School building warrant of fitness

In New Zealand, all buildings with a ‘specified system’ – like a fire safety system or automatic doors and windows, for example – must get a BWOF from their local council every year. Specified systems help ensure buildings, including school buildings, are healthy and safe to be in. 

We use Argest to manage BWOFs, and the property checks required to get one, for all state schools. Their website has information about what needs to be checked and what to expect.

Information for schools – Argest NZopen_in_new

The BWOF certificate must be displayed in a visible place where anyone coming into the building can see it. It’s a legal requirement under the following legislation.

Building Act 2004 – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, Evacuation Schemes) Regulations 2018 – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new

Someone at your school must complete a list of property checks regularly. This is a requirement for your school's BWOF.

Checks you must do

We use Argest to manage BWOF checks and compliance repairs. Argest will send your school a compliance manual each year. This has a list of property checks in it – some must be done daily, and others monthly.

At the end of every month, you must report on these checks to Argest via their online portal. These records will be checked every year as part of your BWOF.

Argest will assign you a username and password for the portal – contact them if you need help with it.

School portal login – Argestopen_in_new

Compliance checks

Argest sub-contractors will visit your school every month or few weeks to do compliance checks. If they find anything that needs to be repaired, they’ll help you arrange this.

Repairs must be paid for out of your existing funds, unless you’re replacing:

• fire alarm panel batteries
• emergency light bulbs, or
• exit signs.

These are funded as part of Argest's Work Requirement Notice (WRN) Assistance Programme.

Annual inspections

Argest will arrange your school's annual BWOF inspection 6 weeks before the due date. They’ll engage with an Independent Qualified Person (IQP) to complete the inspection.

If the IQP doesn’t find any issues, they’ll send the results of the inspection to Argest, your local council, and your school. You’ll then receive your new BWOF certificate. It must be:

• printed in colour
• framed
• signed, and
• displayed in a prominent place, such as a foyer.

Lift repairs and maintenance

If you have any issues with your school lifts, let your School Property Advisor know, then contact Argest directly on 0800 ARGEST (0800 274 378) or via teammoe@argest.com. Due to building warrant of fitness requirements, you must notify Argest of all lift issues. They'll organise a specialist lift contractor to assess the issue.

If any issues are found during an inspection, you’ll be given a Work Requirement Notice (WRN). This sets out what work needs to be done to meet compliance and keep your school safe. You must do this work as soon as possible.

You can’t get your BWOF if you have an outstanding WRN. You may also be fined by your council or temporarily closed by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) until the building is safe to occupy.

If the council does issue you with a fine, send it to Argest. They’ll pay it to prevent it being escalated further. They’ll review the reason for the fine to determine who's responsible and invoice them accordingly. Alternatively, if you decide the school is responsible for paying the fine, you can choose to pay the fine directly.

Work Requirement Notice (WRN) Assistance Programme

Argest's Work Requirement Notice (WRN) Assistance Programme can help your school meet compliance. The programme reduces the burden of building compliance on schools and reduces the cost of extra callouts.

All schools are automatically enrolled in the WRN Assistance Programme. Argest project manages the WRN remediation work for you, including procurement. This is a free service for schools.

As a part of the programme, they’ll also replace any fire alarm panel batteries, emergency lightbulbs and exit signs that need to be updated. These will be replaced at the next site inspection by NZSPA’s supplier at no cost to your school.

Argest has more information about WRNs and the service on their website.

Services for schools – Argestopen_in_new

To pay for any work needed to meet compliance, you must use your:

• property maintenance grant (PMG) funding for maintenance work
• 5 Year Agreement (5YA) funding for capital upgrades.

We will not fund or approve capital projects if you have outstanding WRNs to resolve. If you don’t have any PMG or 5YA funding available to meet your compliance requirements, contact your regional property advisor.

If you need help or more information, first contact your school property advisor, then Argest and the Property BWOF team.

You can email Argest at teammoe@argest.com and the BWOF team at propertybwof@schoolproperty.govt.nz.