Managing risk is key

This Issue This is a part of the Can you sleep at night? feature

By - , Build 116

BRANZ has been working for 40 years to ensure the industry has the information it needs to design and construct buildings of the right quality.

I am reliably told by people who have been in the building and construction industry longer than I have that managing risk is the key thing to get right. That may be the risk of getting your project quality wrong, right through to the risk of not making money on the project once completed.

One way of looking at the leaky building saga is that there was too much focus on the latter – making money – and not enough on the former – getting the buildings designed and built to the right level of quality right from the start.

Builders and designers I know in the industry love and enjoy the work they are doing, but there certainly are times when they are kept awake at night!

BRANZ brings science to building

Management of risk was a key rationale for setting up BRANZ some 40 years ago (more on our 40th anniversary celebrations in upcoming issues of Build) – ensuring the construction standards of the day were as unified and consistent as possible and that a measure of research and science underpinned how buildings in New Zealand were designed and built.

Forty years on, that risk management necessity still applies. BRANZ’s input has now grown to include:

  • broad and deep research programmes
  • product testing and Appraisals
  • input into Building Code and related documents and standards
  • efforts to maximise the amount of information and knowledge that gets into the hands of industry (right across the range, including designers, builders, practitioners, BCAs, policymakers and, more recently, consumers).

In my past year at BRANZ, I have often noted that BRANZ is a ‘hidden industry jewel’ for the work it does. There’s a lot that goes on here – more than most industry practitioners appreciate (as I personally found out when I took up the cudgels as CEO).

One of our challenges going forward is to ensure we get as much of our information out to the industry as we can – so that our science becomes usable industry knowledge.

Knowledge and information help

In my own life, I know the best way to manage risk is to know more about the issue(s) you are dealing with and have options for how to sort things. If nothing else, BRANZ’s research and information work, as well as our product testing and Appraisal work, is about ensuring the industry knows more about the issues it is having to confront. The more we know, the less risk the industry will face.

Hopefully you are able to sleep at night – and we will continue to do what we can to make sure you do!

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