Removing barriers to overseas building products
Our members share government’s aim of delivering more affordable housing, which performs well. We are also mindful that the building and construction sector needs to get it right first time to deliver value and confidence to homeowners, while minimising liability to local and central government.
However, based on the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s discussion document on Removing Barriers to Overseas Building Products as part of the Building (overseas Building Products, Standards and certification Schemes) Amendment Bill, we are concerned about officials’ poor understanding of critical areas, in particular of the supply chain. This was painfully evident in COVID lockdowns where products like steel, plasterboard and reinforcing mesh became scarce because government locked down non-food manufacturing in Auckland while they let building sites operate in rest of country. They also failed to understand that local building materials manufacturing delivers resilience when changes in geopolitical situation threaten international supply chains.
In our submission to MBIE on this document we outlined in detail not only the lack of understanding of the building products supply chain but:
- the inextricable relationship between the building and construction sector and local manufacturing which delivers resilience;
- our building consent authorities’ abilities to competently evaluate (in detail), the performance of imported building products that would comply with the same standards our local manufacturers have to comply with;
- low carbon solutions delivered by local manufacturing.
View our submission presentation to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee on the Building (overseas Building Products, Standards and certification Schemes) Amendment Bill
