Requirements for building consent applications

An owner wishing to undertake building work will require a building consent to do that work if it is not contained in Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 (Building work exempt from the requirement of a building consent). There is one other area in the Building Act where a building consent is not required and that is section 41 where work is required to be undertaken urgently. In that case a certificate of acceptance must be applied for as soon as practicable after the building work has been completed.

To obtain a building consent the owner will need to apply for a building consent at the BCA that is responsible for the area where the building work will take place. This will usually be a council responsible for its district or city.

Applications for building consents are made on Form 2 of the Building (Forms) Regulations 2004. Form 2 is duplicated below.

Form 2 Application for project information memorandum and/or

building consent

Section 33 or section 45, Building Act 2004

The building

Street address of building: [for structures that do not have a street address, state the nearest street intersection and the distance and direction from that intersection] Legal description of land where building is located: [ state legal description as at the date of application and, if the land is proposed to be subdivided, include details of relevant lot numbers and subdivision consent]

Building name:

Location of building within site/block number: [include nearest street access]

Number of levels: [include ground level and any levels below ground]

Level/unit number:

Area: [total floor area; indicate area affected by the building work if less than the total area]

Current, lawfully established, use: [include number of occupants per level and per use if more than 1]

Year first constructed:

The owner

Name of owner: [include preferred form of address, eg, Mr, Miss, Dr, if an individual]

*Contact person: Mailing address:

Street address/registered office: Phone number:

Daytime:

After hours:

Facsimile number:

Email address:

Website:

The following evidence of ownership is attached to this application: [ copy of record of title, lease, agreement for sale and purchase, or other document showing full name of legal owner(s) of the building]

†Agent

†Name of agent: [only required if application is being made on behalf of the owner]

*Contact person:

Mailing address:

Street address/registered office:

Phone number:

Landline:

Mobile:

Daytime:

After hours:

Facsimile number:

Email address:

Website:

Relationship to owner: [state details of the authorisation from the owner to make the application on the owner’s behalf]

First point of contact for communications with the council/building consent authority: [state full name, mailing address, phone number(s), facsimile number(s) and email address(es)‡]

Application

I request that you issue a †project information memorandum/†project information memorandum and building consent/†building consent for the building work described in this application.

Signature of †owner/†agent on behalf of and with the authority of the owner: Date:

The project

Description of the building work: Will the building work result in a change of use of the building? space for council use

tau whakatūtū

†If Yes, provide details of the new use:

Intended life of the building if less than 50 years: . years

List building consents previously issued for this project (if any):

Estimated value of the building work on which the building levy will be calculated (including goods and services tax): $ [state estimated value as defined in section 7 of the Building Act 2004]

Restricted building work

Will the building work include any restricted building work?

*Yes/*No

*If Yes, provide the following details of all licensed building practitioners who will be involved in carrying out or supervising the restricted building work [If these details are unknown at the time of the application, they must be supplied before the building work begins.]:

Licensin g Nameclass

Licensed building practitioner number (or registration number if treated as being licensed under section 291 of Act)

Note: Continue on another page if necessary.

§Project information memorandum

The following matters are involved in the project:

†Subdivision

†Alterations to land contours

†New or altered connections to public utilities

†New or altered locations and/or external dimensions of buildings

†New or altered access for vehicles

†Building work over or adjacent to any road or public place

†Disposal of stormwater and wastewater

†Building work over any existing drains or sewers or in close proximity to wells or water mains

†Other matters known to the applicant that may require authorisations from the territorial authority: [specify]

║Building consent

¶The following plans and specifications are attached to this application: The building work will comply with the building code as follows:

Clause Means of compliance Waiver/modification required [list relevant clause [refer to the relevant compliance [state nature of waiver or numbers of building code] document(s) or detail of alternative solution in the plans and specifications]

tau whakatūtū

║Compliance schedule

†The specified systems for the building are as follows: [specified systems are defined in regulations]

†The following specified systems are being altered, added to, or removed in the course of the building work:

†There are no specified systems in the building.

†Attachments

The following documents are attached to this application:

†Plans and specifications [list]

†Memoranda from licensed building practitioner(s) who carried out or supervised any design work that is restricted building work

†Project information memorandum

†Development contribution notice

†Certificate attached to project information memorandum

*Delete if the applicant is an individual.

†Delete if inapplicable.

‡Contact details must be in New Zealand.

§Delete this section if this is an application for a building consent only.

║Delete this section if this is an application for a project information memorandum only.

¶All plans and specifications must meet the minimum requirements set out in the regulations or required by the building consent authority.

As you can see there is a lot of information that is required to be captured in the application form for a building consent. Critical information for the application includes:

• Description of the building and its address

• Owners details and legal status of ownership

• Description of the building work being proposed

• Locations of the building work (both of a specific site and within a large site if the site is, for example, a school).

• Restricted building work

• Whether or not a PIM is being applied for

• Compliance schedules/specified systems

• Any attachments with the application

This is basically the first document that a BCA will see prior to any work starting on a site.

