The Accord

The Construction Sector Accord is a joint commitment from government and industry to work together to create a high performing construction sector for a better New Zealand.

The Construction Sector Accord (the Accord) is a joint commitment from government and industry to work together to create a thriving, fair and sustainable construction sector for a better Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Accord has become a platform to meet some of the key challenges facing the sector, including skills and labour shortages, climate change, unclear regulations, a lack of coordinated leadership, an uncertain pipeline of work and a culture of shifting risk.

2022 - 2025

Building on the success, momentum, and lessons from the first Transformation Plan, the Accord launched its second Transformation Plan (Transformation Plan 2022-2025), which focused on tackling the sector's systemic challenges whilst building resilience across the industry.

The Transformation Plan 2022-2025 comes with a revised framework, which incorporates our updated vision, goals, focus areas, enablers and priorities, as well as how the sector will work together to deliver the plan and measure its progress.

Read the Transformation Plan 2022-2025

Find out more about the Accord's framework

An industry-government partnership

Through the Accord, industry and government have formed a partnership to work together to lift the performance of the construction sector. The Accord is one of eight industry transformation plans (ITPs) established by government to transform key industries. In addition to the Accord, the other ITPs are in agritech, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, food and beverage, forestry and wood processing, fisheries and tourism. These industries have significant potential to contribute to a high productivity, high wage and low emissions economy. Their potential can only be reached through a partnership approach.

ITPs bring together key industry stakeholders to agree on a long-term vision for their industry and identify what actions can be taken by industry, government and others to realise this vision.

As the government's first ITP, the Accord is a shining example of how government and industry can collaborate and share accountability for the construction sector. Through our industry-government partnership, the Accord has responded to critical issues and begun the sector’s transformational journey.

The Accord works closely with industry partners and government agencies whose work intersects with or relates to the Accord's vision and goals. This ensures that we leverage existing work and do not duplicate or undermine others' efforts.

The Accord's principles

An important focus of the Accord programme is to improve the culture within the sector. By signing up to the Accord, industry and government have agreed to be guided by the Accord’s principles and to hold themselves and each other to account against them.

Value the people

  • Fostering careers to nurture the industry’s future
  • Recognising and rewarding effort and success
  • Embracing diversity and inclusion
  • Supporting better outcomes for Māori
  • Prioritising health, safety and mental wellbeing.

Āta: grow respectful relationships with people and the environment

  • Being accountable and building respectful partnerships
  • Acting with empathy and respect to the environment
  • Being transparent on the value and allocation of risk
  • Work with those with the energy to transform.

Be bold

  • Fostering innovation, and research and development (R&D)
  • Not accepting conduct and culture contrary to the principles of the Accord
  • Sharing success and learning from failure
  • Focusing on whole-of-life value when buying and building.

Act with collective responsibility

  • Planning for the long-term
  • Acting as a custodian for the sector's future
  • Sharing knowledge and lessons learnt
  • Prioritising environmental sustainability.

Agility and flexibility

  • Open to learning from one another from within and outside the industry
  • Fostering networks of sharing and learning
  • Building the capacity of leaders to adapt.

The Accord Background

The Construction Sector Accord launched in April 2019 with the vision of 'A high performing construction sector for a better New Zealand'. In January 2020, the Construction Sector Accord released its first three-year Transformation Plan which set out guiding principles for culture change and outlined initiatives to help the sector achieve the goals of increasing productivity, raising capability, improving resilience, and restoring the sector's confidence, pride and reputation.

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Last updated: 22 December 2022