Standardisation – a consistent approach to school property projects

Following the 2024 Ministerial Inquiry into school property – which highlighted a need to change the school property system – work began to move the focus away from project-by-project school builds and upgrades, and introduce a more consistent, cost-effective approach. This meant developing building designs that were more easily replicated and delivered to schools.

This shift in approach began with the initial use of repeatable buildings in 2025, which laid the groundwork for the evolution to Standard Designs, launched on 1 July 2026 for implementation across the country.

Standardisation achieves the Agency’s objectives to ensure that all school buildings are warm, safe and dry – providing healthy environments for students to learn and thrive. It also ensures that school property projects are built to a good quality, represent value for money, and are delivered more quickly, consistently and efficiently across the New Zealand school property portfolio.

Through standard design, we have developed building designs that cover our most common school/kura building types across Aotearoa New Zealand, that we know will work for most schools. These have been developed with the input of educators, architects, designers and builders.

Guidance for schools and others involved in school property projects has also been published to help them plan their projects, working alongside NZSPA’s property teams.

Already, these Standard Designs are being developed and applied to new school property improvement projects in different parts of the country, with the first wave of these roll growth projects being enabled through Budget 2026 (B26) funding.

Working hand in hand with Standard Design is our Standard Planning process, which means we will work more closely in partnership with schools to develop property projects that will meet their needs, and be fit for purpose now and into the future.

This occurs through a series of planning workshops with schools who have been identified for potential roll growth and redevelopment projects, where our teams sit down with them to work out the best plan for their site and their current and future needs.

Although entering this planning process is not a guarantee of funding, it does mean that once planning has been completed and signed off by the school and the Agency, construction work can begin immediately when funding is approved.

We are also standardising and streamlining the delivery phase of school building projects, to provide greater certainty and consistency for our suppliers.

This means fewer delays, faster delivery, and less back and forth with schools to finalise and plan their building and property improvement projects. It also helps us to reduce design, production and delivery costs, which frees up money that can be invested in other schools.

With B26-funded standardisation projects locked in and underway, planning work is already underway for Budget 2027 school growth and maintenance projects, where Standardisation will continue to be embedded as the default approach for all new school builds and significant property projects across Aotearoa.