Built Heritage | Hamilton City Council

Built heritage refers to individual or groups of buildings, monuments or structures that have a connection to our history. Built heritage includes both publicly and privately owned structures all across Hamilton including churches, bridges, schools, monuments, houses and commercial buildings. They help tell our story, give a sense of community and history and we want to keep them protected for future generations of Hamiltonians.

Currently, there are 122 structures listed in the District Plan. It's been over a decade since we last assessed our city's built heritage and we know that not all our elements are listed in the Hamilton District Plan. In 2021 we completed a citywide assessment of over 560 structures and from this work we're proposing an additional 182 structures be added to the District Plan.

Click here to see a map that shows where the historic heritage areas are that we're proposing be added to our District Plan.

How have the built heritage structures been identified and assessed?

Using Council files that identify previously listed buildings and structures, information gathered through other district Plan Changes and the 1997 Waikato Heritage Report we identified over 560 potential built heritage items in Hamilton. Working with heritage experts from WSP New Zealand, who were possible completed site visits, these were assessed against the following qualities

Archaeological
Architectural
Cultural
Historic
Scientific
Technical

Supporting information

Plan Change 9 Initial list of potential Built Heritage Items

xlsx 44 KB

Architecture General Research Project Alice Morris

pdf 4.9 MB

Thematic Review of the History of Hamilton DRAFT

pdf 30 MB

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What does it mean if my property is listed as having built heritage structure/s on it

If your property is listed in the District Plan as having a built heritage structure on it, there will be restrictions on the types of modifications you can do to the exterior of the structure and your property. These rules don't cover minor works such as small maintenance and repairs. The rules also do not include interior changes, however, if you're looking to do work that involves additions, alterations, removal, relocation or demolition you will need to get resource consent from Council before you begin.

The below table provides some typical examples of what works would require resource consent and what wouldn't. Noting some of these requirements are already in the District Plan.

Example:	Requirements:
Exterior alterations or additions to any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Demolition of any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Accessory buildings or new buildings within any scheduled site	Consent required
Erecting, constructing or extending any structure or fence on a site	Consent required
Removal off site of any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Relocation on site of any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Reconstruction and reinstatement of any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Signs on any scheduled structures or buildings	Consent required
Internal alterations of any scheduled structures or buildings	No consent required
Maintenance and repair of scheduled structures or buildings that can comply with certain standards	No consent required
Minor work on a site of any structure or building that can comply with certain standards	No consent required

If you are unsure whether your work requires a resource consent under the current District Plan, you can always contact our Duty Planner for general planning guidance enquiries. Please contact the duty planner weekdays 8am – 4.45pm Email: planning.guidance@hcc.govt.nz

My property was already listed as having built heritage on it, what's changing?

If your property was already listed as built heritage in the District Plan, the heritage protection of the building and/or structure will continue to apply. However, as part of the Plan Change, we have reviewed and refined the existing provisions and rules so they provide better and clearer protection of these listed buildings and structures.