Building Consents for Commercial Premises
The general requirements for a Building Consent for Commercial Premises are the same as for any Building Consent. However, if you are planning to do building work on industrial or commercial premises there are some extra requirements that would not normally apply to a private building or dwelling. If you are planning to do commercial work, you should read this information in conjunction with the information on ‘Building Consents’.
Certificate for Public Use
It is an offence to permit the public use of any part of a building affected by building work before the Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) or Certificate for Public Use (CPU) has been issued. An application for CPU must be accompanied by detail of the precautions that will be taken to protect the public using the building until CCC is issued. This should include detail of any specified systems and means of escape from fire.
Building Warrant Of Fitness
Property owners are responsible for the safety and sanitation of their buildings. Certain systems and features such as fire alarms, lifts and air-conditioning require ongoing monitoring and maintenance. These systems and features are known as specified systems.
Where a compliance schedule (see below) has been issued for a building, the owners must provide a Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF) annually to verify systems are in working order.
This is a statutory declaration made by the building owner that requirements of the Compliance Schedule have been carried out for the preceding year.
Compliance Schedule
A Compliance Schedule is an inventory of a building's specified systems.
The schedule specifies:
- inspection, testing and maintenance procedures
- the frequency of required work and who should perform it.
When you apply for a building consent, you will be asked to supply details of these systems and features on the application form. You will be required to supply specific details of equipment location and details of proposed testing and maintenance procedures.
Once the systems have been confirmed, your Compliance Schedule will be issued with the Code Compliance Certificate.
When a new Compliance Schedule is issued a compliance statement schedule is included which provides details about the:
- building
- use of the building
- owner
- building systems covered by the Compliance Schedule.
Owner Responsibilities
For the first year, you must display the Compliance Schedule Statement in a public place in the building.
Every year after that you must:
- Issue a Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF) - To do this you must first ensure that all requirements of the Compliance Schedule have been satisfied. This will include inspections by an independently qualified person (IQP) for each of the system's features.
- Display a copy of the Building Warrant of Fitness - This must be displayed in a public place in the building.
- Send Building Warrant of Fitness and Independent Qualified Person/Licensed Building Practitioner (IQP/LBP) certificates to the Council - The original Building Warrant of Fitness must be accompanied by all IQP 12a certificates required by the Compliance Schedule.
In addition to inspections by independently qualified persons, the owner is often required to perform inspections at regular intervals.
- Records of the following must be kept together for two years and produced when requested for audit purposes:
- inspections by independently qualified persons
- inspections by the owner
- the Compliance Schedule.