Meet the Chair of the Building Practitioners Board

Kia ora. I am Grant Pearson. I was appointed to the Building Practitioners Board in July 2025 and became Chair in July 2026.

I am a lawyer and have spent three decades serving on specialist tribunals, much of it in professional discipline.

That experience is useful, but I do not see a lawyer as the main event on a Board dealing with building work. Amongst other functions of the Chair, one of my jobs is to help ensure that the disciplinary process is fair, that we consider only relevant information, that everyone is heard, and that the Board’s decisions clearly explain what it has decided and why.

My connection with the building industry is not only professional. I have done practical building work over many years and have a lifelong appreciation of the people and skills that shape our construction industry.

People in the industry have always been part of my life: among my parents’ friends, my own friends, and now my children’s friends. Those connections have left me with a deep respect for the professionalism, judgement, technical knowledge and problem-solving skills the work demands.

That is quite enough about me.

The strength of the Building Practitioners Board is the experience around its table.

• Our Deputy Chair, Faye Pearson-Green, is an architectural designer and Design 2 LBP with more than 40 years’ industry experience.
• Graham Anderson brings decades of residential construction experience, together with carpentry and site expertise.
• Cory Lang is a qualified quantity surveyor and building surveyor with substantial building-consent and regulatory experience.
• Elinor McDouall is a registered architect who leads an award-winning regional practice.
• Sue Chetwin contributes extensive governance, consumer advocacy and legal experience.
• Our newest member, Shane Hammond, is a qualified carpenter and Carpentry LBP with wide experience across construction and building control.

Together, the members bring design, construction, consenting, consumer, governance, dispute-resolution and legal perspectives. We do not always begin with the same view, which is a strength. Good decisions come from testing the issues from different angles.

The Board’s functions are set out in the Building Act 2004. Its most visible work is hearing disciplinary matters and appeals from licensing decisions. Both can be challenging.

Disciplinary decisions may affect a practitioner’s reputation and livelihood, as well as public confidence in the scheme. The evidence is often technical, building work may have changed as it progressed, and the records are not always complete.

Appeals require the Board to take a fresh and independent look at licensing decisions.

The Board also approves rules relating to LBPs and may review and report to the Minister on matters relating to the operation of the LBP scheme.

Discipline is a small but important part of occupational licensing. Most LBPs take their responsibilities seriously and deliver skilled, conscientious work every day.

Education and keeping professionally current are essential. Building methods, products, technology and regulatory expectations continue to develop.

We are working on a series of articles about recurring issues in complaints and appeals, with practical messages that may help prevent problems.

Our starting point is respect for the professionals who design, build and inspect New Zealand’s buildings. Ultimately, success means not deciding more complaints, but helping to prevent them in the first place.