The value of non-residential building consents hit an all time high last year, with consents issued for $5.9 billion of non-residential building work throughout the country, compared with $5.1 billion in 2014, $4.2 billion in 2013 and $3.9 billion in 2012, according to Statistics NZ.
Non-residential consents include commercial buildings such as shops, offices, hotels and industrial buildings and also community facilities such as schools, hospitals and recreational complexes.
Of the $5.9 billion of consents issued last year, $4.4 billion (75%) was for construction of new buildings and $1.5 billion (25%) was for additions and structural alteration work to existing buildings.
The growth of consents was driven mainly by projects in Auckland and Canterbury, both of which hit all time highs for the value of non-residential consents issued last year.
In Auckland the value of non-residential consents increased for the fifth straight year in a row to hit $1.8 billion, compared to $1.5 billion in 2014.
Of that $1.3 billion (71%) was for new buildings and $543 million (29%) was for additions and alterations to existing buildings.
In Canterbury consents were issued for $1.9 billion of non-residential building work, up from $1.5 billion in 2014.
Of that $1.6 billion (86%) was for new buildings and $264 million (14%) was for additions and alterations to existing buildings.
In the Wellington region the value of non-residential consents increased for the third year in a row to hit $499.7 million, but that remained below previous highs of $550.8 million in 2009, $534 million in 2007 and $571 million in 2005.
Building additions and alteration work had a much larger share of the market in Wellington due to the need to seismically strengthen many buildings and accounted for $212 million (42%) of non-residential consents, with new buildings making up 58% ($287 million).
Non-residential consents also hit an all time high in the Bay of Plenty last year, with consents worth $298 issued, compared to $204 million in 2014 and the previous all time high of $278 million in 2006.
In other major centres, non-residential consents rose for fourth year in a row in the Waikato to hit $430 million last year, but that was still below the $449 million issued in 2010, the $437 million issued in 2009, the $442 million issued in 2008 and the all time high of $549 million issued in 2005.
In Otago additions and alteration work also play a prominent role in the region's construction market.
Of the $276.9 million of non-residential consents issued in Otago last year, $109.5 million (40%) was for additions and alterations and $167.4 million (60%) was for new buildings.
The following table gives the break-down for the types of buildings consented in each quarter of last year in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Otago and Canterbury.
Notable features were huge increases the value of office and transport buildings, factories and educational buildings consented in Auckland in the fourth quarter of last year, while consents for retail premises showed less spectacular but steady growth throughout the year and consents for warehouses were largely flat.
In Canterbury the value of consents slumped in the fourth quarter to less than half what it was in the third quarter, with the value of consents for most types of buildings also well down in the fourth quarter compared to earlier in the year.
| Value of Non-residential Building Consents Issued Q1 2015 - Q4 2015 | ||||
| Includes new buildings plus alteration work to existing buildings | ||||
| Auckland Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 8,250,000 | 33,719,000 | 3,732,000 | 4,884,533 |
| Hospitals, other health buildings | 16,833,860 | 41,340,158 | 31,485,989 | 23,002,250 |
| Education buildings | 47,189,612 | 51,187,264 | 55,736,573 | 105,858,118 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 42,466,135 | 24,051,500 | 24,570,656 | 19,820,841 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 47,484,295 | 66,892,899 | 79,887,339 | 107,569,415 |
| Office and transport buildings | 86,948,272 | 52,728,712 | 83,143,359 | 209,356,959 |
| Storage buildings | 60,739,664 | 76,346,877 | 70,814,029 | 72,948,948 |
| Factories/ industrial buildings | 6,674,498 | 37,616,399 | 16,460,998 | 60,870,755 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 345,767,550 | 418,696,721 | 393,436,326 | 660,693,676 |
| Waikato Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 1,440,000 | 523,000 | 3,826,000 | 5,265,800 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 8,905,589 | 3,947,000 | 2,978,500 | 11,647,990 |
| Education buildings | 11,843,246 | 16,009,700 | 24,607,376 | 9,134,775 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 2,682,027 | 11,936,100 | 21,996,169 | 10,380,138 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 8,337,500 | 21,226,200 | 34,493,835 | 11,627,465 |
