Big week for building consents despite lockdown conditions

The Kāpiti Coast District Council building team has adjusted well to life in lockdown, quickly transitioning to working from home to continue processing applications in big numbers.

Since entering Level 4 lockdown the team of 15 has processed 26 building consents and 37 code compliance certificates from their home offices – a mammoth effort given the difficult circumstances.

Building Team Manager Steve Cody says to get through so many consent applications is testament to good planning and preparation.

“Consent numbers have been rising steadily in the last few years and the team has been getting busier,” Mr Cody says.

“Using the experience of last year’s lockdown, and knowing another one was more than likely to occur, meant we had the systems in place to enable us to transition to working remotely quickly. This has allowed us to keep our customers building consent applications moving.”

Mr Cody says consent applications are rising as Kāpiti continues to grow and the recent work is another indication of that.

“The 26 consents issued last week compares with 71 issued for new homes and three consents for townhouses in the third quarter of 2020/21 – it’s a pretty significant lift in numbers.

“And for the same period in the 2019/20 year, we granted 41 consents for new homes and two consents for 10 new townhouses. We are seeing consistently higher numbers of consents year on year as building activity ramps up.”

In the 2019/20 year Council granted 1,017 building consent applications and in 2020/21 Council processed 1,189 consent applications, a 17 per cent increase.

Mr Cody says it is not surprising the team is getting through big numbers.

“They’re used to growing volumes and are pretty match fit now.”