NSW Design and Building Practitioners Bill is now out for final consumer and industry comment - it is outcomes focused and lays a strong foundation

The new bill lays the foundations for the major reforms the NSW Government committed to in response to the Building Confidence report by Professor Peter Shergold AC & Bronwyn Weir and will help addresses the most pressing concerns people have about the design and construction standards of multi-unit and multi-storey apartments. The data speaks for itself as to why the most pressing reforms must start with the residential building sector. The sector's customers and their advocates rightly make the case for this priority. I agree.

As NSW Building Commissioner my primary focus is on how can the NSW construction industry rebuild public and consumer confidence in our industry. I want to go on record that this first piece of legislation since my appointment has my full support. I want to acknowledge the efforts of the drafting team and those who have made useful contributions to the preparation of the bill. Invariably new legislation will not embrace the complete spectrum of features that every interest group would like to see. There is more work to do. There are many moving parts to turning the culture and capabilities of an essentially self-facing industry around. That will require levers other than legislation to be exercised.

The link to my blog about the Bill is below.

Following over 40 meetings with industry and consumer representatives since my appointment there is a consensus that fewer than 20-percent of developers and builders account for as many as 80-percent of the major issues confronting residential customers today. There are many legacy issues that this cohort has left behind. We must get in front of these players and make it harder for them to continue to undermine the confidence that modern construction industry customers should be entitled to have. Further eroding this confidence are players we should expect more of. Discovering and attending to those performances often takes time - often after the damage is done and customers are left with the legacy issues. Making those parties accountable is often late in the piece if they are still around. The processes to do this are often lengthy and delay connecting action and impact.

We must introduce other measures to help get in front of those prepared to perform badly. This week a new initiative was commenced. This aims to establish a ratings system, initially for developers and builders. It will deploy deep data mining techniques to identify the most risky players. For example the use of special purpose development and building companies as a way to avoid future accountability for lousy projects is well known. These are the phoenix operators. They can be easily spotted. A new ABN linked to a new project is one method. I will be directing particular attention to this cohort of players. Not all are bad. The new ratings initiative will not require legislation. It will be industry led and it will be potent far earlier in the process. Some point to other jurisdictions in this conversation as offering a benchmark methodology. I believe the capacity and interest of ratings agencies can be more impactive. A working group of consumers, lawyers, developers, insurers, financiers and other key stakeholders will target having a draft model for a ratings system by early 2020.

This conversation would not be complete if it were to be absent the challenge to industry professionals who also have a huge role to play in turning industry capability and practice around. I have previously called out some of these players and this is not the time to name and shame. But this must be part of the process when some who see themselves above the play are clearly at the epicentre of the root cause of many industry ethical and ability issues. This week I gave a keynote address to a professional industry function. One of those present attested to the erosion of teaching investment in today's universities and vocational providers. He spoke passionately about how education institutions have shifted their focus from high quality education entry and completion standards to a 'bums in seats' priority. My office has started a number of promising education and research initiatives to address this area. I will be reporting on these soon. I will also be advocating for universities to publish better data on the amount of actual undergraduate fees raised deployed in teaching.

To cap out the week I was confronted with testimony by several practicing engineers who were members of their professional bodies. They attested to their circumstances which were dependent upon repeat work from small and medium sized builders. One stood before a room full of peers and reported that he regularly signed off on steel reinforcing inspections prior to concrete slabs being poured in residential buildings. He attested to visiting sites on several occasions prior to a concrete pour to inspect reinforcement that had yet to be fully and correctly laid. He attested to finally under pressure from builders who often had a concrete pump and concrete truck on-site ready to start as a reason to bowing to pressure to allow sub-standard reinforcement to be tolerated. Another two engineers said 'welcome to our world'. I was asked what I would do in similar circumstances - the answer is clear in my mind - send the concrete trucks away until the reinforcement was right. I think I also said to this fellow 'just put your professional pants on and do your job'. I was heartened to hear other professionals in the room call out - 'what about our professional ethics?'

Legislation alone will not solve the challenges that the NSW construction industry and its professionals must face up to. The new legislation makes some fundamentally important first steps. I have appreciated the advice given to me by Bronwyn Weir. I urge that readers of the legislation acknowledge that NSW is making important and customer facing steps towards rebuilding the confidence that must be re-established with the public and customers. We need to demonstrably shift the industry's narrative using evidence based observations going forward that clearly point to the multiple areas that need to be refreshed. Below is a diagram that I use to explain to industry and customer advocates the many moving parts that need attention. These parts must all be advanced together. My office is developing a work plan that will move all of these essentially linked pieces forward together. We will be publishing a dashboard from early next year that will show our strategy to rebuild the confidence that the NSW construction industry should achieve by 2023 and beyond. We will get this done.