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Guidelines on the scope of the Site 3 licence class

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to assist applicants to interpret the scope of the Site 3 licence class, and to assist them to identify the sorts of building and construction work that might be used as project examples in their Site 3 licence class applications.

The Site 3 licence class competencies

The Licensed Building Practitioner Rules set out the standards of competence that building practitioners must meet in order to be licensed, and detail the procedures for assessing competence and issuing licences. The Rules also detail procedures for managing the suspension and cancellation of licences.

The Schedule to the Rules describes the competencies for the Design, Site and Carpentry licence classes. The descriptor and explanatory note that head the Competencies for the Site 3 licence class are shown below.

Licence class Site 3
Descriptor This licence class covers practitioners managing some or all of the construction or alteration of any category of building.
Explanatory note The focus of this licence class is on the management of construction or alteration of large and/or highly complex building projects. It is intended that Site 3 licensed building practitioners will require appropriate support from other licensed building practitioners.

Managing construction - what it means

To understand what is meant by “managing” in the schedule to the LBP Rules, the Competencies for the Site 2 licence class and the Site 3 licence class should be read together.

The language used to describe the managing role in the Site 3 competencies is different to the language used to describe the technical organising and supervising role described in the Site 2 competencies.

  Site 3 Site 2
Competency 3 Control and direct the building process, including site risk management. Organise and manage building projects.
Competency 4 Manage project team and personnel. Supervise personnel.
Competency 5 Manage and direct technical supervision personnel. Provide technical supervision.

The descriptor “control and direct” in Competency 3 has been used to indicate that the Site 3 LBP performs a high level oversight role, one step removed from the immediate organising and managing of building work which is done by people who report to them.

The descriptor “manage project team and personnel” in Competency 4 has been used to indicate that the Site 3 LBP is the leader of a project team. It is the members of this project team who directly “supervise personnel” on the construction site.

The descriptor “manage and direct technical supervision personnel” in Competency 5 has been used to indicate that the Site 3 LBP manages a team of supervisors who supervise technical work. Each supervisor has technical responsibility for a part of the construction project.

Technical supervision refers to overseeing of the building work to ensure that it is built in accordance with the consented plans and specifications and in accordance with industry accepted construction methods and practice.

When read together, it can be seen that a Site 3 licence class applicant would need to:

  • Select construction project examples that they have managed that were of sufficient size or complexity to have required a project team of technical supervisors; and
  • Demonstrate their experience of managing the project team on those construction projects.

The Site 3 role

The Site 3 role is different from the role of a “client” project manager and a clerk of works or building consultant. People in these roles do not direct the construction workforce and are often remote from the site. They are  primarily concerned either with managing the contractual and financial aspects of a project on behalf of the owner, or providing technical advice for the building owner.

The Site 3 roles aligns with titles like “construction manager”, “site manager “and “contract manager”, where that role is concerned with actively managing the building process and the project team to ensure that a large and/or highly complex building is successfully delivered to the required;

  • quality
  • cost
  • timeframe

It is not essential for a Site 3 applicant to have managed all aspects of the project contract or finances, or to have worked on the construction site 100% of the time.

Construction companies approach the construction process in different ways. For example;

  • A central office monitors project contracts, finance, and progress. The site person is responsible for organising and managing the whole project and the project team. In this project example the site person has a high level of responsibility and autonomy, and the site person is likely to display the Site 3 competencies.
  • A central office controls and manages project contracts and finance, and develops the construction programme. The site person liaises with and organises sub-contractors and suppliers, and is responsible for delivering the project. In this project example the site person is supported by the central office, but manages a project team and is responsible for constructing the building, and monitoring the construction programme, so is likely to display the Site 3 competencies.
  • A contracts manager / construction manager located in a central office oversees and monitors project contracts, finance, progress and timeframes, and liaises with and organises sub-contractors and material supply. Although this person is remote from the site, they have overall responsibility for managing the project and directing the project team and subcontractors, so it is likely that they display Site 3 competencies.

The day-to-day technical supervision of construction is managed by the site person.  In this project example most of the management decisions and direction of the project team is undertaken by the contracts manager / construction manager. The person on site is mainly concerned with technical supervision, which may align more closely with Site 2 competencies.

Large and/or highly complex building prject - what it means

Large

In the context of the schedule to the LBP Rules, large is intended to indicate the scale of a project and the level of organisation and management necessary to successfully complete it. This can be illustrated by some examples:

  • A large warehouse may be thousands of square metres in size, but relatively straightforward to build. In this example, physical building size alone may not necessarily signify a Site 3 project example.
  • An eight story office building has a large footprint, but an identical layout on each floor. From a technical perspective, the building is not particularly complex to build, but the scale of the project means that the logistical demands are significant. For example, a large and varied workforce carry out many different construction phases concurrently, such as finishing lower floors while the upper storeys are still being constructed. In this example, the level of organisation and management required to manage this project may signify a Site 3 project.

