The Victorian Building Authority has hired Steven Baxas as state building surveyor, effective from August 5.

He takes over from Andrew Cialini, who is moving to a new role aiming to address the critical shortage of building surveyors in the state, the regulator says.

Mr Baxas is a former City of Melbourne municipal building surveyor and has more than three decades of local government experience.

VBA commissioner and CEO Anna Cronin thanked Mr Cialini for his five-year tenure.

“As the VBA’s first state building surveyor, Andrew has uplifted our response to regulating complex building matters and provided greater clarity, guidance and information to industry,” she said. “I want to express my deepest gratitude to Andrew in accepting an ongoing role leading a VBA priority project to grow the pool of building surveyors in the state.”