Home Events and news May 2009

Events and News - May 2009

Update on the accreditation of council building certifiers

The Planning Minister recently announced that the commencement of legislation requiring the accreditation of council building certifiers will be delayed.

Following the recent exhibition of proposed changes to introduce the accreditation of council building certifiers and the consideration of submissions received from stakeholders, the Board has been given additional time to consult with councils and other industry stakeholders on options to address concerns raised.

Simplified accreditation process for building surveyors

The Building Professionals Board has recently conducted a review of the building surveying qualifications delivered by course providers throughout Australia. The purpose of the review was to provide greater recognition to the building surveying qualifications for categories A1 - Accredited certifier - building surveyor grade 1 (A1), A2 - Accredited certifier - building surveyor grade 2 (A2), and A3 - Accredited certifier - building surveyor grade 3 (A3).

Revised evidence checklists for categories A1, A2 and A3 were approved by the Board on 20 April 2009 and are available here.

An applicant seeking accreditation in categories A1, A2 or A3 who has a qualification listed under the relevant revised evidence checklist, will be taken to satisfy all of the specialty performance criteria for the relevant category and will not be required to submit an annotated performance criteria report with an application for accreditation made to the Board.

The above mentioned change also applies to existing certifiers who elect to be assessed against the requirements of the Building Professionals Board Accreditation Scheme (the Accreditation Scheme) at their third renewal or are required to be assessed against the Scheme with their fourth renewal. If an existing certifier chooses to be assessed against all the requirements of the Accreditation Scheme seeking to obtain unconditional accreditation and has one of the listed qualifications in the relevant evidence checklist for categories A1, A2 or A3 the applicant will not be required to submit an Annotated performance criteria report to demonstrate that he/she satisfies the Specialty performance criteria. Existing accredited certifier will be required to demonstrate that he/she satisfies all other criteria, including the core performance criteria.

Existing accredited certifiers have the choice of retaining their conditions and only being assessed against the core performance criteria or electing to be assessed against all criteria of the Accreditation Scheme.