Consent support for architects and designers
You design buildings; you don't want to run consent applications. But the moment a design trips a district plan rule, your client looks at you, and if the consent stalls, in their head it's your project that's stalled. CiviEase works alongside Christchurch architects and designers as the consent paperwork arm of your practice: when your client's project hits a consent trigger, we handle the AEE, the lodgement, the council questions and the Section 92 responses. You keep the design relationship and the client. We take the paperwork.
A design just tripped a district plan rule?
Send it through. We'll review it and respond with a clear scope, usually within one working day.
The referral moment
It usually arrives the same way. The design is nearly there, and then:
- The addition breaches the height-to-boundary recession plane.
- Site coverage creeps over the zone limit.
- The client's minor dwelling or second unit triggers residential rules, and note the trap in the 2026 changes: since 15 January 2026 small dwellings up to 70 m² no longer need a building consent, but resource consent triggers remain, setbacks, site coverage, overlays and flood management areas can all still pull a granny flat into the resource consent system. Clients read the headlines and assume "no consent at all."
- The medium-density or multi-unit project needs a parking and access assessment the client never budgeted for.
None of these are design failures. They're just the district plan doing what district plans do. But someone has to translate the rule into an application, and it doesn't have to be you at 8pm trying to write an AEE between concept packages. With Christchurch's residential intensification rules pushing more multi-unit and second-dwelling projects through council, that translation work is only getting more frequent, and more specialised.
What we do for your projects
- AEE preparation and consent lodgement: we write the Assessment of Environmental Effects around your design, lodge it with Christchurch City Council (or Selwyn, Waimakariri, ECan where relevant), and carry it through to decision.
- Parking and access assessments: parking compliance against the district plan, vehicle access and crossing assessments, and traffic input where council asks for it.
- Section 92 and RFI responses: when council comes back with questions, we draft the response, pulling design detail from you only where we genuinely can't answer it ourselves.
- Early-look reviews: send us a concept before the client falls in love with it, and we'll flag the consent triggers while the design can still move.
How the referral works
This is the part designers care about most, so let's be direct:
- You keep the client. We work to you, or alongside you with the client copied in: whichever suits the relationship. We don't redesign anything and we don't sell around you.
- We make you look prepared, not bypassed. You hand your client a clear answer on the consent pathway, what triggers apply, roughly what it costs, how long it takes, instead of a shrug and a planner's business card.
- Fixed-scope quotes. Your client knows the consent paperwork cost before committing, so it sits cleanly inside the project budget you've built.
What to tell your clients about cost and time
The question you'll get is "what's this going to add?" Honest numbers help you hold the project together. For a simple non-notified consent in Christchurch, indicative combined costs typically run $3,000–$8,000 in consultant/planning fees plus $2,000–$5,000 in council fees, and CCC processing runs 20–35 working days in the real world once the application is complete: Selwyn and Waimakariri run longer, 25–45 working days. Our guide on what to tell clients about consent cost breaks this down in language you can forward to a client as-is.
If your client's project is actually a development, subdivision, townhouses, infill, point them (and their feasibility spreadsheet) at our consent support for developers page. Designers are one of six audiences we support; who we help shows the rest.
Client asking what the consent will add?
Send it through. We'll review it and respond with a clear scope, usually within one working day.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a resource consent? How do I know if a project needs one?
A project needs resource consent when it breaches a rule in the district plan: common residential triggers are height-to-boundary, site coverage, setbacks, parking shortfalls, overlays and work in flood management areas. The zoning and the plan maps answer the question, but reading them isn't quick if you don't do it daily. Send us the site address and the concept and we'll tell you what, if anything, is triggered.
What is a Section 92 request and what do I do when I get one?
It's council formally asking for more information under Section 92 of the RMA, and the processing clock stops until it's answered. Most s92s on design-led projects ask for things like clarified plans, parking dimensions or effects assessments. We draft the response so it answers the question completely the first time; a partial answer just earns a second letter and more dead weeks.
Do I need consent for a new driveway or vehicle crossing in Christchurch?
Two separate questions. The crossing, where the driveway meets the road, sits in the road corridor, so building it needs a Corridor Access Request, usually a TMP, and a CCC inspection. Whether the driveway and access design needs resource consent depends on district plan access, manoeuvring and parking rules. We handle both sides: the consent assessment and the corridor approvals.
Paperwork to pavement.
Send us what you have. We'll take it from there.