Resource Consent Planning for Developers · New Zealand
For developers, investors and commercial clients with bigger projects: developments of three or more units, subdivisions, and commercial change of use. We test feasibility before you commit, set the consent strategy, write the assessment of environmental effects, answer council's information requests and check the conditions. We work desk-first with your council and visit the site where the project needs it.
36 years of planning experience: 21 years inside Hamilton City Council and 15 years leading Bilimoria Consulting. Stage 1 feasibility from $2,000 + GST.
Clients who need a senior planner on a project where the consent decides whether the numbers work. The situations we expect most:
Each has its own detailed page. The rules on those pages are council-specific; the method is not.
3+ unit developments
Yield, titles, design, servicing and notification risk for three or more homes on one site. The detailed page is written for Hamilton’s rules; the way we test a site is the same wherever it is.
Multi-unit development consentSubdivisions
Which council and plan apply, whether water and wastewater capacity will hold the project up, and how staging affects cash flow. Our Pokeno and Tuakau page shows that approach on a Waikato District Council site.
Subdivision outside Hamilton: Pokeno and TuakauCommercial change of use
Activity status in the zone, parking, noise and hours, and what the existing building allows, before you sign a lease or start a fit-out. The detailed page is written for Hamilton; the questions a council asks are much the same elsewhere.
Commercial change of use consentDistrict plans, planning maps and hazard information are published online, and applications and council correspondence are handled in writing. Most of the planning work on a development (reading the plan for the address, the feasibility, the assessment of environmental effects, the specialist briefs, the dealings with council) is done at the desk, wherever the site is.
Some things need eyes on the ground: the neighbours, the slope, the access, how the street actually works. We visit the site where the proposal needs it, and we tell you at Stage 1 whether it does. We coordinate the specialists the application needs, often including a local surveyor and engineers who know the council's networks.
We are straight about what carries across. Every council has its own district plan, and Gulab's council career was at Hamilton City Council. We do not claim inside knowledge of any other council. What carries across is how councils assess applications: activity status, the effects assessment, notification decisions, requests for further information and conditions. We read your district plan from first principles for your address, and on bigger projects we usually recommend your council's pre-application advice where it offers it.
From the first look at a site to the conditions on the decision. You can bring us in at any point, including partway through an application someone else started.
What the district plan allows on the address, the constraints most likely to limit units, lots or the proposed use, servicing and access questions, and the consents needed. Done before you buy, sign a lease or pay for a full design.
Activity status, which consents to lodge and whether to bundle them, staging, notification risk, and whether a pre-application meeting with council is worth it.
The AEE and planning assessment against the district plan objectives, policies and standards, written to answer the questions a processing planner will ask.
Briefing and lining up surveying, engineering, geotechnical, traffic, acoustic, urban design and other inputs so the evidence arrives in the application, not after it.
Working out what council is really asking, which points need specialist evidence and which need a clearer planning argument, and answering them in one go.
Checking draft conditions against the design, budget and programme where council shares them before a decision, and section 127 applications to change conditions after consent.
Parliament passed the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill on 22 September 2026, replacing the Resource Management Act after 35 years. Nothing changes overnight. The transition is expected to begin about a month after Royal assent, and existing RMA plans, consents and processes continue during it, with some changes to how consent applications are assessed. The Government intends the full new system to be operating by 2030.
For a larger development that is a real planning question, not background reading. A project can take months to design and lodge, and some changes to how applications are assessed are expected early in the transition, even while existing district plans stay in place. We tell you at Stage 1 where your project is likely to sit, what could change before you lodge, and whether that argues for moving sooner or waiting.
We work in clear stages. Stage 1 is always the starting point, and it is designed to be done before you buy a site, sign a lease or pay for a full design.
Stage 2 is quoted in writing before it starts, once Stage 1 has confirmed the site issues and the specialist inputs likely to be needed.
From $2,000 + GST
District plan provisions for the address, zone and activity status, the constraints that limit units, lots or the proposed use, servicing and access, notification risk, where the project sits in the RMA transition, whether a site visit is needed, and a written recommendation on the pathway.
Where it adds value
Many councils offer pre-application meetings or written advice, usually charged. We prepare the pack and the questions so the advice you pay for answers the issues that matter, and turn it into a list of what the application needs to show.