Complexity

A methodology exists in the Building (Designation of Building Work Licence Classes) Order to categorise buildings based on design complexity. Whilst this does not directly correlate to the Site 2 and 3 licence classes, some of the design elements relating to Category 3 buildings could be used as a guide to considering what a Site 3 project example might be. For example:

  • Buildings with occupied floors higher than 10 metres above the exit (i.e. four levels or more)
  • Buildings occupied by large numbers of people (e.g. an international airport, cinema complex, or shopping complex)
  • Buildings that involve higher than usual risk (such as a bulk fuel depot)
  • Buildings that are important culturally or socially (e.g. a museum or hospital)

Multi storey buildings, or buildings that house large crowds, require complex internal building systems such as fire safety systems or heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to ensure the safety of the people using them. Constructing at height, and coordinating the installation of multiple building systems, is more demanding to manage than constructing low-rise structures or structures that few people will occupy.

Culturally or socially important buildings are likely to have high / complex levels of specific design and features that are new or unique, both of which require a higher level of management than would apply to constructing other buildings of an equivalent size.

Other factors may also indicate complexity. These include:

  • Location - construction in the heart of a city’s central business district is more complex to manage than construction in a Greenfield industrial estate.
  • Time frames - building in a short time frame may require innovative techniques and doing things that would normally be staged, at the same time.
  • Basements / unusual ground conditions - these may require special measures
  • Unusual structural forms
  • Specialist facades
  • Unusual building services
  • Buildings with high specifications, such as an operating theatre or airport control tower
  • Restoration of historical buildings or maintaining a historical façade
  • Buildings designed to minimise water and energy use (e.g. green star rating)

Should Site 3 examples be based on project value?

Site 3 project examples need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Very high value, for example $100m, will signify a large project. However, due to the effect of inflation and price changes, it is difficult to gauge project value over time. Also, some projects may be highly complex but not particularly high value.

  • The logistics required to manage the construction of a $50 million project signify Site 3 competencies. This was explained in the example of the office building used above.
  • Project value does not provide an insight into the level of management required or the degree of project complexity involved, where the project value is modest.  A building may be physically large but straightforward to build (e.g. a tilt panel warehouse) or physically small but very complex to build, such as an alteration to a city’s art gallery. In these examples, project value may not be a useful indicator of complexity.

How recent should site 3 project experience be?

The guidance notes for Site 3 applicants ask for three recent project examples, and ask for one of those projects to be very recent. Very recent is described as “completed in the last 2 – 3 years”.

Due to the length of time that some construction projects take to complete, a recent project is considered to be one that was competed within the last 10 years. In some cases a Site 3 applicant may have project examples completed more than ten years ago, but be able to demonstrate that they have relevant ongoing construction-related experience. This would need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Summary

In summary, the management of construction of large and/or highly complex building project can be interpreted in the following way:

  • Management of construction means the management responsibility for a project of sufficient size or complexity that has a project team managed by the Site 3 applicant and which has technical supervisors who have technical responsibility for a defined part or parts of the project.
  • It is not essential for a Site 3 applicant to have managed all aspects of the project contract or finances, or to have worked on the construction site 100% of the time. However, the Site 3 role is concerned with actively managing the building process and the project team to ensure that a large and/or highly complex building is built. 
  • Large physical size alone does not signify a Site 3 building project.
  • Large logistical demands are likely to signify Site 3 building projects.
  • The methodology used in the Building (Designation of Building Work Licence Classes) Order to describe design complexity of Category 3 buildings could be used as a guide for examples of Site 3 projects. This includes buildings of four levels or more, and/or buildings occupied by large numbers of people, and/or buildings that involve higher than usual risk, and/or buildings that have a high cultural or social significance. However, there is no direct correlation between Site 3 and Category 3 buildings, so this approach should not be relied upon as the sole criteria for selecting projects for a Site 3 licence class application.
  • Other factors that may indicate complexity include location, timeframes, basements, ground conditions, unusual design features, restoration of historic buildings, and green star rated buildings.
  • The logistical demands of managing a high value building project are likely to signify Site 3 competencies.
  • Project value alone is not a useful proxy for a complex project.
  • Examples of large or complex buildings need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  • A recent project example is one completed in the last ten years.
  • Project examples completed more than ten years ago could be considered in circumstances where the applicant was able to demonstrate relevant ongoing construction-related experience.