BUILDING CURBS EVADED

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 1

BUILDING CURBS EVADED

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, March 3. The building programmer, Mr R. F. Paris, said yesterday that loopholes in regulations were allowing firms to circumvent the apparent intention of the Government’s curbs on building projects worth more than £30,000.

The racket is reported to be employed extensively by companies who build structures in stages.

For example, a firm may erect a first stage building worth, say, £28,000. which does not need special sanction. As soon as it is under way the firm sets to on a second stage worth, sav, £lB,OOO. With help from architects "ho design construction to dovetail, the firm promptly secures a £46.000 edifice—in spite of programming procedures and the regulations. Mr Paris conceded yesterday that he had evidence that the practice was going on about the country. "It is a loophole. People are even beginning to ring nie up and ask for my advice on this thing. Not Worried “Although we do know it is going on everywhere, we are not yet worried about it. If the procedure shows signs of becoming really widespread, it may be necessary to have a look at it. It is an obvious effect of restrictive measures.”

Mr Paris said that by resorting to the subterfuge, applicants or owners were “programming” their own work. “They are themselves putting off some of the job and we don’t think that is doing much harm.” Regulations do not specifically outlaw the construction of a building worth more than £30,000 in several phases. 1965 Regulations Section three of the Economic Stabilisation (Building Construction) Regulations, 1965, requires prior written consent from the programmer for the construction of any portion of a building where the estimated value of that portion, together with the estimated cost of the work to complete the building, exceeds £30,000. The provision had been drafted to prevent aggregation of work on any one block, including the expansion of work before the first stage became “operative and effective as a workable unit,” Mr Paris said. It was not possible, therefore, to erect the shell of a building and subsequently to fit partitions, services and

other sections as a separate job without special authority if all work combined was worth more than £30,000.

: Guide On Policing I The official interpretation of the law is contained in a preliminary letter Mr Paris sent to local bodies last year as a guide on the policing of building permits under the regulations. He asked local bodies to ensure that any building worth less than £30,000 would be “a complete entity,” capable of use without further work. Wartime building controls, which continued into the postwar period, prohibited additions to existing, completed structures without approval until 12 months had elapsed from the completion of the first stage or stages. That provision has no counterpart in the present regulations.