The Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) have congratulated the Napthine Government on the establishment of the Victorian Building Authority, with the legislation currently being debated in Parliament, and welcome the decision of the Opposition to ‘not oppose’ the Bill.

AIBS is the preeminent national peak body representing 2500 Building Surveying professionals, including 800 in Victoria, who certify that buildings are safe, energy efficient, accessible and meet legislative, regulatory and Building Code of Australia standards.

According to Victorian Chapter President Con Giazi, AIBS has advocated for the reforms outlined in the Victorian Domestic Building Protection Reform Strategy, released on 27 May 2013, for over a decade.

“The AIBS membership, as professionals, individually and collectively, had lobbied successive Ministers in the Bracks and Brumby Governments for the introduction of mandatory Continuing Professional Development in Victoria to no avail,” said Mr Giazi.

“We raised concerns and example after example of the need to improve industry standards. We sought ongoing education for building surveyors and inspectors to ensure they understood their statutory role, responsibilities and accountabilities. We sought consumer education so that individuals appointing a building surveyor understood their role in the building permit process and could assess the competence of the registered practitioner. We sought targeted auditing to ensure resources were applied to practitioners who were subject to complaint about competency and/or improper conduct.”

“These matters were the subject of the scathing Auditor General’s report on the building permit system and systemic failure further highlighted in the Ombudsman’s report in to the Building Commission. Thankfully, all of these concerns have been addressed in the reform package.”

A central plank in the AIBS National Accreditation Scheme is Continuing Professional Development (CPD). All practitioners are required to complete a minimum 20 hours of CPD per annum and a minimum of 90 hours over three years. It also includes a Code of Professional Conduct which applies to all accredited persons, regardless of whether they are members of the AIBS or not.

“While we welcome the hard work of the Ministers responsible for building regulation, disputation, consumer protection and warranty insurance, we will continue to lobby for AIBS accreditation as a pathway to registration in Victoria as it is in almost all other States and Territories.” Mr Giazi concluded.

Architecture & Design Team

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