Thursday, 24 November 2022

Mayor Lewers praises Council team after Building Practitioners Board decision

Mayor Glyn Lewers has praised the Council’s building inspections team for its work that resulted in the BPB banning a local operator.

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Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers has praised the Council’s building inspections team for its work that resulted in the Building Practitioners Board (BPB) banning a local operator for five years and being ordered to pay $4,500.

“To the best of our knowledge this is the first time a Building Consent Authority like QLDC has successfully laid a complaint to the BPB resulting in a licensed practitioner being removed from the register,” he said.

“Our building team, in particular Wānaka-based Building Inspections Team Supervisor Rob Barr and Inspections Team Leader Robert Aurik, led the investigation process putting in hundreds of hours tracking the work of this individual and collating information that ultimately led to the recent hearing and successful resolution.”

“The need for more housing in our district is clear and supply chain issues are well known but cutting corners to the point of endangering the safety of the people who live here is completely unacceptable.”

“Council’s building team is there to help the vast majority of developers, building firms and homeowners achieve a quality outcome but, as this case shows, they occasionally also have an important role holding errant operators to account,” said Mayor Lewers.

“Given this individual’s brazen behaviour and complete disregard for even basic good practice or the position his clients now find themselves in I sincerely hope he’s never permitted to work in New Zealand again.”

The builder, Ting Xie has since left the country and his Otago-based company, Lakeside Construction Ltd, has gone into liquidation. He was found to have committed six offences across two building projects – one at Jack’s Point where all the cladding had to be replaced and one in Wānaka where Council required the property to be demolished.

In making its decision the BPB noted: "His actions showed a cavalier attitude to his legal obligations… It was evident that he lacked the skills and knowledge required to be a licensed building practitioner."

ENDS|KUA MUTU.

Media contact: communications@qldc.govt.nz or call 03 441 1802.

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