Residential and Commercial building alterations

For commercial projects over $50,000 and/or a change of use, a pre-application meeting is recommended a minimum of three weeks before the submission of the building consent.

At this meeting building officers will identify issues such as access, fire, and other areas which you may need to talk to further to Council staff before you submit the consent.

The pre-application meeting

At the pre-application meeting a building officer will check that you have the necessary information to submit your application.

What you should bring:          

• Site plans
• Floor plans
• Elevations
• Fire safety report
• Any other information you think will help us understand the project

When you apply for a building consent for a new (or existing) building with specified systems, you will need to provide information with your application to enable the council to compile (or amend) the compliance schedule.

The council will require details of the design features of the specified systems and proposed procedures for inspection, maintenance and reporting so they can be included in the compliance schedule. This will also include the performance standard a specified system is intended to meet, and to continue to meet, for the life of the building. For example, a fire alarm system may be required to meet New Zealand Standard 4512:2003.

This document offers guidance on building warrants of fitness and compliance schedules.

It is important to provide a sufficient level of detail for each specified system. This information is often, although not always, attached to fire reports and if it’s not provided a request for further information will be generated. To avoid processing delays, please make sure the information referenced above is provided in the application documentation.

We recommend these are provided in the Reports (SD) File when uploading to the AlphaOne Portal. An example of the level of Specified System detail required is below.

Specified System Form example (pdf 268 KB)

When an alteration to a building is proposed, Section 112 of the Building Act 2004 has to be considered.

This section of the Act requires a Building Consent Authority (Tasman District Council) to be satisfied that after the alterations the building will comply, as nearly as is reasonably practicable, with the provisions of the building code that relate to:

1. means of escape from fire; and
2. access and facilities for persons with disabilities (if this is a requirement in terms of section 118); and
3. continue to comply with the other provisions of the building code to at least the same extent as before the alteration.

For Council to be satisfied that consideration of Section 112 has been undertaken, it requires an evaluation to decide that the extent of the proposed upgrade will be effective.

The evaluation should contain:

1. what should be in the building to satisfy a. and b. above as if this building was new
2. what is currently in the building
3. what is proposed to bring this building toward the standard required by 1. above

The building code clauses that the evaluation should consider:

• Means of escape are; C3.4, C4, D1, F6, F7, F8
• Access and facilities are; D1, D2, F7, F8, G1, G5

The evaluation should also look at the benefits and sacrifices so Council can consider what is ‘reasonably practicable.’ 

Ministry Guidance

Requesting information about means of escape from fire from existing buildings. 

Please complete the Building score sheet on page 11 of the guidance document and submit this with your building consent application.

When the use of a building changes, Section 115 of the Building Act 2004 has to be considered.

To determine if the building is a change of use, see Sections 5, 6 and Schedule 2 of Building Regulations 2005 (Specified Systems, Change the Use, and Earthquake-prone Buildings) for use of all or parts of the building. If part of the building changes use then the building needs to be considered under Section 115. Section 115 is in the Act to ensure the current building stock is being upgraded toward the current provisions of the building code.

 An owner of a building must not change the use of the building:

1. in a case where the change involves the incorporation in the building of 1 or more household units where household units did not exist before, unless the territorial authority gives the owner written notice that the territorial authority is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that the building, in its new use, will comply, as nearly as is reasonably practicable, with the building code in all respects; and
2. in any other case, unless the territorial authority gives the owner written notice that the territorial authority is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that the building, in its new use, will:
   1. comply, as nearly as is reasonably practicable, with every provision of the building code that relates to either or both of the following matters
      1. means of escape from fire, protection of other property, sanitary facilities, structural performance, and fire-rating performance:
      2. access and facilities for people with disabilities (if this is a requirement under Section 118); and
3. continue to comply with the other provisions of the building code to at least the same extent as before the change of use.

Evaluation considerations

For the Council Building Consent Authority to be satisfied consideration of Section 115 has been undertaken we require an evaluation to decide that the extent of the proposed upgrade will be effective.  The evaluation should contain:

1. what should be in the building to satisfy A & B above as if this building was new
2. what the spaces in the building are currently used for
3. what is proposed to bring this building toward the standard required by 1. above

The evaluation should also look at the benefits and sacrifices so we can consider what is ‘reasonably practicable’.

In some cases your consent applications may need to go to the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) Fire Engineering Unit for design review under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017. This requirement falls under section 46 of the Building Act 2004.

The types of applications that are required to be sent to FENZ are detailed on the New Zealand Gazette website.

The Fire Engineering Unit have 10 working days in which to provide their feedback to the building consent authority on

• provision of means of escape from fire, and
• the needs of authorised firefighters entering the building to fight fire.

On a case by case basis FENZ may provide additional recommendations to help improve the overall safety of the proposed building design.

Where a building with a specified intended life is issued with a building consent that is subject to the condition that the building be altered before the end of its life, an 'extension of life' can be obtained.

An owner of a building must give written notice to the council if it proposes extending the life of a building.

If you want to subdivide an existing residential or commercial building, you must consider Section 116a of the Building Act 2004.

As a Territorial Authority, Council must not issue a certificate unless we are satisfied that the building will comply, as nearly as is reasonably practicable, with every provision of the Building Code that relates to:

• Means of escape from fire.
• Access and facilities for people with disabilities (if this is a requirement for the building)
• Protection of other property.

The building must also continue to comply with the other provisions of the Building Code to at least the same extent as before the subdivision application was made. This often requires a building consent application to undertake any necessary work to upgrade a building.