Quoted after Stage 1
Land use, subdivision or change of use consent, or a combination lodged together. AEE, coordination of specialists, section 92 responses, conditions review, and managing council through to a decision. Fee depends on the scale and complexity of the project.
Gulab Bilimoria leads our development work. He spent 21 years inside Hamilton City Council as Planning Guidance Manager, then 15 years leading Bilimoria Consulting. That is 36 years of planning experience across council and consulting, and it means we know how councils assess applications because we did it ourselves.
On a bigger project that shows up early. Our job is to find the constraints before council does: the activity status that changes the whole pathway, the servicing question, the hazard on part of the site, the access that costs you units or lots, the staging that decides whether the numbers work. If a site does not stack up, we will tell you that at Stage 1.
Public case studies from our projects portfolio, decided by Christchurch City Council and Waikato District Council.
118-lot subdivision · Christchurch City Council
A Non-Complying Activity subdivision on HAIL-flagged land near a recycling facility. We managed the whole consent process: NES contamination consent, setbacks and landscape buffers for reverse sensitivity, and iwi engagement built into the design.
Read the case studyStaged subdivision · Waikato District Council
22 lots in four stages in a Medium Density Residential Zone 2. Staging let Stage 1 titles settle before later infrastructure was funded, and a defence of non-compliant vehicle crossings protected several lots.
Read the case studyDiscretionary land use · Waikato District Council
A 150-child centre consented inside an industrial zone, with acoustic, traffic and stormwater evidence answering council’s concerns before lodging.
Read the case studyYes. Our office is in Hamilton, but district plans, planning maps and hazard information are published online, and applications and council correspondence are handled in writing. That means most of the planning work (reading the plan for the address, the feasibility, the assessment of environmental effects and the dealings with council) is done at the desk, wherever the site is. We visit the site where the proposal needs it, and we tell you at Stage 1 whether it does. Our published case studies include a 118-lot subdivision decided by Christchurch City Council and projects decided by Waikato District Council.
Every council has its own district plan, and Gulab's council career was at Hamilton City Council, not yours. We do not claim inside knowledge of other councils. What carries across is how councils assess applications: activity status, the assessment of environmental effects, notification decisions, requests for further information and conditions. We read your district plan from first principles for your address, and on bigger projects we usually recommend your council's pre-application advice where it offers it.
Stage 1 starts from $2,000 + GST. It covers the district plan provisions that apply to the address, the zone and activity status, the standards and constraints most likely to limit the number of units or lots or the proposed use, servicing and access questions, the specialist inputs we expect, the notification risk, where the project is likely to sit in the RMA transition, and a written recommendation on the pathway. Stage 2 fees depend on the scale of the project and the specialist inputs needed, and are quoted after Stage 1.
Yes, and it is worth moving quickly, because the processing clock stops while council waits for the information. We read the request against the application and the district plan, work out which points need specialist evidence and which need a clearer planning argument, and prepare a response that answers the question council actually asked. We can do this on an application someone else prepared.
Parliament passed the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill on 22 September 2026, replacing the Resource Management Act. Nothing changes overnight. The transition is expected to begin about a month after Royal assent, existing RMA plans, consents and processes continue during it, and the Government intends the full new system to be operating by 2030. A larger development can take months to design and lodge, so timing matters. We tell you at Stage 1 where your project is likely to sit in the transition and what that means for the consent strategy.
Yes. Conditions decide what a consent costs to implement: staging, engineering standards, bonds, reporting and timing. Where council shares draft conditions before a decision, that is the moment to check them against the design, the budget and the programme, and to raise anything unworkable. After consent, a section 127 application can change conditions where circumstances have changed.
It is written for bigger projects: developments of three or more units, subdivisions, and commercial change of use. For a single dwelling, a minor dwelling or a boundary breach in Hamilton or the Waikato, our resource consent page is the better starting point.
Background reading: Multi-unit development consent · Commercial change of use · Pokeno and Tuakau subdivision · Resource consent in Hamilton · All planning services
Tell us where the site is, which council it is in if you know, and what you are thinking of doing. We will come back to you with the right next step, the likely pathway, and a quote for Stage 1.
Stage 1 feasibility from $2,000 + GST. Stage 2 consent application quoted after Stage 1.
Prefer the standard enquiry route? Contact page.
