In Christchurch the demand for site licences is high. The EQC is asking for practitioners to be licensed before being employed by Programme Management offices (PMOs) for the Christchurch rebuild.
However, it is not just in Christchurch where the demand is high, as major construction companies nationwide are reporting that, increasingly, tender documents are requiring a Site 2 Licence.
This licence involves co-ordinating or overseeing the construction or alteration of category one, two and three buildings.
It allows for:
• Category 1: Single household dwellings with low or medium risk envelope design,
• Category 2: Single household dwellings with high risk envelope design, or other buildings with a building height less than 10m, and
• Category 3: All buildings 10m or greater in building height except single household dwellings.
Projects stipulating the Site 2 licence requirement are coming from the Government and the private sector.
It is becoming obvious that the quality evidenced by Site 2 Licences is being recognised as a valuable licence to hold.
In Christchurch, PMOs such as Fletcher Construction are working with the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) to licence as many practitioners as possible to ensure sufficient numbers of quality tradesmen are available when the rebuild begins in earnest.
Other site licences available are:
• Site 1, which allows for co-ordinating or overseeing the construction or alteration of category one buildings, and
• Site 3, which allows the holder to manage some or all of the construction or alteration of category one, two and three buildings.
Already, clients are asking for site licences and for their practitioner to be licensed before employing them.
What’s more, practitioners are using their licensed status when advertising, using this as a mark of quality against their unlicensed peers.
If practitioners are not licensed by March 2012 then they will be prevented from undertaking some building work.
In March, restricted building work comes into force. This allows only those holding the appropriate licence category to carry out or supervise the design and construction of restricted building work on houses and small-to-medium sized apartments.
In other words, become licensed or miss out on the good jobs.
The DBH is also about to launch a consumer campaign outlining the need to employ an LBP for this work, the reasons for doing so and consumers’ responsibility to ensure they employ the appropriate people.
