Christchurch City Council

Christchurch City Council - Industrial Zone Planning Rules

The below guidance is our knowledge of the rules and regulations and is provided to assist you in your assessment and early planning but does not constitute official or legal advice.

When building an Industrial or Commercial building within an Industrial Zone in the Christchurch District there are some key rules to follow to make sure you comply with to avoid requiring a Resource Consent.

Christchurch has 3 different zones within the Industrial Zone umbrella, all with varying rules.

• Industrial General Zone
• Industrial Heavy Zone
• Industrial Park Zone

To help you understand the requirements in each area I have broken down the key permitted activities and rules below for each different zone.

Note: There are Area specific rules that may also apply to your project, the XL Structural Architectural Team are available for guidance in the rules of the District Plan.

Industrial General Zone

Permitted Activities include:

• Industrial, warehouse and distribution, technology, service, trade and industry training, trade and yard based suppliers, service stations, second-hand goods outlets,public transport, gymnasiums, food and beverage outlets, emergency service facilities, parking lots/buildings, community corrections facility, and commercial film/video production.
• Ancillary retail, office or preschool activities have specific requirements to apply to be allowed as permitted activities.

If your business falls within these activities it will be a permitted activity with Council. If your business operates outside of these categories you will likely require resource consent to build in this zone, if you are unsure the XL Structural Architectural team will be able to help you confirm.

Height and Setbacks

Industrial General has a maximum height allowance of 15 metres if building within 20 metres of a Residential Zone.

Minimum boundary setbacks are generally 1.5 metres unless

• Fronting an arterial road or opposite residential zone shall be 3.0 metres
• Buildings, balconies/decks on sites adjacent to railway lines shall be 4.0 metres from the rail corridor boundary

There are recession planes specific to individual sites to adhere to if your site adjoins a Residential Zone, the XL Structural Architectural Team will be able to help you confirm.

Industrial Heavy Zone

Permitted Activities include;

• Industrial, heavy industrial, warehouse and distribution, high technology industrial, service, trade and industry training, food and beverage outlets, service stations, public transport, emergency service facilities, parking lots/buildings, gymnasiums, poultry hatchery, bulk fuel supply infrastructure, community correction facility, and commercial film/video production
• ancillary retail or office activities have specific requirements to apply to be allowed as permitted activities.

If your business falls within these activities it will be a permitted activity with Council. If your business operates outside of these categories you will likely require resource consent to build in this zone, if you are unsure the XL Structural Architectural team will be able to help you confirm.

Height and Setbacks

Industrial Heavy has a maximum height allowance of 15 metres if building within 20 metres of a Residential Zone.

Minimum boundary setbacks are generally 1.5 metres unless

• Fronting an arterial road or opposite residential zone shall be 3.0 metres
• Buildings, balconies/decks on sites adjacent to railway lines shall be 4.0 metres from the rail corridor boundary

There are recession planes specific to individual sites to adhere to if your site adjoins a Residential Zone, the XL Structural Architectural Team will be able to help you confirm.

Industrial Park Zone

Permitted Activities include;

• Industrial, warehouse and distribution, high technology industrial, service industry, trade and industry training, food and beverage outlets, service stations, public transport, emergency service facilities, gymnasiums, pre-school facilities (with conditions), parking lots/buildings, community correction facility, and commercial film/video production
• ancillary retail or office activities have specific requirements to apply to be allowed as permitted activities.

If your business falls within these activities it will be a permitted activity with Council. If your business operates outside of these categories you will likely require resource consent to build in this zone, if you are unsure the XL Structural Architectural team will be able to help you confirm.

Height and Setbacks

Industrial Park Zone has a maximum height allowance of 15 metres with fencing to the road boundary maximum 2.0 metres high.

Minimum building setbacks are generally 6.0 metres to road boundaries except for

• ancillary offices which shall be 1.5 metres
• service station canopies shall be 3.0 metres
• sites with 2 or more road boundaries shall have 1.5 metres to one boundary and 6.0 metres on any other boundary.
• Buildings, balconies/decks on sites adjacent to railway lines shall be 4.0 metres from the rail corridor boundary

Note: There are Area specific requirements in the Industrial Park Zone, the XL Structural Architectural Team will be able to confirm if these apply to your project.

Site Coverage

Maximum building coverage in the Industrial Park Zone is 50%.

Other rules applicable to ALL industrial zones in Christchurch

HAIL and contaminated land

From experience XL is aware a lot of industrial land has been developed on contaminated or HAIL land. Christchurch District Plan has rules and policies in place for contaminated land.

XL Structural will be able to assist you with your project to ensure you are not breaching these requirements.

Carparking and Landscaping

Christchurch District Plan has rules and policies in place for the various Zones for car parking and landscaping. If providing car parking you will still need to comply with NZS4121:2001 and provide 1 accessible car park per 1-20 spaces.

It is also important to consider the surrounding environment and where your staff working within your new building will park if limited spaces are provided.

There are also minimum dimensions for car parks depending on the layout you choose to use on your site, along with turning circle and road width requirements. XL can work through the best car park layout for your site with you.

These are the main rules which your building needs to comply with to avoid needing a resource consent, it is important to understand there may be further rules to comply with. Christchurch District Plan can be challenging to navigate, we would recommend reaching out to the XL Structural team who can conduct a preliminary planning review for your project.

You can find the full Christchurch District Plan here