Congratulations! You’ve just received your Material Change of Use (MCU) approval from the council for your building project and you’ve subsequently applied for building approval with your building certifier. Seeing as you already have planning approval, it should be all smooth sailing from here right? Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Planning approvals contain a number of development conditions that are legally binding for the applicant, however, some of these conditions may require the developer to obtain additional approvals prior to commencing work on the site.
To help make this assessment process more efficient a new stage of development, called Compliance Assessment, was introduced under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. This stage allows council to nominate documents or works for approval as a result of a previous planning approval.
This is further enforced by the Building Act 1975, which restricts a building certifier from issuing a building approval until all other town planning approvals are obtained.
In many MCU cases, a compliance assessment will be required as a condition of the approval for proposed civil engineering and landscaping works. Most councils will stipulate the conditions under which the compliance assessment must be approved prior to the building approval being issued by the building certifier. This is further enforced by the Building Act 1975, which restricts a building certifier from issuing a building approval until all other town planning approvals are obtained. When Compliance Assessment is required, a building certifier will request documentation demonstrating approval with the compliance conditions.
So, even though you may have your MCU approval, check with your building certifier to ensure you understand and comply with all required conditions.