Heritage buildings are a valued feature in our community, enriching the environment while providing us with links to our past. Areas that retain their character are popular to live in and often attract higher property values.
Older houses, as with all buildings, need to be maintained or adapted to suit our everyday needs and changes in lifestyle. We need to be able to alter old houses so that they meet today’s standards without completely transforming their appearance or neighbourhood character.
We have special controls in our District Plan to guide appropriate change on heritage buildings and sites. Whether your home is protected depends upon the zoning and any special provisions that apply to your property.
If you are proposing to carry out work to your home and it is in a Residential 3 zone or if it is scheduled, it is likely you will need to apply for resource consent as well as building consent.
Our Good Solutions Guide for Heritage Buildings (PDF 908KB) is a non-statutory document that offers best practice ways of altering heritage houses. It should be used in conjunction with our brochure Valuing our built heritage (PDF 565KB) which discusses the city's District Plan requirements and provides advice about making resource consent applications for restoring, altering or removing heritage buildings.
For more information, please contact our Environmental Services helpdesk or heritage advisor phone (09) 486 8600.
