This order, which comes into force on 23 October 2025, amends Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004. Schedule 1 is divided into 3 Parts and contains categories of building work for which a building consent is not required. Part 1 of Schedule 1 relates to general exempted building work. Part 3 of Schedule 1 relates to building work for which the design is carried out or reviewed by a chartered professional engineer.

Schedule 1 includes 4 types of single-storey detached buildings with a floor area not exceeding 30 square metres (such as a garden shed, sleep-out, or garage). The building consent exemption for each of those types of buildings is conditional on a number of matters, including a condition specifying how far the building must be located from any residential building or legal boundary (the setback condition). Currently, the setback condition specifies that the buildings must not be closer than the measure of their own height to any residential building or legal boundary.

This order removes the setback condition from Part 1 of Schedule 1 in relation to single-storey detached buildings not exceeding 10 square metres in floor area.

This order amends the setback condition in Parts 1 and 3 of Schedule 1 in relation to the other 3 types of single-storey detached building. The amended setback condition in each case is that the building must not be closer than 1 metre to any residential building or legal boundary.

This order also adds to the existing list of building consent exemptions in Schedule 1.

The first new exemption is added to Part 1 of Schedule 1. The new exemption applies to building work in connection with 1 or more solar panel arrays mounted on a roof that are each supported by a frame or structure attached to the roof with structural fixings if—

• the array does not, or, if there is more than 1, the arrays in total area do not, exceed 40 square metres in size; and

• either—

  • the design wind speeds (calculated using Verification Method B1/VM1) do not exceed 44 metres per second; or

  • the array is located in a wind zone no greater than high (as defined in Acceptable Solution B1/AS1).

The second new exemption is added to Part 3 of Schedule 1. That exemption applies to 1 or more solar panel arrays mounted on a roof that are each supported by a frame or structure attached to the roof with structural fixings if—

• the array exceeds, or, if there is more than 1 array, the arrays in total area exceed, 40 square metres; or

• the design wind speeds (calculated using Verification Method B1/VM1) exceed 44 metres per second.

The effect of the new exemptions is that a building consent will no longer be required for the types of building work described. However, the building work must still comply with the building code as well as the other conditions set out in section 42A(2) of the Building Act 2004.