Relocated buildings are often considered to be a cheaper or cost-effective alternative to taking on a new build.

This can be true if planned and managed well, however there are often misunderstandings about the consenting process, legislative requirements, associated costs, and people doing the work themselves.

If you’re considering relocating a building it is important to understand your obligations and what is required to make your project successful.

Things you need to consider include

  • legal status of the site
  • covenants of subdivision
  • district plan rules
  • restricted building work and owner builder exemption
  • compliance of any second hand materials
  • change of use – eg old church into a home
  • rewiring if built before 1970
  • insulation if renting out
  • alterations needed as part of relocation.

Specifically for new transportable building you need to be aware

  • that the building needs to be designed to withstand wind, snow and earthquake loads appropriate to the site your building will be located on
  • you will need to obtain a building consent for the ‘transportable building’ for the siting, foundation, access and drainage on the new site.
  • when you lodge your building consent application for the new site, you need to provide a copy of the code compliance certificate (CCC) issued by the building consent authority for the construction of the transportable building – this may be from a different BCA to the one issuing the building consent for building siting etc.

You’ll find our publication on relocated buildings [PDF, 2117 KB] helpful to get you started.

There is also a handy checklist [PDF, 81 KB] to help you gather all of the information that you need to provide to us when you submit your building consent application.