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Chief Executive's Report:
Julien Leys
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Dear BIF NZ members and supporters,
You may notice that this months newsletter has been released a few days later into the month than normal. We have done this for a few reasons:
- CreditWorks releases market insights around a week into each month. They have generously offered to allow inclusion of these reports in our BIF NZ monthly newsletters - you can view the most recent one below in this newsletter
- This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and we sought to align our newsletter release with this to provide some more information and tools that you may find useful to improve your mental health
- Also in line with Mental Health Awareness Week, we have just released our newest episode of the Building Leaders Forum series. This edition sees me chatting to Chris Alderson, CEO of Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ). You can watch it on YouTube by clicking on the thumbnail below.
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BIF NZ: Building Leaders Forum with Chris Alderson, CEO of Construction Health & Safety NZ (CHASNZ)
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There have been some interesting announcements out of parliament lately, and we are watching them closely. In relation to these, BIF NZ has been sending out a number of Advisory Communications - if you have not been receiving these and would like to, please get in touch with us.
I'm excited to extend to you an invitation to our upcoming industry networking event that BIF NZ is hosting alongside CreditWorks later this month. It is sure to be an interesting evening, but numbers are limited - if you haven't already, please RSVP to Sarah via office@bifnz.co.nz or on 021 246 8820. Details below - I hope to see you there.
Finally, as it is Mental Health Awareness Week (this years theme is to 'Top Up Together'), I'd like to encourage you to take a moment and visit the Mental Health Awareness Week website - it is filled with great information and resources. As always, there is also CHASNZ and Mates In Construction for tools tailored to our industry - I do recommend watching the above video, too.
Ngā mihi nui,
Julien Leys
Chief Executive, Building Industry Federation of New Zealand
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In this newsletter:
- Mental Health Awareness Week
- Building News
- Earthquake-prone building system changes announced
- StatsNZ: Home consents lift in August
- Forsyth Barr: "Smoko's Nearly Over"
- CreditWorks Insights
- ConcreteNZ Conference
- Canterbury Construction Report
- NZIER’s QSBO
- Russell McVeagh: Breaking Ground
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Mental Health Awareness Week
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As mentioned, this week is Mental Health Awareness Week. This year, Mental Health Awareness Week has aligned with the nationwide wellbeing campaign "Top Up" and the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 is "Top Up Together".
Research shows that a shared, community-based approach to wellbeing delivers the most sustained, long-term benefits. It brings purpose and a sense of belonging to our lives, helps us feel valued, and makes us happier and more secure.
Look after your Five Ways to Wellbeing this Mental Health Awareness Week:
- Me aro tonu / Take Notice
- Tukua / Give
- Me kori tonu / Be Active
- Me whakawhanaunga / Connect
- Me ako tonu / Keep Learning
Credit to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand for the above points - visit their website here.
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- September 8, BusinessDesk: Government seeks gas user list of 20 to transition off gas, as supply crunch intensifies
- September 8, The Post: Cost of workplace fatalities tops $1b as report links that with poor productivity
- September 8, The Post: Workplace safety failures cost NZ $5.4b, report finds
- September 9, New Zealand Herald: Construction and manufacturing slumped in June quarter, new Stats NZ data show
- September 10, New Zealand Herald: BCITO backing women in construction with Actions Speak Louder initiative
- September 19, BusinessDesk: Co-ops last five times longer than limited liability companies - report
- September 25, New Zealand Herald: Mood of the Boardroom: Executives call for long-term energy plan as power prices climb
- September 30, The Post: Time to fix New Zealand’s broken building liability system
- October 1, BusinessDesk: Govt energy reforms boost power shares, Auckland Chamber calls out missed opportunity
- October 2, BusinessDesk: Industry backs government freight strategy moves
- October 6, BusinessDesk: Building sector doing it for themselves may make greater difference
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Getty, via BusinessDesk
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Earthquake-prone building system changes announced
The Government has recently announced proposed legislative changes aimed at making the earthquake-prone building (EPB) system more risk-based and proportionate, by focusing on higher seismic risk areas and high-risk buildings. A bill containing the proposed changes is expected to be introduced in coming months.
The proposed changes include:
- Removing low risk buildings and buildings in low seismic zones (Auckland, Northland and the Chatham Islands) from the EPB system.
- Introducing tiered risk mitigation requirements, making use of new engineering methodologies, based on location and building type.
- Allowing building owners to apply for deadline extensions, provided they can meet key criteria.
- Reducing barriers to seismic strengthening by removing the requirement for concurrent fire and accessibility upgrades.
The proposed changes mean that:
- around 55% of EPBs (around 2,900 buildings) will be removed from the EPB system
- around 1,440 EPBs will have more affordable remediation requirements
- 840 EPBs will have no mandatory requirement for remedial work, and
- only around 80 buildings will require a full retrofit due to the risk they pose.
View the full details of the proposed changes here.
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StatsNZ: Home consents lift in August
There were 34,078 new homes consented in Aotearoa New Zealand in the year ended August 2025, up 1.3 percent compared with the year ended August 2024, according to figures released by Stats NZ.
Read about the annual and monthly home consents lifting in August 2025 here.
In addition, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented rose 5.8 percent in August 2025. This follows a rise of 5.3 percent in July 2025.
View the most recent data on building consents issued here.
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via StatsNZ
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Forsyth Barr: "Smoko's Nearly Over"
Forsyth Barr have released their latest data on building consents and the state of the building sector in New Zealand and generously allowed BIF NZ to share the information.
View their latest building sector update here.
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CreditWorks Insights
CreditWorks, one of BIF NZ's sponsors, kindly shares their monthly credit insights with BIF NZ. You can view their latest reports on the Insights tab of the BIF NZ website here.
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ConcreteNZ Conference
The ConcreteNZ conference is coming up this month, 15-17 October in Auckland.
It's not too late to register - you can do so here.
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Canterbury Construction Report
Blackburn Management have released their August 2025 Canterbury Construction Report. It's great to see the Canterbury region continuing to grow. Mike Blackburn, author of the report, notes that "Canterbury is not just resilient; it is leading with confidence."
View the Executive Summary here.
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NZIER’s QSBO
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER)’s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) shows a cut-back in optimism amongst businesses in the September quarter. A net 15 percent of firms expect an improvement in general economic conditions over the coming months on a seasonally adjusted basis. While the sentiment was positive, this was a decline from the net 26 percent expecting an improvement in the June quarter.
Read the full release from NZIER here.
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via NZIER
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Russell McVeagh: Breaking Ground
Breaking Ground is Russell McVeagh's Construction Law blog. Their recent edition "Retention monies – handle with care" can be viewed online here.
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If you would like to be on the mailing list to receive our BIF monthly newsletters directly, please let us know by emailing office@bifnz.co.nz
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Copyright © 2025 BIF All rights reserved.
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