not on the PS Register for that type of work,
then Council wil need to engage in a detailed review of the PS as it cannot rely on their
PS at face value. A detailed review of PS requires the council to be satisfied on reasonable
grounds that the building work referenced in the PS complies with the Building Code. This
additional work undertaken by the council is then charged to the applicant.
Engineering NZ is not involved in the council’s assessment of applications of individuals
to be added to the council’s PS Register as this is a process that is solely run by the
council. Rather, Engineering NZ provides CPEng (Chartered Professional Engineer)
Status to Engineers through their own competency framework that is separate from the
PS assessment process carried out by the council. Engineering NZ is aware that the
council (and other councils in New Zealand) run this type of PS Register.
There are a number of factors for why the council chooses to hold a separate Register that
requires a higher level of rigour in establishing areas of competence compared to
Engineering NZ. These factors include:
a.
Mitigating risk of litigation – CPEng Engineers are assessed as competent, provided a
practice description and are permitted to work in perhaps other fields of engineering
should they so choose. However, this is not a scope of approval to perform high-risk
engineering work. An example of this could be a Fire Engineer deciding to work in the
structural area. Council considers that if PS are supplied by Engineers in unrelated
areas of work, this could pose an unacceptable level of risk that may be the subject of
litigation or scrutiny in future years should there be a systemic failure.
b.
Efficiency of assessment – if Council did not have a PS Register and was required to
review or assess every PS supplied and provide a level of scrutiny required to assess
this information, it would result in significant cost and time to the consenting process.
Council strongly believes this would also increase the cost to Auckland Ratepayers.
c.
Compliance with Building Regulations – Council must record decisions, reasons for
decisions and outcomes of the decisions.[2] Acceptance of a PS from an applicant
1F
requires Council to confirm on reasonable grounds why Council accepts the PS, which
may also require an assessment of the skil s held by the applicant. Having the PS
Register allows Council to refer to the registration number of the registered author
rather than having to assess their ability to do so every time they supply documents.
This requires Council to have a detailed level of rigor when determining reasons for
acceptance of PS Authors and their documents as part of consenting.
d.
Clearer controls – clearer controls on who can provide PS to Council. There have been
situations in the past where Council has had to remove people from Auckland Council’s
PS Register due to concerns with their technical competency.
A copy of the Auckland Council Producer Statement Policy (AC2301) is publicly available
on the Auckland Council website.
2. what are the minimum requirements for structural engineers to be on the “high
risk” register (e.g. how many projects, level of involvement, how seniors who do
not do “number crunching” are assessed)
[2] Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006, clause 6(b), (c) and (d).
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
The requirements to appear on the register for High-Risk are specified within the
attached Policy and the Application form.
For clarity the following criteria is required as a minimum:
1. CPEng Engineer with:
a. a base degree in the field of engineering they claim competence for
b. significant experience (10+ years); and
2. Evidence and copies of Certification of an approved Quality Assurance system in
place, or QMP/PQP.
3. Appropriate insurance cover
4. CV
5. Qualifications
6. Details of their role in at least 4 High Risk applications including design brief for
each project
7. Technical referees (3)
3. the review process in the event of any disagreement/dispute over the structural
engineering PSA register, in particular disputes over “high risk” applications;
In the event of any disagreement or dispute with their application, an applicant can email
the producer statement email address and request a review of their application. This is
escalated to the Manager Building Consents Capability. Once a request is received, the
Manager can determine whether a full review is required, whether the applicant needs to
be contacted to discuss and provide sufficient direction on next steps from there.
An applicant can also make a formal complaint if they are not satisfied with the outcome
of their application in a similar manner to all applications at the council.
Auckland Council is currently reviewing the Producer Statement Author process and, in
the interim, has commenced issuing a proposed outcome where the application is
proposed to be declined. This enables the applicant to discuss or clarify any issues prior
to the final decision being reached.
4. how the current external consultant who assess applicants were selected
including any tender documents;
5. who is the current consultant reviewing “high risk” applicants for the PSA
register, and what are their credentials;
6. how much has Auckland Council paid the current external structural engineering
consultant for “high risk” candidate qualification assessments for the 5 years
ending 31 March 2023.
Auckland Council considers that this information requested should be withheld under
Section 7(2)(b)(ii) the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
(LGOIMA), when it is necessary to do so, where making the information available would
be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied
or who is the subject of the information.
7. conflict of interest process or policy for PSA registration assessments;
Conflicts of Interest are dealt with under s.20 of the AC2301 Producer Statement Policy.
This clause applies to al authors. If an Assessor undertaking an assessment is
conflicted, they must absent themselves from the decision-making process and the
council wil engage another assessor internally or externally to review the application.
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
Decisions about this response to your request were made by
Ian McCormick, General
Manager Building Consents.
Should you believe Auckland Council has not responded appropriately to your request you
have the right to seek a review of the decision from the Ombudsman.
If you have any further queries please contact me on 09 301 0101, quoting LGOIMA No.
8140011858.
Ngā mihi
Jenny Hua
Senior Privacy & Official Information Business Partner
Governance Services
Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 |
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz |
Ph 09 301 0101
