A prominent Darwin developer says there needs to be better standards and stricter regulations for high-rise buildings in the Territory.

Key points: A building conference in Darwin has heard from professionals in several industries about recent issues

A building conference in Darwin has heard from professionals in several industries about recent issues Developer Neil Sunners says you do not need a building licence for anything over three storeys, and "that's just wrong"

Developer Neil Sunners says you do not need a building licence for anything over three storeys, and "that's just wrong" Lawyer Cris Cureton says current legal options for owners in high-rise buildings are insufficient

A conference for the building and construction industry was held in Darwin on Friday, with panellists representing the legal, building, development, insurance and public sectors.

The event follows a shaky few years for the sector.

Neil Sunners, the director of developer Sunbuild, told the conference professionals should not cut corners on structural costs.

"Yes there are code issues I believe, that there definitely could be, standards could be lifted, for sure, but I think also you don't have to follow them [codes] as I said, they're a minimum," he said.

"As you all know, that's got consequences, we've all got to dig a bit deeper guys in our pockets to actually pay for that quality and longevity, but now we can start to understand why it is more important to spend a little more money on getting the building right in the first place."

Cris Cureton (left) said owners of units in buildings taller than three storeys had few legal options if they wanted to claim compensation for building faults. ( ABC News: Cameron Gooley )

Mr Sunners was also critical of the fact that building licences were not necessary for builders or developers when constructing buildings taller than three storeys.

"I believe there should be qualifications for that type of thing . . . any one of us in the room could go and build a high rise but you've got to be registered to be under three storeys, that's just wrong in and of itself," he told the conference.

"If the authorities don't give controls, as hard as that might sound to all of us, but if there's no rules and regulations from the authority level, there will be people who cheat and cut corners."

The Northern Territory Government said it was looking at that regulatory issue as it worked to implement the recommendations from a wide-ranging 2018 report into the industry.

"That is one of the recommendations of the Building Confidence Report and that is one the NT does fall a bit short on," said Mark Meldrum, the director of building control at the NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics (DIPL).

Mark Meldrum is the director of building control at the NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics. ( ABC News )

'It was completely foreseeable'

A Darwin lawyer also told the conference the current legal options for owners in high-rise buildings were insufficient.

"It was completely foreseeable, frankly, that there was going to be issues arising with people's rights to be able to recover compensation for defective buildings," said Cris Cureton, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs.

Lawyer Cris Cureton says current legal options for owners in high-rise buildings are insufficient. ( ABC News )

He said owners of units in buildings taller than three storeys had few legal options if they wanted to claim compensation for building faults.

"So there's also a significant gap in terms of the options, other than going and seeing your lawyer and trying to spend large amounts of money trying to sue people," Mr Cureton said.

"It just seems to be quite odd that these people that are particularly vulnerable, these unit holders that buy off the plan and people that subsequently purchase units in multi-storey constructions are left in such a vulnerable state."

The NT DIPL said it had met about half of the 24 recommendations from the Building Confidence Report, and was working on the others.