| Office/public transport buildings | 9,924,176 | 16,796,451 | 7,136,000 | 13,023,989 |
| Storage buildings | 4,614,962 | 7,962,691 | 4,747,967 | 6,767,470 |
| Factories/industrial buildings | 17,879,582 | 30,382,625 | 11,915,883 | 14,914,889 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 77,411,063 | 125,439,825 | 123,744,053 | 103,007,965 |
| Bay of Plenty Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 294,000 | 1,959,250 | 109,000 | 285,000 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 2,884,710 | 10,366,000 | 970,000 | 10,839,000 |
| Education buildings | 8,688,584 | 3,044,650 | 14,426,395 | 5,811,000 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 3,192,313 | 604,000 | 3,270,600 | 5,529,900 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 2,296,950 | 18,940,300 | 39,346,500 | 14,058,470 |
| Office/public transport buildings | 7,626,756 | 14,257,645 | 3,833,500 | 5,752,360 |
| Storage buildings | 19,381,510 | 16,940,000 | 17,211,570 | 18,129,927 |
| Factories/industrial buildings | 9,452,000 | 19,959,632 | 3,447,000 | 4,204,500 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 55,488,883 | 89,128,153 | 85,140,369 | 67,922,920 |
| Wellington Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 1,582,537 | 2,837,507 | 2,091,000 | 2,197,600 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 12,360,000 | 25,459,400 | 14,728,473 | 5,657,000 |
| Education buildings | 13,687,629 | 32,813,828 | 109,680,500 | 21,595,818 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 3,360,994 | 4,876,600 | 3,161,650 | 12,019,500 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 6,675,900 | 8,238,000 | 12,216,400 | 8,091,000 |
| Office/public transport buildings | 44,199,250 | 26,854,012 | 18,951,672 | 74,074,320 |
| Storage buildings | 730,922 | 7,594,930 | 602,499 | 2,402,799 |
| Factories/ industrial buildings | 2,977,000 | 3,822,600 | 3,004,668 | 4,312,517 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 87,591,418 | 114,647,986 | 165,690,361 | 131,772,762 |
| Canterbury Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 4,293,200 | 9,442,800 | 7,158,000 | 7,838,846 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 50,237,522 | 77,222,967 | 105,995,640 | 41,299,514 |
| Education buildings | 86,470,379 | 37,280,500 | 236,950,671 | 59,467,334 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 37,408,267 | 45,651,317 | 44,321,068 | 17,274,080 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 19,609,968 | 32,052,250 | 80,202,400 | 38,291,770 |
| Office/public transport buildings | 129,812,318 | 108,109,735 | 165,189,483 | 73,322,805 |
| Storage buildings | 76,130,652 | 37,613,353 | 57,530,928 | 40,147,600 |
| Factories/ industrial buildings | 33,648,344 | 16,956,289 | 13,784,054 | 40,422,740 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 459,237,153 | 387,382,624 | 729,406,347 | 326,218,866 |
| Otago Region $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 4,040,000 | 9,265,000 | 7,603,600 | 11,114,355 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 2,020,000 | 822,000 | 7,584,300 | 6,913,000 |
| Education buildings | 5,599,900 | 512,000 | 7,243,700 | 41,372,000 |
| Social, cultural buildings | 5,313,443 | 12,344,500 | 683,000 | 1,695,900 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 6,506,000 | 8,472,125 | 29,815,500 | 10,086,000 |
| Office/public transport buildings | 4,626,500 | 7,107,970 | 7,284,385 | 12,739,000 |
| Storage buildings | 2,310,545 | 4,849,063 | 10,855,800 | 4,282,000 |
| Factories/industrial buildings | 5,537,500 | 7,847,500 | 2,894,799 | 5,826,240 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 42,799,518 | 56,277,589 | 80,730,543 | 97,107,095 |
| All New Zealand $ | ||||
| Q1 2015 | Q2 2015 | Q3 2015 | Q4 2015 | |
| Hotels, motels etc | 23,818,755 | 62,056,857 | 27,675,418 | 38,282,161 |
| Hospitals/other health buildings | 100,165,381 | 162,922,543 | 172,511,902 | 113,614,014 |
| Education buildings | 198,354,615 | 161,129,941 | 475,353,729 | 268,054,961 |
| Social, cultural, buildings | 118,491,679 | 116,041,517 | 119,336,413 | 87,691,046 |
| Shops, restaurants, and bars | 106,274,875 | 174,185,274 | 292,517,024 | 210,591,711 |
| Office and transport buildings | 298,400,184 | 240,652,457 | 302,602,662 | 402,740,249 |
| Storage buildings | 186,870,605 | 166,537,061 | 185,638,023 | 173,477,385 |
| Factories/industrial buildings | 115,043,561 | 165,570,521 | 72,796,268 | 155,643,745 |
| Total non-residential buildings | 1,249,678,581 | 1,359,460,146 | 1,744,069,482 | 1,565,788,505 |
| Source: Statistics NZ | ||||
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