Building Location & Setout Certificates
Every building consent involving new structures needs to have the location confirmed.
The scope will vary depending on the complexity of work, its location, planning rules and the methods available to confirm the location.
A building location certificate (BLC) may not be necessary during construction if suitable plans and the following information is provided
- The site and level plan for the building consent has a clearly marked finished floor level (FFL) point with stated datum site benchmarks, by a clearly identified Licensed Cadastral Surveyor or Registered Professional Surveyor
- The plans have sufficient external topographical levels and FFL for each floor and a floor to roof line dimension, including current and proposed ground levels
- The plans reference the level datum used - eg Lyttelton Vertical Datum 1937, Christchurch Drainage Datum, or New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016 (note from 1st July 2024 the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016 will be the only official vertical datum to be used for cadastral surveys)
- Designs are at least 100 mm above the minimum floor level and 200mm away from planning setbacks and recession plane lines.
Where your plans can’t provide the above, you may need to provide:
- a building location certificate [DOCX, 740 KB] at your first inspection to confirm that the building work is in the correct location, or
- a building setout certificate [DOCX, 740 KB] where the location of the building only needs to be confirmed in terms of minimum floor level and boundary setbacks.
The designer should provide supporting reasons with the application if an alternative method for confirming the building's location is proposed so that we can review this.