1. Introduction
Key points about why the Government is asking for the Building Code fire safety review.
On this page
1.1. Government review of the Building Code’s fire safety provisions
1.1.1. Our knowledge of fire safety continues to grow
Fire safety is a complex and challenging area and there are significant life safety risks when getting things wrong.
The Loafers Lodge fire in 2023 put a spotlight on:
- the importance of fire safety in buildings in New Zealand, and
- some of the long-standing issues in the building regulatory system.
Building uses, technology, building materials and construction methods have evolved rapidly since the last review of the fire safety regulations in 2011.
New complexities to fire safety and firefighting have been added due to:
- the use of innovative timber products
- battery storage and charging
- roof-top solar panels
- urban intensification, with more people living in city areas than before.
This review looks to address changes in fire safety presented by these new challenges and lessons learned from fire events.
1.1.2. Demonstrating compliance with fire safety provisions makes it unnecessarily harder to build
Many New Zealanders are already facing significant cost pressures. The Government is committed to making it easier for New Zealanders to build affordable homes and buildings by improving efficiency and flexibility in the building system.
The Building Code should achieve safety outcomes without adding unnecessary costs on building owners. The level of safety required should match the hazards and outcomes if things go wrong. Compliance costs should be at the right level compared to the risks and complexity of building work. MBIE has identified that in some cases, the current provisions do not achieve this balance.
Regulatory requirements can also add unnecessary costs when there are gaps or inconsistencies in the requirements, making it costly to achieve compliance.
MBIE has heard that when people in New Zealand apply for a building consent, they often say that complying with fire requirements is a major challenge and source of uncertainty.
The current Building Code provisions can be unclear and inconsistent, leading to extra costs and delays to the building consent process.
The Government is also committed to increasing competition by allowing for a wider range of building products to be accepted for use. But some fire safety requirements are creating barriers to using building products from overseas.
This review looks at removing barriers in the designing, consenting, and construction of buildings and ensuring that the fire safety provisions in the Building Code do not add unreasonable costs to buildings.
1.2. Fire safety is integrated across the Building Act and Building Code
1.2.1. The Building Act sets out fire safety purpose and principles
The Building Act 2004 (the Act) is the primary legislation for regulating building work in New Zealand.
The Building Code directly supports the Act’s purpose and principles. An effective Building Code ensures fire safety so that:
- people who use a building can do so safely and without endangering their health
- people who use a building can escape from the building if it is on fire
- people entering a building to carry out rescue operations or firefighting are protected from injury
- protection is provided to limit the extent and effects of the spread of fire.
New Zealand has a performance-based code. The Building Code states how a building must perform in its intended use rather than how the building must be designed and constructed.
The Building Code is separated into parts, and clauses C1 to C6 cover Protection from Fire. These clauses are also supported by fire safety requirements in other parts of the Building Code such as the:
- prevention of ignition from electricity and flammable gases
- structural design of buildings, and
- inclusion of emergency and exit signages as part of the evacuation routes from a building.
MBIE publishes acceptable solutions and verification methods. These documents specify design and construction methods that are ‘deemed to comply’ with code requirements.
Building consent authorities must approve applications for building consents that are designed according to these acceptable solutions and verification methods.
Designers can also present an ‘alternative solution’ where an applicant shows, in their own way, how they will comply with the performance criteria directly.
1.2.2. The focus is on issues in the Building Code regulations
The focus of the discussion document is to identify issues in the Building Code regulations and other related regulations (Figure 1). This includes fire safety provisions in:
- the objectives, functional requirements, and performance criteria in the Building Code
- other regulations under the Building Act that are consequentially impacted by the fire safety provisions.
MBIE acknowledges that the Building Code works as a system and some issues will cut across different documents in the Building Code system. This is why the review also includes consideration of:
- acceptable solutions and verification methods
- information published in guidance documents.
