Newly appointed New South Wales Building Commissioner to restore construction industry confidence

The NSW government has appointed 40-year construction industry expert David Chandler as their new buildings commissioner tasked with implementing the greatest overhaul to building laws in the state's history.

Since his appointment by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in August, Mr Chandler has been quick to point out the Australian construction industry's 'culture of trying to avoid accountability'. As a follow up to this statement, Mr Chandler continued by issuing a warning to the state's construction industry that he will be watching their moves very closely.

Ms Berejiklian justified her choice of buildings commissioner in saying that Mr Chandler was the optimal candidate to drive critical reforms across the NSW construction industry. She said: "David has more than 40 years' industry experience, which will be invaluable as we move to restore confidence in the building and construction industry."

The new building commissioner's responsibilities include carrying out investigative and disciplinary action against misconducts carried out within the building industry; in addition, to overseeing licensing and auditing processes are completed in accordance with industry standards. The commissioner is also expected to drive legislative reforms over consultation across New South Wales building industry. This includes the upcoming legislation that is scheduled to be introduced to the NSW parliament later this year. Under this new legislative reforms, building practitioners will now be required to be registered, a duty of care will be established to provide homeowners ease of access when seeking compensation against negligent builders, and a greater degree of scrutiny will be undertaken to ensure that all buildings are designed and constructed in compliance with the National Building's Code.

Mr Chandler has accepted all these responsibilities with open arms; however, he has clarified that he does not believe the industry is in dire need of a mass legislative overhaul. Instead, Mr Chandler stressed the importance of carrying out adequate exposure exercises for many of the construction industry's exisiting compliance regimes. 

Mr Chandler said: "Recent events have reduced community confidence in how buildings are designed and constructed and how they perform, but I welcome the leadership and commitment being shown by the Government to implement change that will strengthen the construction industry foundations in NSW. I don't think we need a lot of legislation. Perhaps the most important piece to me will be the right of entry and the right to call up documents."