Network News - May 2009

What’s new – the Noticeboard

Reminder of boards’ obligations relating to design standards

Schools are often approached by suppliers of building products recommending their products to the school.

These suppliers may claim that their products comply with the Ministry’s design standards, however, the responsibility for ensuring compliance rests with boards of trustees.

The Design Standards can be found in Section 6 of the Property Management Handbook. Section 6 clearly identifies the legal requirements, mandatory Ministry requirements and best practice recommendations for school buildings, covering things like fire design, glazing, roofing, translucent sheeting, special needs access etc. See also Section 6 Supporting documents.

Boards can usually rely on their project manager to have a good understanding of the technical side of things but if the supplier approaches the school directly the school must seek its own assurance that the products comply with the design standards.

If you are approached by a supplier claiming their products meet Ministry standards, and you are not clear about this after reading the Design Standards, ask your project manager or local Ministry office for advice.

Routine care of school property

Preventative maintenance

One of the day-to-day tasks at a school is to carry out routine maintenance on the buildings and facilities. All buildings need attention to stop them becoming run down and developing problems that can turn into the need for major repairs or replacement work.

This will also help to save the school money by not having to dip into capital budgets, leaving this funding available for more exciting projects.

Manufacturers’ warranties

Many building products have to be inspected and maintained to manufacturers' standards in order for them to keep their warranties. Failing to maintain systems, such as roofing or wall claddings, may otherwise void these warranties.

For example, regular maintenance of the joins and external cladding is essential to ensure water does not penetrate the exterior and cause damage to the timber framing, as well as to keep the warranties valid.

Who does this work?

Generally this work is carried out by the school caretaker and covered by the caretaker’s wages. However, some routine preventative maintenance work will come under the category of ‘maintenance work’ to be paid for with property maintenance grant (PMG) funding. For example painting and minor replacement.

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Examples of preventative maintenance work

The following list shows a sample of tasks that are in the preventative maintenance category. It also shows which funding source to use. It is not an exhaustive list.

Further information

See the Consumerbuild website which has information about home maintenance that is generally applicable to all buildings.

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Caretaker houses

Caretaker housing is found almost exclusively at secondary schools. They are like any other school building in that the school receives property maintenance funding for them at the same level as other school buildings.

Maintenance responsibilities

Schools must maintain their caretaker houses to the same standard as other school buildings. It is important that boards spend the maintenance funding on the house to prevent them becoming run-down.

Capital upgrades

If any major upgrade or capital work is required, the board should approach its local Ministry office to discuss a submission for Ministry approval. The Ministry will look at whether the house has been adequately maintained. If it has been allowed to become too run-down, and the costs of bringing the house up to standard are too high, demolition may be considered.

Landlord responsibilities

The board has the following management responsibilities relating to their caretaker house.

• Boards act as landlords with respect to arranging tenancies, setting and collecting rents, and paying rates.
• The rent must be submitted to the Ministry’s housing contractor who in turn remits this to the Ministry each month. The housing contractor is DTZ, PO Box 1545, Wellington. Phone 0800 800 885 or 04 472 3529. Email: wellington@dtz.co.nz [no spam].
• Caretaker houses may be tenanted by caretakers, teachers or private tenants. The board sets the rent but different rent rates apply in each case:
• Private tenants should be paying full market rent.
• Teacher tenants must pay 75% of the current market rent for the area.
• The caretaker negotiates the rent with the board in their employment contract. Rents for caretakers houses have historically   been very low in recognition that the caretaker often has to live on site to keep the school site secure. IRD has recently ruled that a rent lower than market rate is an accommodation benefit which is part of the caretaker’s remuneration package and therefore PAYE tax must be paid on the benefit.

Disposal

Boards are encouraged to release caretaker housing for disposal if they are no longer required. To put a house into disposal contact Trish Gavin: Ministry of Education, Property Management Group, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140. Phone: 04 463 8280; email trish.gavin@minedu.govt.nz [no spam].

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Frequently asked questions

Boiler disposal

Q. Our school has installed heat pumps in all rooms, which means we no longer need our boiler. Can we sell off the boiler and retain the proceeds?
A. The boiler is a fixed asset therefore the school is able to sell it and apply the proceeds to buy a replacement asset. It does not have to go through the Ministry’s disposal processes that apply to buildings.

Q. Our school has a boiler to dispose of which has no resale value. What funding can we use to dispose of it?
A. The cost of disposing a fixed asset, such as a boiler, must be a charge to the replacement project (eg installing a new heating system). The removal costs should be included in the scope of work. If removal is not part of a replacement project then operational funds must be used to pay disposal costs.

Net/gross area

Q. In a multi-story building does stairwell/lift area count as gross area on the ground floor only?
A. No, stairwell/lift area counts as gross area on each floor.

Q. In a multi-story building does building void/atrium/open area count as gross area on the ground floor only?
A. Yes, because there is no actual area on any other floor. Building void/atrium/open space on the ground floor extending through the building to upper levels should only count as gross area once.

Teacher Housing

Q. Who are the current housing contract managers?
A. DTZ New Zealand, based in Wellington.

Q. What is the contact number for the housing management contractors?
A. 0800 800 885

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New on the web

Surplus School Properties - updated for May 2009.

Security In Your School - new page.

10YPP Checklist - checklist has been updated.

Project Management Forms - project management form has been updated.

Consultants Billboard - all billboards updated with new listings.

What to look out for

2009 Property Forums

For more information on the forums see the Regional Forums page.