BUILDING COMPLIANCE

Every commercial building requires an evacuation procedure; A relevant building defined for the purposes of section 76 to 79 of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017, may require an evacuation scheme approved by Fire and Emergency New Zealand. For more info click here.

These can be done by the building owner or manager as long as they fill the paperwork out. We supply these forms in our Building Warrant of Fitness Manual, we can also run your trial evacuations for you to ensure they are done.

Fire Extinguishers, Fire Blankets, Hose Reels, all need to be signed off annually also, plus they all have a life span which they must undergo a more rigorous test. It could literally save someone’s life. Imagine reaching for a fire extinguisher, pulling the pin, and nothing coming out. Or grabbing a fire blanket to save a colleague and it’s just falling apart in your hands? It’s not worth the risk. Make sure they are tested.

We can look after every aspect of your BWOF. Everything from Owners Checks to IQP Qualified Testers. We collect up all the certificates and form your building warrant of fitness and submit to your local council and will display it in your building. Failure to comply with council regulation and maintaining a BWOF could get you an infringement notice. Don’t let it be you.

An IQP is a person approved by a territorial authority as qualified to inspect, maintain, and report on certain specified systems. ‘Independent’ means that the person has no financial interest in the building. The role of an IQP is to inspect, report on, and maintain the specified systems as detailed on the compliance schedule. The good news is we have a team of these guys ready to complete the inspection and we are on your side so if it fails, we will assist you in getting it repaired as quickly and as easily as possible.

From time to time, components of your building may fail inspection. Our service team will provide a clear timeline and cost effective quote to repair these works and get you back to having compliance as quickly as possible.

Are you a property manager or just own a lot of properties? Maybe you’re a business with multiple locations? Let our Business Development Manager do a quote across all your locations and give you a volumetric discount. Not only will we give you the sharpest price, in the unlikely event that our competitors quote it cheaper than us, we will beat them by 15%.

We can also manage your full compliance schedule and we will sub contract everyone required to keep your building compliant and charge you all in one bill. This is popular for businesses that want to remain compliant without the headache of chasing and paying several different contractors. We will assign you an account manager and any issues with anything, you call your account manager, and they will get it sorted for you, regardless of what service is required.

A building warrant of fitness is a signed statement, stating that the requirements of the building’s compliance schedule have been fully complied with in the previous 12 months.

It makes sure that the specified systems in your building are maintained, inspected, and reported on. This is important not only because it is required by the compliance schedule issued by Council but because it gives occupants, customers, and visitors to your building, confidence about the building’s safety systems.

The compliance schedule lists the specified systems operating in a particular building. The building warrant of fitness is an assurance that the specified systems have been inspected and maintained, and are continuing to operate as installed. A current copy of the building warrant of fitness must be displayed publicly in the building, and another copy must be sent to the Council each year, on the anniversary date, for the building warrant of fitness. Good news is Ultra Fire can take care of all of this.

The building warrant of fitness must be renewed annually on the anniversary date. Once satisfied that the specified systems have been maintained as per the compliance schedule, the independent qualified person (IQP) supplies an annual certificate (Form 12a) for each of the different systems. These are collected and filed with the Building Warrant of Fitness.

IQP stands for Independent Qualified Person. An IQP is a person approved by a territorial authority as qualified to inspect, maintain and report on certain specified systems. ‘Independent’ means that the person has no financial interest in the building. Council does not perform building warrant of fitness inspections or certification for building owners, although from time-to-time they will carry out inspections for auditing purposes. The role of an IQP is to inspect, report on, and maintain the specified systems as detailed on the compliance schedule.

You are required by law to have annual written reports relating to the inspection, maintenance, and reporting procedures of the compliance schedule signed by each person who has carried out those procedures. We keep the reports in the handy Ultra Fire Building Warrant of Fitness Manual with the compliance schedule and make sure they are accessible when inspections are carried out.

Specified systems are systems or features installed in a building that are crucial to the safety and health of the building and those who use it, or systems which, if they are not maintained, could cause injury or harm. When you apply for building consent, you must include a list of all specified systems in the building project. They are then listed on your compliance schedule and each feature has a bit of information telling you when and how often it requires inspection and by who.

If your building contains any of the following specified systems, you must have a building warrant of fitness:

• Automatic systems for fire suppression (for example fire sprinkler system).
• Automatic or manual emergency warning systems for fire or other dangers
• Electromagnetic or automatic doors or windows.
• Emergency lighting systems.
• Escape routes pressurisation systems.
• Riser mains for fire service use.
• Any automatic backflow preventers connected to a potable water supply.
• Lifts, escalators, travelators or other systems for moving people or goods within buildings. Note: this includes cable cars attached to a private dwelling.
• Mechanical ventilation or air conditioning systems.
• Building maintenance units providing access to exterior and interior walls of buildings.
• Laboratory fume cupboards.
• Audio loops or other assistive listening systems.
• Smoke control systems.
• Emergency power systems for, or signs relating to, a system or feature specified in any of clauses 1-13.
• Cable car
• Any or all of the following systems or features, so long as they form part of a building’s means of escape from fire, and so long as those means also contain any or all of the systems or features specified in clauses 1 to 6, 9 and 13
  • Systems for communicating spoken information intended to facilitate evacuation.
  • Final Exits.
  • Fire Separations.
  • Signs for communicating information intended to facilitate evacuation.
  • Smoke Separations.

A schedule issued by the Building Consent Authority listing the specified systems within a building (e.g. sprinkler systems, lifts, smoke detectors). These systems ensure a building is safe and healthy for people to enter, occupy, or use. The compliance schedule for a building must identify which specified systems are present, the performance standards for those systems, and who are required to inspect, maintain, and report, that those systems continue to function as installed.

For new buildings, a compliance schedule is issued with a code of compliance certificate. Where a compliance schedule has been issued for the first time, a compliance schedule statement is issued by the Council. This is a temporary public notification of compliance with the schedule requirements. It is replaced after 12 months, and every 12 months after that, by the building warrant of fitness.

The owner must display this document in a public area within the building.

Can’t find your Compliance Schedule or just want a copy of it for your own records? If you’re already one of our fantastic customers, check in the front of your Ultra Fire Building Warrant of Fitness Manual. If you’re not our customer yet, you can ask us for a copy and we’ll supply a competitive quote to do the works along with a copy of the compliance schedule or you can just request it from your local council.