Statutory declarations that may accompany a building consent application

In most cases these days there will be no statutory declaration accompanying a building consent application. However, as some New Zealander’s still have a ‘can do’ or ‘number eight wire’ attitude, Government has allowed owner builders to still undertake restricted building work and allow them to build their own home. Form 2B in the forms regulations is required to accompany the building consent application if and owner proposes to do any of the restricted building work themselves.

There are a few requirements if an owner builder decides to do restricted building work themselves, including:

• Completion of the Form 2B

• Identification of the restricted building work that the owner is undertaking (and includes any design work, primary structure, external moisture management systems, and any fire safety systems).

• Ownership evidence of the owner builder building work

• And the statutory declaration from the owner builder and the witnessing of signing the form from a JP, Barrister (not from the coffee cart!), solicitor of the High Court or other person authorized by law to take statutory declarations.

There are also some legal requirements such as a period of 3 years between evoking an owner builder status. This effectively means that an owner builder can only use this declaration after 3 years has passed from a previous declaration.

(a) means work—

(i) for, or in connection with, the construction, alteration, demolition, or removal of a building; and

(ii) on an allotment that is likely to affect the extent to which an existing building on that allotment complies with the building code; and

(b) includes sitework; and

(c) includes design work (relating to building work) that is design work of a kind declared by the Governor-General by Order in Council to be restricted building work for the purposes of this Act; and

(d) in Part 4, and the definition in this section of supervise, also includes design work (relating to building work) of a kind declared by the Governor-General by Order in Council to be building work for the purposes of Part 4 owner, in relation to land and any buildings on the land,—

(a) means the person who—

(i) is entitled to the rack rent from the land; or (ii) would be so entitled if the land were let to a tenant at a rack rent; and

(b) includes

(i) the owner of the fee simple of the land; and

(ii) for the purposes of sections 32, 44, 92, 96, 97, and 176(c), any person who has agreed in writing, whether conditionally or unconditionally, to purchase the land or any leasehold estate or interest in the land, or to take a lease of the land, and who is bound by the agreement because the agreement is still in force

Owner-builder has the meaning given to it by section 90B

Owner-builder exemption means the exemption for owner-builders set out in section 90D

What are plans and specifications?

Plans and specifications are the documents that are provided by the applicant to design, construct and complete the building work. The definition of plans and specifications are contained in section 7 of the Building Act 2004:

Plans and specifications

(a) means the drawings, specifications, and other documents according to which a building is proposed to be constructed, altered, demolished, or removed; and

(b) includes the proposed procedures for inspection during the construction, alteration, demolition, or removal of a building; and

(c) in the case of the construction or alteration of a building, also includes—

(i) the intended use of the building; and

(ii) the specified systems that the applicant for building consent considers will be required to be included in a compliance schedule required under section 100; and

(iii) the proposed inspection, maintenance, and reporting procedures for the purposes of the compliance schedule for those specified systems

What do plans and specifications include?

Plans and specifications show how a building is intended to be constructed, altered, demolished or removed. Most building consent authorities provide guidance on any additional documentation they require with a building consent application (eg, check sheets).

Wharekura tau whakatūtū

The Building Act provides for ‘other documents’, along with plans and specifications. These include:

• design calculations (eg, for some specifically engineered design element)

• manufacturers’ data

• technical opinions or appraisals

• codes of practice.

Information in the plans and specifications should be project-specific. General phrases, such as ‘refertomanufacturer’sspecificationand/orrequirements’ or ‘installed in accordancewithbesttradepractice’ are insufficient. Manufacturers’ specifications can change, and views on ‘best trade practice’ vary between practitioners.

References to Standards and acceptable solutions should be specific. References to other industry guides, such as BRANZ publications, should also be specific.

All drawings should contain a drawing number and title, the designer’s and owner’s name and the job address, and be dated for version control.

Drawing conventions should be generally in accordance with AS/NZS 1100 Technical Drawing which includes requirements for:

• line types and widths

• lettering type and size

• symbols for building features and elements

• designation of spaces

The size and complexity of the project determines the detail needed, and extent of associated structural and building services-related documents.

Specification structure

A good project-specific specification has a logical structure to aid in navigation. The default standard classification system for New Zealand is Coordinated Building Information (CBI), recognised by the four digit numbers used to classify each work section (ie, chapter) of the specification.

There should be ‘Preliminaries’ and ‘General’ sections, followed by a series of technical work sections. Each work section or chapter should be laid out in a consistent pattern (such as ‘General’, ‘Products’, ‘Execution’, ‘Selections’), and a consistent clause numbering system should be used.

0800

Specialist input into the plans and specifications

Plans and specifications, especially for large buildings will always include specialist input: This can be:

• Engineering design of SED items

• Fire reports

• Hydraulic plans and calculations and the list can go on……….

Producer Statements (particularly for design or a PS1) will usually always be involved in a large building consent application and sometimes residential applications.

Inspections proposed by the owner

The definition of plans and specifications in section 7 of the Building Act also include the proposed procedures for inspections for the construction of a building.

This particular aspect is where the owner can request (usually by negotiation with the BCA) a specialist inspect certain work.

An example of this would be where a Chartered Professional Engineer provide construction monitoring of the structural aspects of the construction and provide those monitoring reports and a Producer Statement- Construction review for the purposes of issuing a code compliance certificate.