If you‘re planning a large, complex, or unusual building project, you can request a pre-application meeting before submitting your building consent application.

A pre-application meeting gives you the opportunity to discuss your proposal with Council, identify potential issues early, and better understand your building consent requirements.

We recommend a meeting for projects involving:

  • Staged building consents.
  • Complex fire engineering design
  • Significant or unusual structural designs.
  • Large commercial or multi-use developments.
  • Projects that include alternative solutions to demonstrate compliance with the building code.

Note:

  • Projects involving specific engineered design may need specialist input (SI) from an engineer to assess and provide comments on compliance with relevant building code requirements.
  • Refer to our Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) information for complex fire engineering designs including C/VM2 designs or alternative solutions.

Before you apply

Before requesting a pre-application meeting, make sure you’re using the most appropriate advise pathway for your project.

  • General enquiries - If you have a simple question or are in the early stages of planning, contact our Duty Commercial Building Processor:
    • In many cases, a phone call or email is all that's needed to answer your questions and help you move forward.

  • Specialist approvals - Some projects require approvals from other organisations before you apply for a building consent. It is your responsibility to contact the relevant organisation directly.

Approval needed

Contact

Planning and land use

Selwyn District Council Planning

Water, sewer and trade waste

Selwyn Water Limited

Surface water

Selwyn District Council Development Engineering

Discharge consents

Environment Canterbury (ECAN)

Infrastructure and servicing

Selwyn District Council Development Engineering

Roading and site access

Selwyn District Council Transportation

  • Pre-application meeting
  • We will review your request and advise:
    • Whether a meeting has been approved.
    • Responses to your questions by email.
    • If you should contact another organisation.

    We aim to respond within 5 to 8 working days.

Benefits of a pre-application meeting

A pre-application meeting can help you:

  • Understand key building code requirements.
  • Identify potential issues early.
  • Clarify documentation requirements.
  • Discuss consent staging and inspection requirements.
  • Reduce the risk of processing delays.

While a pre-application meeting does not guarantee consent approval, it can help improve the quality and completeness of your application.

Pre-application meetings can be held:

  • In person.
  • Online.
  • As a combination of both.

Before you submit a request

To help us assess your request, please ensure you:

  • Engage relevant stakeholders (Planner, Development Engineer, Selwyn Water, ECAN).
  • Prepare preliminary design documentation.
  • Identify specific technical questions you would like answered.

We may not be able to assess your requests if not enough information is provided.

What to expect

If your meeting request is approved:

  • The meeting will focus on building consent matters.
  • You must provide an agenda.
  • Any follow-up actions and responsibilities will be agreed during the meeting.

When a building pre-application meeting is not required

A pre-application meeting is generally not required for:

  • General process guidance.
  • Planning or zoning queries.
  • Water, wastewater or trade waste discussions.
  • ECan approvals.
  • Minor or straightforward building work.

In these situations, contacting the relevant team directly is usually the quickest and most effective option.

Fees and charges for building consent pre-application meeting

This time includes:

  • Reviewing information provided.
  • Preliminary discussions and meeting attendance.
  • Administration.
  • Related emails and phone calls.

Any time spent after the first hour, and all costs associated with external consultants, will be charged as stated on the building fee schedule.

Where a building consent application is summitted, these costs will be included with your future building consent invoice.

If no building consent application is submitted within a reasonable time, a separate invoice will be issued.