Construction certificate

In New South Wales a development consent says a project may happen. A construction certificate says it may be built the way the drawings show. It is the second step on the council pathway, and physical building work cannot lawfully start without it. Projects that qualify as complying development take a different route, because a complying development certificate covers both approvals at once.

The certificate can be issued by the council or by a registered certifier. The applicant lodges the detailed design, the specifications and the supporting documents, including anything the consent required to be resolved beforehand. Those pre conditions are the usual cause of delay. A consent will often list engineering details, contributions, a construction management plan, a waste management plan or a water authority requirement that has to be satisfied first.

Once the certificate is issued, a principal certifier is appointed, notice of commencement is given, and the inspection regime for the job begins.

On a staged project, construction certificates are commonly issued in packages. Bulk excavation, shoring and piling are often certified first so that work can start on site while the superstructure design is still being finalised, which can recover weeks of programme.

A construction certificate is a compliance check rather than a design review, and it looks at a defined set of things.

Consistency with the consent. The construction drawings must not be inconsistent with the approved development consent, so design development that has drifted from what was approved needs resolving before lodgement, usually by modifying the consent.

Compliance with the Building Code of Australia. The detailed design has to satisfy the relevant volume of the National Construction Code, covering structure, fire safety, access, health and amenity, and energy efficiency.

Conditions that come first. Any condition of consent expressed as a prerequisite to the construction certificate has to be discharged, with evidence provided.

Fire safety measures. The schedule of fire safety measures to be installed in the building is prepared at this stage, and it carries through to occupation and to the annual certification that follows.

Contributions and securities. Where the consent requires a developer contribution, a bond or a security, payment or lodgement is normally required before the certificate will issue.

The construction certificate is a New South Wales instrument. Every other jurisdiction has the same gate under a different name, which matters for builders and documentation teams working across borders.

Victoria. A building permit, issued by a registered building surveyor under the Building Act 1993.

Queensland. A building development approval, issued by a building certifier.

Western Australia. A building permit, issued by the permit authority under the Building Act 2011.

South Australia. Development approval, which brings planning consent and building consent together under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016.

Tasmania. A building permit issued under the Building Act 2016, with the approvals required depending on the category of work.

Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. Building approval or a building permit, issued by a licensed or registered building certifier.

The names differ but the shape is constant. A planning approval comes first, then a technical approval of the detailed design against the National Construction Code, then inspections during construction, then an occupation certificate or its local equivalent before the building can be used.

Programming as though the consent is the start date. The gap between development consent and construction certificate can run for months where the consent carries prerequisites. Read those conditions the day the consent arrives and put them on the programme with owners against them.

Letting the design drift from the consent. If the construction drawings are inconsistent with what was approved, the fix is a modification to the consent, which takes its own time. Discovering it at construction certificate stage is expensive.

Starting building work without the certificate. Site establishment is one thing, but physical building work before the certificate issues is unlawful and can affect insurance and certification.

Not planning the staging. On a large job, splitting the certificate into packages is normal and can save real programme, but it has to be agreed with the certifier early rather than requested late.

Losing track of which set is approved. The drawings approved with the construction certificate are the ones that count. Where revisions keep coming after issue, the site has to know exactly which revision the approval covers.