Offsite manufactured buildings for new spaces at schools

Learn about the process when you are to receive or need to procure an offsite manufactured building (OMB), and the following maintenance requirements and conditions of keeping a building on your school site.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Inform
  • Boards
  • Principals and tumuaki
Boards considering an OMB will find key information in this guidance that details the procurement, upkeep, and conditions they must follow. 

Watch videos about OMBs

Using offsite manufactured buildings to provide more space

The Ministry provides new spaces to support a range of uses from roll growth, building replacement to emergency response. One of our delivery methodologies is to construct new space away from the school ‘off site’.

They are:

  • built to the same standard used for permanent school buildings, and suitable as long-term space solutions.
  • installed with minimum disruption to your school.
  • suitable for many different sites.
  • built in a factory, increasing the quality aspects and safety of the build.

OMBs are built for flexibility, so in addition to classrooms can be designed for teaching, staff and student support spaces, as well as:

  • science laboratories
  • food technology
  • dance and drama studios
  • toilets and changing rooms
  • administration and reception areas
  • libraries

All OMBs are built to a high-quality standard. They:

  • incorporate information and communication technology.
  • are durable, being designed to specific site conditions including wind, seismic activity, snow and coastal exposure.
  • meet the weathertightness requirements.

Designing learning environments

Designing quality learning space guidelines

Weathertightness design requirements for new school buildings

Students in classroom.

Offsite manufactured buildings toolkit for schools

This toolkit details the roles and responsibilities, building types, colour and layout options, and delivery information.

Procuring an OMB

The procurement process for getting an OMB purchased and delivered to your school is a lot quicker than for a bespoke new build project.

This is because the Ministry has already completed the procurement for the design and the contractors are engaged ready to deliver.

Having our providers build your classroom in a factory is also quicker and safer than building on the school site.

Students on classroom deck.

Procurement phases

There are 3 phases in procuring an OMB:

  1. Project initiation: Funding is confirmed and your school is included in the demand forecast.
  2. Project planning: Your project is planned and your school signs the conditions of use.
  3. Project delivery: Your classroom is designed, constructed, delivered and installed. There's a post-occupancy evaluation after the accommodation period.

NTP indicative process diagram [PDF, 101 KB]

Phase 1: Project initiation

Confirming the funding for your new space project

You must already have funding for new space confirmed before we'll consider an OMB for your school. This funding may come from redevelopment programmes such as weathertightness remediation or the Northern classroom delivery programme.

Weathertightness remediation

Funding may also come from other redevelopment programmes such as:

Christchurch schools renewal programme

New teaching space funding

For non-teaching spaces:

School Property Guide (SPG) funding

For replacement buildings:

5 Year Agreement (5YA) funding 

Note: You apply for loose furniture and equipment funding through the Furniture and equipment grant.

Furniture and equipment for state schools

Once your funding is confirmed and added to the asset management application (K2), contact your property advisor to see if an offsite manufactured building is right for your school.

Applying for an offsite manufactured building

Your property advisor will contact the Capital Works team to begin the project approval process. This includes looking at your school with you to decide whether an OMB can go on the site.

If your site is suitable, your property advisor will do a submission for this.

Approving the submission

If your project is approved, you and your property advisor will be advised in writing and project planning will start.

Including your school in the delivery programme

Once approved, your school’s OMB is included in our demand forecast — we use the forecast to help us plan for and meet demand for OMBs.

Phase 2: Project planning

The OMB team will send you a briefing pack which contains:

  • an outline of the design process and options for you to consider before your design meeting with the provider
  • layout plans to consider
  • conditions of use to sign which includes your property management roles (including maintenance requirements), our management role, and the provider’s role. Note: this will soon be available for you to download.

You must sign the conditions of use document and return it to your property advisor. We then issue a work order for the provider to start your OMB project.

Phase 3: Project delivery

Sign the contract and start the project

After the project design is approved, we sign a works order with the provider, which is a notice to start the next stage of the project. The provider then applies for building consents.

Receive the construction management plan

The provider issues you with a construction management plan which includes:

  • a site-specific health and safety plan
  • risk register
  • quality plan
  • traffic management plan
  • security plan
  • a site condition report.

Carry out site works not associated with the OMB

You must carry out and pay for any of the work not directly associated with delivering the OMB. Talk to your property advisor about the funding streams to pay for this work.

Prepare and deliver the OMB onsite

Before the provider can deliver your OMB, allow them access to your school so they can:

  • construct foundations
  • install service connections directly linked to the OMB.

The provider delivers the OMB to your school site, installs it on its foundations and connects all of the services.

Complete the project

Once all the project work is complete the provider submits the practical completion documents to the contract management office for approval.

Your OMB is ready for use

Once our office gives approval, your OMB is ready to be occupied. The provider then gives you:

  • training advice and manuals for the systems in the OMB, such as mechanical and ventilation systems
  • a maintenance plan for general cleaning and planned maintenance for you to follow.

Notify us of any defects within 6 months

The defects liability period is 6 months. If you find faults during this time, you can contact the NTP team and the provider then fixes the faults. A defect means any error, omission, shrinkage, undue deterioration or other fault associated with the building.

Complete our evaluation form

After 4 months — the accommodation period — we send you a simple post-occupancy evaluation document to complete. This helps us improve our product and services.

Maintaining your OMBs

You're responsible for maintaining your buildings and we provide maintenance funding through your property maintenance grant.

Property maintenance grant

Make sure you plan your maintenance in line with the provider’s maintenance and cleaning plan, so you’re covered by warranties and keep your buildings in their best condition.

Outside view of classroom.

Upgrading your OMBs

You can pay for upgrades to the buildings using 5YA funding or board funding, such as fundraising or grants.

Board funding for property projects

In both cases:

  • you need our written agreement
  • we retain ownership of the building and have the right to relocate it if it’s no longer needed at your school – this includes any upgrades paid for with board funding.

Providing upgrades to the OMB without written agreement from the Ministry may affect the warranties and guarantees.

OMB repairs

During the defects period, you'll need to contact us immediately if your building requires repairs from damage to:

  • the weathertightness envelope of the building
  • any part of the building’s structure
  • HVAC systems, or
  • the electrical system.

During the term of the contract the provider is responsible for any repair work required to the items above. Works carried out by other contractors may affect the warranties and guarantees within the contract.

Using offsite manufactured buildings as temporary accommodation

If you’re using an OMB as temporary accommodation while work on other buildings is under way, the provider will remove it when you no longer need it.

Temporary accommodation situations also include:

  • emergency responses
  • roll growth that’s unlikely to be sustained
  • replacement buildings at schools with declining rolls.

We’ll discuss with you how long you need the OMB for in temporary situations. This helps us with forecasting and providing OMBs for future host schools that need short-term classroom solutions.

Students outside classroom.

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