KEY POINTS:
Challenging "compliance creep" in the building design sector is one of the main aims of Richard Harris, the new president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
A director of prominent Auckland architectural practice Jasmax, Harris was this week meeting Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones and National's building spokesman Nick Smith to discuss solutions to the problems.
The new licensed building practitioner system, strengthened Building Act and requirements of the Department of Building and Housing were endangering design flair, said Harris, who has just taken over the presidency from Wellington architect Ian Athfield.
"There's a massive bureaucracy and there aren't enough people in these organisations with the right qualifications," he said, mentioning the long-running debacle over councils getting certified as building consent authorities.
For councils to sign off building work, they need to prove they are capable of doing the job yet the process of becoming accredited has been much longer than expected, illustrating sometimes glaring inadequacies in local government.
Just last month, Jones announced councils would get an extra nine months to be accredited and registered.
This was the Government's second timeframe extension.
Harris said the leaky building crisis had sparked an overreaction in the design and construction sector, bogging down architects in unnecessary levels of paper shuffling and red tape, meaning their design flair could be severely compromised.
"There's an indolence in looking at different ways of doing things and that stymies innovation." New Zealand needed better new buildings. But architects also needed to communicate better with the public.
Harris is an influential architect whose work includes AUT University's masterplan for its Wellesley campus. The upgrade and expansion of Eden Park is at present one of his largest jobs.
