How to apply for a building consent
Building consent applications can be complex. We recommend that you engage a professional to help with design work, drawings, specifications and documentations. Your Yellow Pages is a good place to start in finding professional help and guidance.
Applications must include:
- A completed and signed application form
- Applicable application checksheet
- Proof of ownership (as defined under the Building Act 2004)
- One set of plans, specification and supporting documentation that covers the items listed on the applicable checksheet that is relevant for the building project being applied for.
- Appropriate fees.
For guidance or further information please contact us.
Once your application is accepted you will be given a building consent number, referred to by Council as an 'ABA' (the building application reference). Please have this number ready to reference for all future communications.
When your application will be processed
The time taken to get a building consent issued depends on the complexity of your project and whether or not you have provided us with sufficient information.
All building consents are required to be approved within 20 working days, however applications supplied with insufficient information will incur additional time for processing. Applicants with insufficient details will receive a formal request for further information.
A request for information is known as an RFI and we endeavour to review customer responses within five working days. Processing of applications are not continued until the requested information is received and it has been established as satisfactory.
Building consent applications frequently require checking by several disciplines. If further information is required you may receive a number of separate RFIs.
How your application will be processed
Christchurch City Council has a number of processes you should understand before lodging an application for a building consent, as follows:
Lodging an application for building consent
You will need to complete an application form, checksheet and provide information that is relevant to your building project.
Information is contained within an application pack which can be obtained either online; at Council's Civic Offices or Lyttelton Service Centre; or contact us and we can post a pack to you.
Once you have gathered all the necessary information you can lodge your application with Council.
Applications can either be submitted electronically, posted, or by personally delivering your application to either Civic Offices or Lyttelton Service Centre.
Please note that most applications are processed electronically, and there are advantages in submitting your application through our File Transfer Portal as this avoids the delay and costs of scanning. Please email buildingconsentapplication@ccc.govt.nz for more information on this process.
You will need to inform us how and if applicable where you want to receive your approved documentation. Options include; electronically; CD; or paper copy (charges apply).
Your application will then be checked against your plans for all necessary information and along with a deposit, the application will be accepted.
Please note: the Building Code is performance based as opposed to the Council's prior building bylaws which were substantially prescriptive. This means we can only review your application for how it meets the performance criteria of the code. We cannot help (with your design) by prescribing solutions to problems.
Consent review process
This process is completed by our Environmental and Policy Approval (EPA) staff. The technical officers concerned are known as Building Consent Officers (BCOs) and are based at Civic Offices (City Centre) and at the Lyttelton Service Centre.
Your project is drawn from a chronological queue for processing by an officer and once an initial review is completed a 'request for information' is issued to the applicant and owner.
The statutory clock stopping process is employed at this point. When you or your consultant have satisfied all queries and all documentation has been deemed satisfactory by the processing BCO, your consent will be approved and made 'ready for uplift'.
You cannot start work on your project until all fees have been paid and the consent uplifted.
Some consent work involves specialist disciplines such as civil or structural engineering, hydraulics, mechanical and fire protection engineering. In these cases council staff will assess or occasionally the project may be referred to a consultancy firm charged with establishing compliance.
These elements of review (including any external referral) are only dealt with by specialist officers at Council’s Civic Offices.
Producer statements and peer reviews
Producer statements may be offered by applicants as supporting documents for their application. For example, an engineer may provide a statement about the overall structure or a portion of it (like a beam or door lintel). Council's specialist engineering staff, or where capable a Building Consent Officer, may accept this as part of the application.
On some occasions, someone else's opinion may be offered in support of the statement – it might even be that Council staff have considered it necessary that this opinion be sought. These are referred to as peer reviews.
Producer statements may be offered as part of the design process and can be offered for construction review purposes as well.
Building consent conditions and advice notes
Conditions/advice notes are imposed on your building consent which are deemed necessary to ensure compliance.
Normally, these conditions/advice notes will appear on your consent notification and are imposed on your building consent when deemed necessary to ensure compliance with the Building Code and the issue of the Code Compliance Certificate.
It is important that you and your builder read and understand all conditions/advice notes before commencing work.
If you do not understand any of the conditions, please contact the Council.
For more information, refer to the Department of Building and Housing website.
Changes in design after a PIM is issued
Applicants will be charged for project information memoranda (PIM) reviews where a change of design has occurred since that PIM was issued, or when it is outdated. It is necessary to do this during a building consent review where it becomes obvious that design changes are impacting on City Plan requirements.
The life of a building consent
A building consent has a life of 12 months from the date of issue. Work must have commenced within the 12 months or the building consent shall automatically lapse requiring a new application.
All building work should be completed within two years from the date the building consent was issued. If the project has been delayed it may be possible to apply for an extension to this time.
Withdrawing an application
A fee may apply if you withdraw your application. This will be based on actual and reasonable charges that are required to cover the provision of service to-date.
Please view further details on withdrawing an application.
Fees
Christchurch City Council does not operate a schedule of fees that can be used easily to calculate a final fee for a building consent. The type of application, cost of work involved and the level of detail provided will determine the charge.
Our charges are based on the time it takes to process an application and includes costs such as:
Levies payable to the Department of Building and Housing (payable on all applications over $20,000 and over)
Levies payable to BRANZ (payable on all applications over $20,000 and over)
Time spent processing the application
Number of inspections required (type and number vary depending on type and scope of work)
Issue of code compliance certificate
Issue of a compliance schedule (where applicable – mainly commercial work)
Development contribution (where applicable)
UNO fees (e.g. water connections, road opening, vehicle crossings).
- Number of supporting documents to scan (you can avoid this fee by scanning these documents yourself)
Schedule of fees [PDF 30KB]
Notification of approval / refusal
Upon the completion of processing your building consent application, you will be either; notified when your approved documentation is ready for issue and 'ready for uplift' (RFU); or be notified of Council's decision to refuse to issue the building consent.
Your approved documentation can be retrieved e;ectronically via the File Transfer Portal or in hard copy / CD format from a Council service centre of your nomination.
Once all fees are paid, your consent is deemed 'issued'. Some building consents are posted to the contact person (agent) nominated on the application form, usually for lesser work and for fixed fees procedures.
