Building by-law simplified

Press, 4 October 1985, Page 5

Building by-law simplified

The Christchurch City Council’s new, simpler, building by-law was presented to its town-planning committee yesterday. The main change introduced by the by-law related to fire ratings for boundary walls, said the city building inspector, Mr Bryan Bluck. There was now a 1%-hour burn-through requirement on all boundary walls. Although the national requirements for walls had been altered to allow all walls to be of plasterboard, the City Council’s by-law still specified concrete or masonry for shared walls in flats. “I have been conservative. We know that concrete walls work. In one council unit that went on fire a few days ago the concrete wall stopped the fire spreading to the whole block,” Mr Bluck said. However, commercial buildings could be of all dry-wall construction. Mr Bluck said the by-law had been revised and simplified as part of the over-

all revision of all council by-laws. Three buildings department staff had worked on the by-law, thinning out irrelevant parts and keeping only essentials. “As things stand we have a wad of paper that is the present by-law. That is to be read with the New Zealand Standards booklets,” Mr Bluck said. He waved a bundle of standards booklets. “This lot costs $9l for anyone wanting it” Mr Bluck said the revised draft by-law had retained the New Zealand Standard figure requirements. It dropped such outdated requirements as how many nails should be used in timber houses. Cr Alex Clark asked whether in the “simplification” of the by-law the officers had taken note of the size of buildings requireing building permits. “Reading this thing” — he waved the new by-law — “you get the notion that New Zealand is a much

over-controlled country. We want to simplify this so that people can do more or less what they want on their own sections provided it is not going to be of great nuisance to their neighbours.” Mr Bluck said the maximum size of a glasshouse or garden shed not requiring a permit was the ssme as in the present by-law. That size gave people a fair amount of freedom to put up small sheds without having to apply to the council. Cr Mollie Clark queried the provision within the bylaw for consideration of the disabled in building requirements. Mr Bluck assured her that such consideration was covered by the law. The new by-law of about 100 pages will be sent to the council’s policy and finance meeting in two weeks with the recommendation that it be approved by the council at its October meeting, confirmed at the November meeting, and come into effect on December 1.