Compliance Schedules and BWOFs

The Building Act 2004 (the Act) outlines Council’s responsibilities in respect to enforcing the provisions of the Act and promoting and protecting the public’s health and safety.

Role of Council

Council issues a compliance schedule in its capacity as a building consent authority and territorial authority. Council has a range of other building-related responsibilities, including monitoring the compliance schedule and building warrant of fitness regime.

Section 7

Plans and specifications means the drawings, specifications, and other personal documents according to which a building is proposed to be constructed, altered, demolished or removed; and includes the:-

• specified systems that the applicant for building consent considers will be required to be included in the compliance schedule under section 100; and
• the proposed inspection, maintenance, and reporting procedures for those specified systems.

Section 45(1)(g)

An application for a building consent must be accompanied by either one of the following:

• if a compliance schedule is required as a result of the building work, a list of all specified systems for the building; or
• if an amendment to an existing compliance schedule is required as a result of the building work, a list of all specified systems that are being  altered in the course of the building work; added to the building in the course of the building work; or removed from the building in the course of the building work.

Section 51(1)(c) and (d)

A building consent or an amendment to a building consent, must state:

• the specified systems that are covered by the compliance schedule, and
• the performance standards for the specified systems that are required by the Building Code

Specified systems

A specified system is a system or feature that is contained within a building for the primary purpose of maintaining health or life safety of building users i.e. fire alarm, sprinkler, mechanical ventilation system, etc.

Requirements for specified systems are set out in the 1st Schedule of the 2005/032 Building (Specified Systems, Change the Use, and Earthquake-prone Buildings) Regulations 2005. Where one or more of these systems exist in a building, a compliance schedule is required.

A compliance schedule is a document that contains specific information about, and procedures for, specified systems within a building. The compliance schedule must:

• State and describe the specified systems that are covered by the compliance schedule
• State the performance standards for the specified systems
• Describe the inspection, maintenance, and reporting procedures to be followed for each specified system

A compliance schedule is typically applied for with an application for building consent; however, it may also be applied for when an application is made for a certificate of acceptance or a certificate for public use.

The application form for building consent must identify the specified systems that are going in the building and sufficient information to enable the BCA to check compliance of the system. This includes information about the system, its location and the performance standards.

Specified systems are systems or features that contribute to the proper functioning of the building. Specified systems require ongoing inspection and maintenance to ensure they function as required, because if they fail to operate properly, they have the potential to adversely affect health or life safety.

The applicant/designer must provide detailed information for each specified system. The information required includes: a description of the system; the type of system; the location of the system; the made & model of the system; the performance standard; and the inspection & maintenance procedures.

• SS 1 Automatic Systems for Fire Suppression
• SS 2 Automatic or Manual Emergency Warning Systems for fire or other dangers
• SS3/1 Automatic doors
• SS3/2 Access controlled doors
• SS3/3 Interfaced fire or smoke doors or windows
• SS4 Emergency lighting systems
• SS5 Escape route pressurisation system
• SS6 Riser mains for fire service use
• SS7 Automatic Back-flow Preventer Connected to a Potable Water Supply
• SS8/1 Passenger Carrying Lifts
• SS8/2 Service Lifts
• SS8/3 Escalators and Moving Walkways
• SS9 Mechanical Ventilation or Air Conditioning Systems
• SS10 Building Maintenance Units for Providing Access to the Exterior and Interior Walls of Buildings
• SS11 Laboratory Fume Cupboards
• SS12/1 Audio Loops
• SS12/2 FM Radio Frequency Systems and Infrared Beam Transmission Systems
• SS13/1 Mechanical Smoke Control
• SS13/2 Natural Smoke Control
• SS13/3 Smoke Curtains
• SS14/1 Emergency Power Systems
• SS14/2 Signs Relating to a System or Feature Specified in any of Clauses 1 to 13.
• SS15/1 Systems for Communicating Spoken Information Intended to Facilitate Evacuations
• SS15/2 Final Exits
• SS15/3 Fire Separation
• SS15/4 Signs for Communicating Information Intended to Facilitate Evacuation (Clauses 1-6, 9 and 13)
• SS15/5 Smoke Separations
• SS16 Cable Car

Performance standard is the level of performance that a specified system was intended to meet, and to continue to meet, at the time it was designed and installed in a building. The Building Act requires that a specified system must be inspected and maintained in order to ensure that it performs, and continues to perform, to that standard.

If a specified system is designed and installed to an Acceptable Solution, Verification Method, Standard or specific documentation, this will set the performance standard for that specified system.

A compliance schedule is issued at the same time as the code compliance certificate; along with a compliance schedule statement. The compliance schedule is issued by Council, when it is satisfied that all specified systems are operational.

Specified systems are life saving features contained within or attached to a building. For this reason, suitably qualified personnel must install them. In all cases, documentation detailing the make, model and exact location of the system will be required; the latter must be in the form of an as-built plan. Installers and technicians will need to provide Technical Statements / Producer Statements covering the installation, testing and commissioning of each system they have installed.

In some cases, specified systems must also be inspected by third parties who will verify that the system has been installed, tested and commissioned in accordance with the Performance Standard.  The third party will need to provide a Certificate of Compliance / Producer Statement Construction Review.

Certificates of Compliance are required for:

• Automatic Systems for Fire Suppression i.e. sprinklers; and
• Automatic or Manual Emergency Warning Systems i.e. fire alarms

Producer Statement Construction Review is required for:

• Escape route pressurisation system
• Lifts, escalators, travelators or other systems for moving people or goods within buildings
• Mechanical Ventilation or Air Conditioning Systems
• Smoke Control Systems

FNDC recognise the importance of specified systems and have introduced a new inspection for all building work that requires a compliance schedule. This inspection will take place prior to the final inspection; the sole focus of this inspection is to check specified systems are operational and to collect information (i.e. the make, model and location of each system) and any supporting documentation (i.e. Certificates of Completion, Producer Statements, etc).

Any changes to a specified system or the performance standard during construction needs to be approved by Council by way of an amendment or minor variation (depending on the  level of technical assessment required).

This is to ensure:-

• future owners, IQPs, etc are aware of the change
• consent documentation is updated including the fire report
• council records can be relied upon

When the compliance schedule is issued, a compliance schedule statement is also issued.  The compliance schedule statement must be kept and displayed in a visible location such as the lobby or reception area of the building.   Council must agree to the location of the statement. The compliance schedule statement verifies that the specified system(s) nominated on the compliance schedule are operational and fit for purpose for the first 12 months of the buildings life.

The compliance schedule statement is valid for one year and must be replaced by a Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF) on, or before the anniversary date of the issue of the compliance schedule statement.

If an interim compliance schedule is issued, this will be replaced by a final compliance schedule when the building work is complete and the CCC is issued.  The final compliance schedule is effective from the date that the interim compliance schedule was issued as systems will already have commenced their maintenance, inspection and reporting regimes.

The compliance schedule statement is issued by Council.

Yes; where an application relates to multiple tenancies, which comprises several blocks of shops or units, it may be more appropriate to issue one compliance schedule for each block of shops / units, within the complex. For this scenario to apply, it will depend on the extent and scope of the specified systems installed e.g. if there is one sprinkler system or one alarm system that spans multiple tenancies, a single compliance schedule can be issued for that particular block.

Where there are multiple tenancies, the applicant should advise the preferred option so that compliance schedules can be prepared accordingly. Where multiple compliance schedules are prepared, each one must have its own unique number.