To date Prendos have been involved in around 800 repairs for owners of various types of buildings from single domestic dwellings to large multi-storey and large scale multi-unit developments, hospitals, retirement villages, schools, commercial/industrial and retail buildings. Currently we are involved in preliminary stages of a vast array of different building types that have problems.

Things are not yet right. A good "Tui" advertisement would be: leaky buildings are gone because of Government regulations ? "Yeah Right!" However, the government is working hard through the Department of Building and Housing. There is no magic answer or silver bullet. Regulation will not overcome the problem. LBP schemes will not solve the issues. All will contribute, all will help. Unfortunately all these new changes are creating stress on an overburdened industry.

Science still lags behind although there are vast improvements. Current knowledge is not sufficient. The government should be spending more on building science. We have had serious and quite defective construction over a very large range of building practices and types for many years. We need to understand what actually works. Education should be paramount. Also someone has to educate the educators. Give them the "new" knowledge that is emerging.

A 'Phoenix ' will emerge from the ashes and matters will improve. Improvements are already visible; I go past buildings and I see battens on, showing drained ventilated rain screens. People understand more about flashings. Manufacturers are coming up with very innovative designs. Preformed flashing systems are being introduced to overcome many of the past problems. This science-based innovation has come with the demand for better performance. Innovation is going to lead to the ultimate success.

However, all is not well! The present amendment to the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service Act, I believe is flawed. The Adjudication process is being dumbed down. The powers and a broad range of controls and procedures provided to the Adjudicator is a concern and I believe outside public policy of New Zealand. Substantial changes are needed before it becomes law.

Consultants are undertaking design and administration of remediation without adequate background and knowledge of weathertightness science and a clear understanding of the issues of decay, mould and corrosion.

• Five storey buildings clad with a continuous cavity and no wind pressure consideration.
• Inadequate ventilation is a common feature.
• Three storey buildings with direct fixed weatherboard cladding.
• Leaving in previously decayed timber and mould contamination with no thought about the need for ensuring a dry environment.
• Over-cladding is occurring leaving decay and mould to become a future problem.

It is a battle but we must never abandon our efforts, even when the building industry becomes one of the best performing industries in New Zealand.