BRANZ - Building Research Funding Changes

You may be aware the the building industry is facing a significant period of reform. Many parts of the system are being reviewed, from consenting to liability, to how building research is funded. Chances are you have heard of BRANZ (Building Researcch Association of NZ) an independent, industry-owned research and testing organisation dedicated to improving New Zealand's building and construction industry. Products are often talked about as being 'BRANZ approved'.

Building Research Reform – What It Means

The Government is proposing a major change to how building research is funded in New Zealand. Currently, all building projects contribute to a dedicated research levy, which goes directly to BRANZ to fund independent, long-term building science.

Under the proposed reform:

The research levy will be removed

Funding will instead come from the existing building levy

Research funding will be centrally managed by Government

Funding will become contestable (open to universities, industry groups, etc.)

A portion will be ring-fenced for research, with multi-year funding commitments

The goal is to simplify the system, reduce duplication, and encourage more innovation and competition in research. However, there are some important considerations. Building research isn’t just short-term projects. It relies on long-term investment in facilities, testing capability, and specialist expertise. That’s how we get fire testing standards, structural and seismic performance data, weathertightness and durability knowledge. Tools councils and builders rely on every day.

The concern raised by BRANZ is that fully contestable funding can create uncertainty, which may make it harder to maintain this kind of long-term capability in a small market like New Zealand.

How this affects high end research (Like the New Fire Lab) depends on how the new system is implemented. That new $40M fire testing lab in Porirua is a perfect example of what’s at stake, a large-scale, specialised facility, built off stable, long-term levy funding, designed for decades of use, not short-term projects.

Under the new model if funding remains stable, ring-fenced, and long-term, facilities like this are still viable. If funding becomes short-term or uncertain, projects like this become much harder to justify and maintain.

The key tension is this:

Contestable funding = more innovation and competition

Stable funding = ability to build and maintain world-class facilities

You need both. But if the balance tips too far toward short-term competition, it risks reduced investment in big infrastructure, loss of specialist capability over time, more reliance on offshore testing (which doesn’t always suit NZ conditions).

The reform isn’t about whether building research continues, but how it’s funded. Done well, it could improve innovation and value. Done poorly, it risks slowly eroding the independent research capability that underpins safe, durable buildings in New Zealand.