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Welcome to our Building and Resource Consents newsletter. In Te Reo Māori, kaihanga means maker, builder, creator, architect, producer or drafter.
Kaihanga is a way for us to share what’s happening in our industry as well as giving you the chance to give feedback. Please get in touch to tell us how we can make this newsletter better.
Building Team Performance
Hutt City’s Building Consent Authority (BCA) is currently processing 96% of all building consents and Code of Compliance Certificates (CCCs) within the 20 statutory day timeframe.
Average processing time for building consents is 12 days and for CCC’s the average time to process is 16 days.
The average wait time for inspections is under three days with over 95% of inspections being undertaken within three days.
Resource Consents Team performance
Applications received
Please note we are not at end of Q2 yet, so the table above is not a direct comparison.
Resource consents issued within 20 working days
District Plan review update
Earlier this year the Government passed legislation to stop proposed plan changes and proposed district plans which had not reached the hearings stage.
This impacted the Lower Hutt Proposed District Plan which was due to start its hearings before the end of this year.
In September, Council voted to apply for an exemption from the Minister for the Environment to allow it to continue with a large proportion of the Proposed District Plan.
The parts of the Proposed Plan that are excluded from the exemption relate to Historical and Cultural Values, Natural Environment Values, Coastal Natural Character and Highly Productive Land.
The exemption application was submitted to the Ministry for the Environment in October. If it’s granted, then hearings are expected to start early 2026 and would progress through late 2026.
Depending on appeals, the Proposed District Plan could become operative in early/mid 2027. More information on this can be found here: District Plan Review - Hutt City Council.
New chapter for water services
The new water organisation for the metropolitan Wellington area is now legally established with the name Tiaki Wai Metro Water Ltd with a four-person Board of Directors in place.
The new organisation will provide drinking water, wastewater, and piped stormwater services for approximately 432,000 people across the Wellington metropolitan area from 1 July 2026.
Work is well underway to assess Council’s current activities relating to water and what needs to transfer to the new entity. Discussions are also ongoing at a regional level, with some key decisions to be made in the new year.
For more information, visit the Tiaki Wai Metro Water website: Home | Tiaki Wai Metro Water
Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) National Building Statistics & Forecast site
BRANZ have released a new statistics and forecasting page on their website. It covers housing affordability – building new vs buying existing, estimated shortage of homes by region, forecast of construction workloads and value of projects in the pipeline.
To view go to: BRANZ Build Insights dashboard on Building Insights webpage - BRANZ.
Building insights statistics from BRANZ, December 2025
BRANZ Research Report: Transforming Building Consenting Behaviour for Better Housing
BRANZ has released a new research report in collaboration with Tauranga and Auckland Councils’ Building Consent Authorities (BCAs). Their findings and insights are highly relevant to the Hutt City Council BCA and reflect common themes many councils face.
This report provides valuable commentary and data that can help inform better practices and support continuous improvement across the sector:
ER91 ModelDocs: Transforming building consenting behaviour for better housing (2024) LR16305
New IT system for Building Consents
The IT system used by the BCA (Objectives Go Get) is due to go end-of-life at the end of June 2026. The BCA has been going through a procurement process to identify which IT system would be best to replace it. Our preferred system is called Allly and has been developed by the same people who developed the Simpli portal.
We are expecting the new system to go live around April next year and will be communicating with the sector closer to the time. Allly will replace the current Objective Build customer portal for all building consents.
Changes will allow granny flats to be built without a building consent.
Changes will allow granny flats to be built without a building consent
Image provided by Niche Group
The legislative change for a new building consent exemption for granny flats is expected to commence early 2026. Note that this change has not yet passed into law.
Hutt City Council will create a simple checklist that people may use for establishing if the proposed building itself will meet the Exemption requirements.
This is a guide only and you should seek independent advice from a design professional.
We suggest that you also consult with both your insurance provider and if you have a mortgage, with your mortgage provider, before committing to construction.
There are some other critical points:
- The work cannot include wood burners or other solid fuel heaters.
- Owner builder exemptions do not apply to the construction of the small stand-alone dwellings.
- The small stand-alone dwelling cannot be prebuilt before the Project Information Memorandum (PIM) is obtained. If you want to buy a prebuilt unit you will need to apply for a building consent the regular way.
- Offences apply and infringement fines can be issued where owners do not follow the procedures laid out in legislation.
Refer to Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) information on Granny flat design conditions and requirements for the building consent exemption for descriptions of all of the relevant components:
- The obligation lies with the owner to establish if all of the conditions of the Exemption are met, i.e. it is not Hutt City Council’s role to provide advice on these matters.
Applying for a Project Information Memorandum (PIM)
Once you have established that you can rely on the Exemption you will need to apply for a PIM from Council and pay the relevant fees. Owners must obtain a PIM before they start the work. This PIM application requires:
- completion of a PIM application form (technical help may be needed if you are not experienced in completing building consent forms)
- submission of a basic set of plans which must be drawn lines to a recognised scale with key dimensions shown and include the following:
- Site plan: showing distances to boundaries and other buildings
- Drainage information showing connection points to existing or new outfalls
- Elevations
- Foundation, floor, roof and services plans.
The owner will have two years to complete the build from the PIM issue date.
Payment of any Development Contributions charged.
Planning Matters
All building work must comply with the District Plan. In deciding if a Resource Consent is or isn’t required you should consider the following:
Heat Pumps and Noise Compliance
Heat pumps are a great way to heat your home and have become increasingly popular over the years. However, with the increase in heat pump usage, there has been an increase in noise complaints from the outdoor unit.
While it is often convenient (and more efficient) to place the heat pump as close to the indoor component as possible, care must be taken not to put the heat pump in a place that could cause a nuisance to neighbours, particularly at night-time when sleep disturbance is a big factor.
Hutt City Council has two helpful information sheets to assist with the appropriate locating of heat pumps and noise reduction, which can be found here:
If heat pumps are not in an appropriate spot, they will need to be moved or look at ways to reduce noise. These can be expensive and take a while, so we recommend that developers, contractors and installers follow our guidelines above.
