1. Applying for a building consent

Although not mandatory, we strongly recommend that applicants obtain a Project Information Memorandum (PIM) from us, as well as the relevant district or city council, before submitting a building consent application.

Information contained in these PIMs may be critical in the processing of the building consent, such as:

• Details of any stormwater systems which relate the proposal
• Potential natural hazards
• Any land classifications imposed on the property by organisations such as the Department of Conservation or the Historic Places Trust
• Any resource consents that already apply to the property

If applications are made without a PIM, it is likely that further information will be required. This can result in increased processing cost and timeframe.

An applicant can apply for PIMs at any time and should consider this information during the building design. An application for a PIM must be submitted on the prescribed form (Form F002 ) (PDF File, 512.6KB), in accordance with the Building Act 2004 and building regulations.

Identifying "natural hazards” on your land

The following are natural hazards under the Act:

• Erosion (including coastal erosion, bank erosion, and sheet erosion)
• Falling debris (including soil, rock, snow, and ice)
• Subsidence
• Inundation (including flooding, overland flow, storm surge, tidal effects, and ponding)
• Slippage

A Project Information Memorandum (PIM) will identify any hazards that the Council (Territorial Authority and/or Regional Authority) already knows about.

If any natural hazards have been identified in the past, they may also be noted as an endorsement on your record of title. You can get a copy from Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

If your land is subject to natural hazards

For Environment Canterbury to grant a building consent for a major amendment to an existing or new dam, you must be able to show the work will not make the hazard worse.

It may help your application to get a report from a geotechnical engineer, hydrologist or other specialist. They can advise on:

• The potential impact of the development
• How to address the natural hazards
• If your consent is granted

We can grant a building consent if we're satisfied that your land, building work and other property will be adequately protected from the hazard.

Otherwise, your building consent might be approved with a notification on your record of title. The notification shows that a consent has been issued on land that is subject to natural hazards.

Note: If you have a natural hazard notification on your record of title and your property is damaged by a natural hazard, you (and future owners of your property) may not be insured for any damage. 

Producer statements have no specific status under the Building Act 2004. However, they can be used as a mechanism for helping establish compliance with the Act and the Building Code.

We and our external consultants must have confidence that the engineers involved in designing a large dam have the appropriate experience and competence in their field. Producer statements are an indication of these skills and each statement will be assessed to its accuracy and content.

The Building Act 2004 provides that we may recover the costs of performing its functions under the Act.

Accordingly, the applicant must meet the costs incurred by us in processing the building consent application.

The cost of processing a building consent is generally time-based, so the quality of the information provided with your application will affect the overall fees ( poor quality drawings and details will take longer to process and will cost more). Costs include:

• Our time in processing the application
• Our actual costs in engaging external contractors with the required technical expertise to assist with processing of the application
• The building levy collected by us on behalf of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
• The building research levy collected by us on behalf of the Building Research Association on New Zealand (BRANZ)

All costs must be paid before the building consent is issued and may be paid using internet banking, credit card or in person.

Costs are set out in on pages 21–22 of our Fees and Charges Policy (PDF file, 468KB).

As a Regional Authority, we are not able to request development contributions or collect these on behalf of a Territorial Authority where a dam is located.

The timeframes for the building consent process are:

• 20 working days for us to grant or refuse a building consent (subject to any further information requests)
• 20 working days for us to issue or refuse a code compliance certificate (subject to any further information requests)
• 12 months for the applicant to start building work from the date the consent was issued (unless this timeframe is extended by mutual agreement)
• A code compliance certificate must be applied for as soon as practical after building work is completed.  If Environment Canterbury does not receive an application for a code compliance certificate within 24 months of the building consent being granted Environment Canterbury must decide whether to issue or refuse to issue the code compliance certificate. A request for an extension to the 24-month timeframe can be made in writing to the Building Control Authority Co-ordinator.

No building work may start without building, subdivision or resource consent; however, there are some situations where building work may proceed after obtaining permission from us.

This must be discussed with our BCA co-ordinator, who will need to see details of your plans prior to any decision-making.

We may issue a certificate of acceptance in relation to work carried out that should have had a building consent. For example, a certificate of acceptance may be used for certification of work that has been carried out urgently because of safety issues, and where there was no time to obtain a consent because of that emergency.

An application for a certificate of acceptance must be submitted on the prescribed form (Form F008 ).

A certificate of title can be obtained from Land Information New Zealand. You can access copies of these and other records through a variety of methods which are explained on their website at www.linz.govt.nz.

You may also be able to get a certificate of a title from your lawyer or engineer.