Consultants

Anyone who is planning to develop land in Fiji may choose to engage the services of a consultant to assist them. Consultants can provide advice about planning, subdivision or development requirements and processes, or can undertake some of the work, such as preparing plans or managing the application process.
A consultant is any professional or technical expert who offers information and professional services. For a fee, consultants provide information and assistance to people who are not trained or experienced in the field to undertake particular tasks. A consultant may be self-employed, or work for a company, and may be engaged to give advice, to prepare plans or reports or to act as agents. Consultants are particularly useful in dealing with local or technical systems and processes, such as making an application for Development Permission, Rezoning, or Subdivision of Land.

The role of a consultant in the planning application process is to provide advice or assistance to applicants. When an application is submitted for consideration, it will be assessed by qualified surveyors and planners within the local authority and/or in the Department of Town & Country Planning. Consultants ensure that the application is made appropriately, and liaise between the developer and authorities throughout the application process. Consultants' tasks include:

• Providing advice about the type of application/s required.
• Acting as agents on behalf of developers in negotiations with authorities about an application or proposed development.
• Project-managing a development and/or application process.
• Ensuring each application contains the right information and is submitted in the right format to the appropriate authority.
• Identifying experts to assist if an application requires supporting technical information (such as a percolation test for a septic system or an environmental impact assessment).

In addition:

• Surveyors and draftsmen prepare survey plans suitable for subdivision applications.
• Architects prepare scale plans and elevations to accompany building applications.
• Town planners prepare site plans, briefs, reports, and guidelines.

It is not compulsory to engage a consultant to assist with development, rezoning or subdivision permission. Landowners and leaseholders are legally entitled to lodge applications for development on their land. Planning, development and subdivision, however, are complex and technical fields and it may be difficult to understand the requirements without professional assistance.

The best reason to engage a planning consultant is to provide technical and/or local knowledge about the planning system or one of its processes. Other benefits of engaging a consultant to assist with a development application include:

• Making the right type of application to the correct authority with the appropriate fee avoids delays.
• Professional, drawn-to-scale plans and supporting reports make the application easier to assess.
• Consultants can act as agents to attend meetings and negotiations with authorities on technical issues.

Engaging a consultant can assist local developers who are not experts in planning, and can aid planners and developers from overseas to navigate the particular requirements of the Fiji system.

People with diverse qualifications and experience can act as consultants in the fields of planning, development and subdivision. Qualified architects, surveyors, town planners and engineers may have a combination of training and/or experience that allows them to provide good advice about negotiating the planning system, or act as ‘project managers' for development application processes. In general, architects consult on building and development applications, surveyors are engaged to deal with subdivisions, and town planners provide advice on complex sites or master-planned developments. With experience, however, any of these consultants can become familiar with a range of development and planning processes.

The important characteristics of a consultant are:

• Relevant professional training,
• Local experience and knowledge, and
• Good communication skills.

Training ensures the consultant has technical skills in drafting, report-writing and similar areas. Local experience allows the development system to be understood and negotiated. Good communication helps developer and consultant to work well together.

The qualification or training that a consultant should have depends on the development.

For a complex development, a consultant firm or team might combine skills and experience ? for example, a local surveyor to advise on the system and a overseas planner to prepare reports.

Local knowledge is gained through experience with the system. A consultant should be locally-registered his or her field, and should have submitted many applications of the type being considered or perhaps worked in an assessing authority. Asking questions of consultants and viewing their previous work, will show whether the person has appropriate experience, as well as whether he or she can communicate clearly.

The Department of Town & Country Planning is not able to endorse or recommend particular consultants. Information about locally-registered surveyors is available from the Fiji Institute of Surveyors. Information about architects may be obtained from the Fiji Association of Architects. Also, many building and engineering consultants are listed in the Fiji Yellow Pages.