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Your school's 10 Year Property Plan (10YPP) details the property projects we have planned for your school.
For projects using other types of funding, you must get our approval before starting the project planning.
For urgent work required for safety reasons, contact your property advisor.
Develop a project brief
Write a project brief that outlines:
- the scope of the work and the buildings affected
- timeframes
- the budget.
Use the detail from your 10YPP for the project brief.
If you have already engaged a project manager for the project, they will help you write the brief.
Engage consultants
All school projects must have a project manager. For simple or low-value projects, this could be someone at the school like a caretaker or board member. This person must follow our project management requirements.
You must use a professional project manager if your project requires a building consent. We recommend using a professional project manager for any high value or complex work.
Hiring a professional project manager for a property project
You may also need to engage consultants to help you with design of the project, for example, an architect, engineer or quantity surveyor.
Start a project file
Start a project file to collect all project documentation as early as possible. This file will include the project brief and all other information such as:
- correspondence and emails
- design documentation
- contracts and variations
- building and product warranties.
School boards are bound by the Official Information Act 1982. If a request is made under the Act, you must provide access to or copies of information in the project file that is relevant and appropriate to the request, unless there is good reason to withhold it.
Set up the project control group
The board appoints the project control group (PCG) to oversee the building project.
The PCG is likely to include the:
- school principal
- project manager
- board chair or board representative
- school representative (this can be the same person as the board representative).
A school representative is someone appointed by the board to oversee the project. They do not need to have a formal position in the school.
School board approvals
The board will need to give approvals throughout the project.
This might include:
- approving the project brief
- approving the procurement plan and tender documents
- signing contracts for consultant engagement
- signing off on the designs
- approving any variations, for example in the material used or design changes
- approving payments.
Delegating approval authority
Boards can delegate powers of approval for the project so approvals do not have to wait for a full board meeting.
Boards can delegate powers to:
- 1 or more board members
- the principal or any other employee or board office holder at the school
- a committee of at least 2 people, at least 1 of whom is a board member.
Financial functions can only be delegated to the school representative.
To delegate powers, the board must make a formal board resolution agreeing to the:
- decision-making level to be delegated
- delegation level and scope.
Provide each delegate with written notice of their delegations.
Clause 8 of the Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020 covers delegations.
Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020 – New Zealand Legislation
Design and consent requirements
Your project must meet our design standards when planning a property project in a school.
Designing Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand standards
Your project must meet the New Zealand building code. You must get all required consents from the local council.
Council requirements for school property projects
If you project is a new design, or alters building envelope or materials used, it must be checked by an independent and qualified building envelope specialist. Your consultant is required to submit the design for a building envelope assessment.
Building envelope assessment process
School asset site plan specification
School asset site plans ensure the Ministry has up-to-date and accurate plans for managing the school's assets. This helps us maintain consistent asset information for future projects, maintenance, capitalisation, depreciation, and insurance.
We have created a school asset site plan guide for the format of new and updated school site plans.
Make sure your design consultants follow this specification when creating plans for new school property or alterations to existing property. An updated school site plan must include all buildings on the site, with labels for blocks, rooms, areas, key features, and anything else mentioned in the specification.
We need the drawings in both PDF and DWG formats.
If the school already has an existing site plan, we can provide designers with the latest DWG file. Contact the school's property advisor or delivery manager if you need more details.
School asset site plan specificationExample school asset site plan
The example school asset site plan includes a school site plan, block plan and table to show how the specification is intended to be used.
Example school asset site planDesign fees release
For projects of $100,000 or more in value, you can apply for an advance before you begin the tender process. This money is to pay for consultancy services and consent fees.
You can request up to 10% of the project value.
Design fees release formSend the completed form to the shared mailbox for your regional Ministry office.
Procurements
During your project, you must follow our property procurement process. You will need to create:
- a procurement plan
- a procurement recommendation report.
This process must be followed each time you make a procurement.
Submit the project forms for approval
Submit your project documentation to us so we can approve the project and release funding. We must approve the project before work can begin.
The project manager completes the project forms and the presiding board member approves them.
You must complete the following tabs of the school-led project forms pack:
- Core Project Info.
- Design Cert.
- School Building Financial Info.
School-led project formsAlong with the tabs above, you need to submit:
- conflict of interest declarations
- a procurement plan
- a procurement recommendation report
- a building update form
- an invoice form.
Send the approved forms to the shared mailbox for your regional Ministry office.
We use the form to:
- release funding for projects
- track the project’s progress
- upload the data into our asset management system (Helios).
We will pay invoices for up to 90% of the project’s value after approval of the project paperwork. We hold back at least 10% as a contingency sum that we only release when you submit closing project paperwork.
Update building information
To access the building update form in the Helios portal:
Select the school (business unit) and then select the relevant building to access the building report.
The report will be pre-populated with existing information for that building with blank boxes for updating.
- Download the form to complete it. Submit it to us with the opening project documents.
