The school board has overall responsibility for the project. Contact your property advisor if you have concerns about how the project is going.

Keeping people at the school safe

School boards are responsible under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to keep staff and students safe at all times.

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 – New Zealand Legislation

Your project manager will help you meet your responsibilities by managing the day-to-day health and safety hazards during a project.

This will include:

• keeping the construction site isolated from students and staff
• managing safe access of vehicles and materials
• managing contractors.

The board is responsible for completing a school access plan with contractors. This will help clarify who needs a Police vet.

Who needs to be safety checked at school

Our checklist will help you understand your responsibilities.

Managing project finances

The project manager is responsible for managing the budget for the project.

The project manager will:

• advise the board of risks and issues that could affect the project and manage resolution
• keep the board informed of the status of the budget at all stages of the building project
• get board approval for changes of scope and project variations
• certify invoices and get board approval to pay them.

Managing contractor payments and retentions

The Construction Contracts Act 2002 sets out the legal requirements for paying construction invoices.

Construction Contracts Act 2002 – New Zealand Legislation

The Act states what payments can be withheld from a contractor.

When the project manager reviews the contractor claim they may recommend part of a payment is withheld, for example, if the quality of work is poor. Check what you can do under the Act before taking this step.

If you hold retentions on your construction project, you must meet the new requirements of the 2023 Amendment Act.

Our procurement process pages have more information about contracts for school-led property projects.

Property procurement step 5: award the contract

Managing the project contingency

This can only be used to pay for unexpected costs on the project it is allocated to. It cannot be used to expand the scope of an approved project or upgrade the materials used.

The board must account for expenditure against the contingency at the end of the project.

Managing variations

During the construction phase of your building project, it may be necessary to make changes to the original project brief.

Our standard construction contracts include a condition forbidding the contractor to make any variations to the project without the designer’s written instruction.

A variation may be needed if the contractor has a genuine reason for substituting a specified product. For instance, if the specified product may be unavailable.

If there is a genuine reason for the variation, the project manager and board need to agree to it. You will need to manage the variation within the overall project budget. If this is not possible, contact your property advisor as soon as possible.

Variation records

Where a change is made to the project, keep records in the project file of:

• the itemised claim detailing the required variations
• the council’s agreement to the variation, if it affects the building consent
• any discussions or negotiations between you, the board and the project control group member, and what was agreed
• project payments
• a summary of the adjustment against the original contract sum
• authorisation to carry out the variation – this will be in the contract.