Streamlining the Certification and Approvals Process

About this course.

The approvals and certification journey usually moves through a recognisable sequence: first a planning or development approval that decides whether, and on what terms, a project may proceed; then a building approval or construction certificate that confirms the technical design complies with the building rules; then construction, carried out under a series of inspections; and finally an occupation or completion approval that must generally be obtained before the building can lawfully be used. Delays rarely come from the authorities being slow in the abstract. They come from avoidable friction: documentation that is incomplete or internally inconsistent, designs that do not clearly demonstrate compliance, referrals and conditions that are handled reactively, slow or partial responses to information requests, and poor communication. The names of the steps and the roles of the people who perform them vary between states and territories, but the sources of delay are remarkably consistent everywhere.

It helps to separate the two fundamentally different kinds of approval, because confusing them is itself a source of delay. Planning approval — often called development approval, a development consent or a planning permit depending on the jurisdiction — is about land use and development: whether the proposed use and building are acceptable in that location, how they fit the planning controls, their impact on neighbours and the environment, and what conditions should apply. Building approval — variously a construction certificate, a building permit or a building approval — is about technical compliance: whether the building, as designed, meets the National Construction Code and the applicable standards. A project generally needs both, and the second usually cannot be finalised until the first is in place and its conditions are addressed. Treating them as one undifferentiated "approval" leads to documentation being lodged at the wrong stage and to conditions being missed.