Saving time, space, money and frustration are the proven end results of Western Australia’s City of Swan led project for residential building applications to be submitted online. In August last year, Swan joined with four other Councils and five builders to allow full residential building applications to be submitted electronically. It has been so successful that already 37 builders have gone online and three more Councils have joined the project
“The builders have been very keen to become involved because they have seen the immediate benefits of submitting online,’’ said City of Swan Chief Executive, Mike Foley. “Not only does it save them in time and double handling, but the approvals come through faster and they are better able to plan their work, which is even more important in these days of skilled tradesmen shortages.’’
Home owners also benefit because electronic submissions usually allow the building to get underway sooner. But the benefits to Councils involved are immense.
“The time saving aspect and the ease with which the proposals can be processed are fantastic,” Mike Foley said. “During the pilot program the turnaround time was reduced from 28 days to just four days, but often we can get the approval out in 24 hours. There is also the space saving aspects. Instead of records being stored in hardcopy and taking up metres of space, everything is stored electronically. The only time we need to download a copy is on the rare occasions when we need to undertake a site visit. That makes the process more sustainable because we cut out the use of paper virtually altogether and with around 1,500 applications a year that makes for a lot of saving.
“I suppose the final attribute of the system is that it makes retrieval so much easier. We have many requests from home owners for floor plans because a lot of the time quotes for new floor coverings and such things are done by plans rather than the company coming out and measuring up.’’
The City of Swan has had 1,414 electronic proposals submitted into the system so far. The City plans to add swimming pools and patios to the electronic process and sometime in the future commercial properties may be added to the list.
“Commercial properties tend to be a bit more complex, but sometime in the future we believe that will be possible,” Mike Foley said. “The project has been a great success and eventually we can see ourselves doing a lot more work online.’’
He said embracing the electronic age was also important for recruiting and retaining the new generation of workers who had grown up surrounded by the technology.
The electronic lodgement system (els) was set up in March last year after three years of hard work. The cities of Cockburn, Rockingham, Stirling and Wanneroo, the WA Local Government Association, the Housing Industry Association and leading Western Australian building companies all worked with the City of Swan to get it off the ground. It was funded through the Federal Government’s Regulation Reduction Incentive Fund.
The els won the 2007 Home Building Society annual achievement award in the category, Groups or a number of colleagues involved in a special project. It was also commended in the 2007 National Awards for Local Government in the Information Technology category
Two more Local Governments, the Shires of Augusta-Margaret River and Busselton, have joined the els revolution, and a third, Bunbury, will join this month.
For further information contact Helen Pickering, Public Relations Officer, on (08) 9267 9138.
