Planning a school property project
Your school will need to complete some planning and administration tasks before work can start on a property project.
Your school's 10 Year Property Plan (10YPP) details the property projects planned for your school. The 10YPP is funded through 5 Year Agreement (5YA) funding.
For projects using funding other than 5YA funding, you must get our approval before you start planning for the project.
For urgent work required for safety reasons, contact your property advisor.
Develop a project brief
Start by writing a project brief that outlines the:
- scope of the work and the buildings affected
- timeframes, and
- budget.
Use the detail from your 10YPP for the project 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.
If your project requires building consent, you must use a professional project manager from our approved panel. We recommend using a professional project manager for any high value or complex work.
You may also need to engage consultants to help you with the design of the project, like an architect, engineer or quantity surveyor.
Hiring a project manager or administrator for a school-led property project
If you’ve already engaged a project manager for this work, they’ll help you write the brief.
Start a project file
Start a project file to collect all of your project documentation as early as possible. This file will include the 10YPP project summary and any other information related to the project, like:
- correspondence and emails
- procurement and project input information
- 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’s relevant and appropriate to the request (unless there’s a good reason to withhold it).
Official Information Act 1982 – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new
Set up the project control group
Your school board should appoint a project control group (PCG) at the beginning of the project. The control group oversees your building project. It’s likely to include:
- a project manager
- the principal
- the school board chair or other members of the board
- other representatives from the school community.
The project manager chairs the group. They’re responsible for managing:
- project delivery timeframes
- communication
- information sharing
- problem solving
- dispute management
- managing the budget and any variations.
The project manager could be someone from the school, or a professional project manager that you hire for the school.
School representatives are appointed by the board to represent the school's interest. They provide oversight on the project and monitor its progress. They may be:
- a member of the board, such as the principal
- a teaching staff member
- another school employee, such as the property manager
- a school community member who is actively involved in the school.
They don’t 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 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 you don’t have to wait for a full board meeting to get something approved.
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 one of whom is a board member.
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. Note that financial functions can only be delegated to the school representative.
Clause 8 of the Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020 covers delegations.
Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020 – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new
Design and consent requirements
You need written approval from NZSPA to local authorities to authorise any works that require consent and delegate authority to the school/project manager.
Your project must meet our design standards when planning a property project in a school.
Requirements for school design in New Zealand
Your project must meet the New Zealand building code, and you must get all required consents from the local council.
Council requirements for school-led property projects
Our construction advisory team will need to complete a building envelope assessment if your project is a new design, or alters the building envelope. Your project manager must submit a Building Envelope Assessment form.
Building envelope assessment process
School asset site plan specification
School asset site plans ensure we have up-to-date and accurate plans for managing the school's assets. They help us maintain consistent asset information for:
- future projects
- maintenance
- capitalisation
- depreciation, and
- insurance.
We’ve created a school asset site plan specification to use for 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.
Example 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.
Design fees release
For projects of $100,000 or more in value, you can apply for an advance before you begin the tender process, to pay for consultancy services and consent fees. You can request either up to 10% of the project value in advance, or the actual fees that will be incurred during the design process.
Send the completed form to the shared mailbox for your regional property office.
Procurements
You must follow our property procurement process throughout the project. You’ll need to create:
- a procurement plan
- a procurement recommendation report.
You’ll need to do this each time you make a procurement.
Submit the project forms for approval
Submit your project opening form and supporting documentation to us so we can approve the project and release funding. You can’t start work until you receive written approval for the project.
The project manager will complete the project forms, and the presiding board member or approved DFA will approve them.
You must complete the following tabs of the school-led project forms pack:
- Core Project Input Form
- Design Cert
- Draft School Building Financial Info
- invoice template (if not using school invoice).
You’ll also need to submit:
- conflict of interest declarations
- a procurement plan
- a building update form (if applicable)
- a school invoice.
Send the approved forms to the shared mailbox for your regional property office.
We use the forms to:
- release funding for projects
- track the project’s progress
- upload the data into our asset management system (Helios).
We pay invoices of up to 90% of project work and retain a 10% retention which is paid when you submit the paperwork to close the project. An additional 10% contingency is held in the project and not paid out unless unforeseen issues arise.
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, and blank boxes for updating.
- Download the form to complete it, then submit it to us with the opening project documents.
Related pages
-
Overview of the 10 Year Property Plan
The 10 Year Property Plan sets out the property work a school plans to complete over a 10-year timeframe. We appoint a consultant to work alongside both the school, and us, to prepare the plan.Read more -
Board ownership and funding for property projects
If your school wants to use board funding or community funding for a property project, you need to apply to us for consent first.Read more -
Conflicts of interest in property procurement
If you’re involved in a property procurement process for your school you must declare any conflicts of interest so they can be managed properly.Read more -
Managing the construction stage of a school property project
After we formally approve the project, construction can begin. You’ll need to manage safety, project finances, and any contract variations.Read more -
Closing a school-led project
Before closing a project, the project manager must do a final inspection, get council sign-off and submit closing paperwork to us.Read more