Frequently asked questions
What infrastructure is needed to develop a site in New Zealand?
Typically vehicle access and roading, stormwater management including primary and secondary flow paths and any detention or treatment devices, wastewater and water supply connections, and power and telecommunications. Each has to be designed to the relevant code of practice, approved by the network operator, and in many cases vested in the council once built. The capacity of the existing networks to accept the additional load is assessed early, because an upgrade requirement can change the feasibility of a development.
What is a soakage test and when is one needed?
A soakage test measures how readily the ground accepts water, and it is required where stormwater is to be disposed of to ground through soak pits, soakage trenches or similar devices rather than to a piped network. The test gives the infiltration rate used to size the device. It is common on sites without a stormwater connection, and results vary widely with the soil profile, so testing at the proposed device location and depth matters.
Who owns infrastructure once a development is complete?
Public infrastructure such as roads, public stormwater and wastewater networks is usually vested in the council or the relevant network operator once it has been built to the approved design, inspected and certified. Private infrastructure, including shared private drains, private ways and on-site devices, remains the responsibility of the owners, commonly under a consent notice or a shared maintenance arrangement recorded on the titles.