Standards and Requirements for School Property Design

Access all Ministry standards and some relevant legal requirements for the planning and design of property projects.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Required

  • Architects and Designers
  • Project Managers
  • Contractors
  • Boards
  • Engineers
  • Proprietors
  • Principals and Tumuaki

All school property projects must comply with our design standards and requirements, all relevant legal requirements and should follow best practice. School Boards must ensure that any consultant or contractor they use for a project is aware of these requirements.

Summary table of Ministry design standards

This summary of design standards is a complete list of the design standards and guidance that we have published. The table also shows where there could be legal requirements to consider and where there are mandatory Ministry requirements.

Summary table key:

  • Link icon with two interlocked circles.  webpage link
  • Download icon with arrow pointing down.  webpage link with document downloads
Design Standard Legal or Building Code Consideration Includes Mandatory Ministry Requirements
Principal Design Standards Document  
 Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Designing Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand              Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Technical Indoor Environment Design Standards – Designing Quality Learning Spaces (DQLS)   
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  DQLS Acoustics             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  DQLS Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort              Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  DQLS Lighting and Visual Comfort              Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Technical Design Standards  
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Structural and Geotechnical Requirements             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Weathertightness design             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Fire safety design             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  ICT infrastructure standards             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Electrical work in schools             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Download icon with arrow pointing down. Whole-of-life carbon assessment               Tick icon.
Reference Designs
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  School teaching block reference designs             Tick icon.  
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Reference Designs: Toilets             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Download icon with arrow pointing down.  Reference Designs: Universal Bathroom             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Design Guidance  
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Accessible property             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Bathroom and toilet design               Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Bilingual signs    
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Chromated copper arsenate treated timber             Tick icon.  
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Earthquake resilience of school buildings             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Energy efficient design               Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Fencing             Tick icon.  
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Floor coverings    
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Glass installed in schools             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Hoists for students with learning support needs               Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Joinery and hardware    
Link icon with two interlocked circles. Roofing materials             Tick icon.             Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Security design               Tick icon.
Link icon with two interlocked circles.  Shade and shelter at schools    

Purpose of Design Standards

Schools are valuable, long-lived social assets. They have given access to education, and inspiration, for generations of ākonga to learn and succeed. We must sustain and enhance the quality of schools for current and future generations. This requires us to be effective stewards of school property.

The purpose of our design standards is to ensure quality and consistent school property outcomes for the enduring benefit of all learners and their whanau, teachers, school leaders and local community. We do this by specifically focusing on standards where the New Zealand Building Code (Building Code) or other legislated requirements are silent or not fit-for-purpose for schools.

Scope and application

For new build projects our standards are mandatory. For maintenance and refurbishments, we encourage designers to meet our standards as near as reasonably practicable, provided there is a tangible benefit for learners or asset management.

More information about scoping maintenance and property upgrade projects can be found within our specific design standards and on our property maintenance webpages.

Design Standards, Guidance and Project Requirements

We have a suite of Property Design Standards, Technical Standards and Design Guidance to follow when planning property work at schools. We use the term ‘Design Standards’ to refer to the whole suite. We also have a range of Reference Designs to help with the planning and design of new spaces and design process requirements to follow when doing this. The differences are outlined below:

Design Standards – outline the design principles and spatial requirements that school designs must meet to ensure they align with wider Ministry objectives.

Technical Standards – focus on specific technical elements or aspects of school property and are usually requirements that aim to standardise outcomes for schools, or are above Building Code where necessary to ensure schools are fit-for-purpose.

Reference Designs – easily repeatable designs for teaching blocks and areas within a school that have specific requirements. For example, toilets, changing spaces and designs to support accessibility. They can be easily customised to suit school sites, educational needs, or existing buildings and have been shown to deliver good outcomes for learners and the Ministry as asset owners. Reference designs documents are often accompanied with best-practice design guidance.

Design Guidance – provides helpful insights to support fit-for-purpose learning environments and best practice for school property.

Design Assurance – we undertake independent, high-level reviews of school development projects at various design stages. Find more about our Design Assurance and Review processes on our webpage.

Legal requirements

All building work at schools must comply with all relevant and current legislation including, but not limited to:

The Building Code has 'compliance' documents that set out:

  • Objectives, functional requirements and performance criteria for various elements of a building required to make a building safe for the people who use it and their neighbours.
  • Acceptable and alternative solutions for designing and constructing buildings to comply with the Building Code.

For more information on Building Code compliance requirements, go to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment website(external link).

Giving your feedback 

We want to constantly improve the content and usability of our documentation. If anything in these documents seems to be ambiguous, inaccurate or in conflict with other Ministry documents, you can contact us through School.Design@education.govt.nz. Your feedback will help us to maintain these design standards as a valuable resource for those involved in the design of our schools. 

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