Figure 1. The Building Code system showing the scope of this review and the focus of this consultation
Text description for figure 1
1.2.3. This phase of the review does not contain proposals to change the Building Code
This discussion document is phase one of the review and does not cover proposals to change Building Code regulations or the acceptable solutions or verification methods.
Any future amendments to the Building Code regulations would need to be approved by Cabinet. Proposals for change must be consulted on and are subject to Cabinet’s impact analysis requirements.
The chief executive of MBIE could amend acceptable solutions and verification methods in the future but these must be consulted on and meet procedural requirements under the Act. Consultation on these items would form the next phases of this review after options for possible changes have been developed.
The supporting background paper explains how regulations are made and MBIE’s role in the process.
Background paper — Building Code fire safety review 2024 [PDF, 3.5 MB]
1.3. Phase one of the fire safety in the Building Code review
1.3.1. MBIE has identified outcomes that they would like to achieve in the overall review
The overall review aims to deliver the following outcomes:
- Building Code requirements need to be clear on protection levels based on building types and their users.
- Fire safety provisions in the Building Code need to keep up with changes in urban design, modern construction methods, and the different ways buildings are being used.
- Ensure fire safety regulatory requirements in the Building Code are fit for purpose and cost-effective.
- Minimise gaps inconsistencies in fire safety regulation to provide certainty, clarity, and consistency.
1.3.2. As part of the first phase of the review, MBIE received feedback on issues in the Building Code
To identify issues, MBIE sought initial feedback from over a 100 different organisations and industry associations. This was to better understand what issues they have experienced with the Building Code fire safety provisions.
This feedback was from designers, engineers, architects, councils, product suppliers, fire safety experts, disability advisors and advocates, Government agencies, and others.
MBIE also established a stakeholder group with regular meetings to discuss their findings.
MBIE has also identified issues through:
- fire safety concerns identified in Operation Magazine, an MBIE-led project to assess fire safety in boarding houses similar to Loafers Lodge across New Zealand — this was a response to the tragedy at Loafers Lodge lessons learned from other fire events in New Zealand and overseas
- past consultations on the Building Code, and from other international building codes
- items raised through a recent complaint to the Regulations Review Committee relating to specific technical details in the fire safety provisions in the Building Code.
You can also read the supporting background paper for further information on the work to identify these issues.
Background paper — Building Code fire safety review 2024 [PDF, 3.5 MB]
1.3.3. Issues are across multiple topics affecting people in different ways
The issues MBIE identified span several different topics of fire safety which are included in the Building Code. These issues range from large gaps that are not addressed by the Building Code regulatory system and were frequently raised in conversations with external stakeholders as items to be resolved.
These issues may:
- leave people and buildings in New Zealand at risk to a wide variety of fire hazards
- fail to protect those who are most at risk in our country from the effects of fire
- expose firefighters and emergency responders to avoidable risks
- make it harder for people to build and introduce unnecessary delays and costs in designing, consenting, and constructing of buildings
- cause frustrations for designers, engineers, and building consent officers who are left to interpret vague requirements or fill-in the gaps in the Building Code themselves
- lead to inconsistent decision making on what is required to comply with the Building Code
- create barriers to the use of products from overseas.
Other technical issues can collectively add to costs, delays and uncertainty for building consent advisors (BCAs) and consent applicants.
The background paper that has been released alongside this document provides a full list of the areas of concern that MBIE has identified. Please refer to the background paper for a summary of work to date and supporting information.
1.4. MBIE wants to hear your feedback and opinions on fire safety
The sections 2 to 4 of the discussion document set out the issues MBIE has identified. MBIE welcomes your feedback on these issues and any other issues you think are missing.
For this section, please consider these questions if you are going to give MBIE feedback on the outcomes of the review.
- Do you agree or disagree with the outcomes we have identified for the review of fire safety provisions in the Building Code?
- How well do you think the fire regulatory system is currently performing against these outcomes? Please provide evidence if you can.
- Are there other outcomes MBIE should consider for the review?
- Would you like to provide feedback on your answers?