Review of Tauranga City Council

Introduction

This review was initiated by MBIE using the monitoring powers available to the Chief Executive under the Building Act 2004 (the Act) to consider Tauranga City Council’s actions with respect to the failed Bella Vista development. The review has examined how the Council performed its functions and exercised its powers under the Act and the regulations made under the Act in order to:

• identify how and why the Bella Vista development failed;
• establish whether there were similar problems occurring elsewhere in Tauranga at that time; and
• consider any measures needed to prevent a similar failure occurring again.

The report also contains required actions set out by MBIE to be taken by the Council based on the outcomes from this review. A monitoring regime has also been put in place by MBIE to ensure these actions are completed.

This review focused on the Council’s performance of the Building Act functions and did not make technical findings about Building Code compliance, the adequacy of individual building consents or code compliance certificates, or the competence of practitioners involved with the Bella Vista development.