About the National Facility Design, Advisory and Assurance team

The National Facility Design, Advisory and Assurance team (NFDAA) provide direction, design resources and support to help designers to deliver fit-for-purpose and affordable healthcare facilities.

The NFDAA team is helping Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora establish a more standardised approach to health facility briefing, design and delivery.

We do this by actively developing and reviewing design guidance and running design assurance reviews through the design process.

The team is the relationship holder with the Australasian Health Infrastructure Alliance (AHIA) who develop and review the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines (AusHFG). The NFDAA work to involve New Zealand subject matter experts and consumers, to be sure that the AusHFG are appropriate for the New Zealand context.

The NFDAA team also provides ongoing education and training to build health design capability and inform the sector about the value of good quality design in healthcare.

Design Guidance and Assurance Framework

Te Pae Tata sets out the need for design standards for Health NZ facilities, with design standards based on the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines.

The Design Guidance and Assurance Framework outlines the objectives and processes for developing and implementing design guidance, including assurance processes to support implementation.

Design Guidance and Assurance Framework - FAQ PDF

Design Guidance

The AusHFG form the basis of standardised health facility design in Aotearoa New Zealand. Any NZ-specific considerations are outlined in the Design Guidance Notes that augment the AusHFG. NZ specific guidance can be found at:

The NZ Design Guidance Notes (DGNs) provide design guidance relevant to the NZ context, which is not already included in the AusHFG. The NZ DGNs should be read in conjunction with the AusHFG.

AHIA review the AusHFG on a regular basis. As elements of the AusHFG come up for review, content from the NZ DGNs will be shared with AHIA project team for possible inclusion in the AusHFG.

Participation in the AusHFG review cycle is essential to ensure that NZ specific content is considered and included in the documents where possible. The NFDAA team work to involve New Zealand subject matter experts in AHIA guidance drafting and review processes.

How to get involved

Guidance is updated every 3-5 years. If you would like to comment on guidance that is coming up for review, or would like to be added to our database to receive a review copy, please email facility.design@tewhatuora.govt.nz.

 

Upcoming reviews

Topic

Approximate timeframe for initial review

Oral Health

July – December 2024

Adult Acute Inpatient Unit

July – December 2024

Sterilizing Services and Endoscopy Reprocessing

July – December 2024

Neonatal

July – December 2024

NZDGN

July – December 2024

Renal Dialysis

July – December 2024

Ambulatory Care and Community Health

July – December 2024

Mental Health - Intensive Care

July – January 2025

 

Subscribe to get alerts when the AHIA updates any AusHFG guidance.

Subscribe to get alerts when New Zealand specific guidance is updated.

Design Assurance

Supporting the design industry to deliver high quality, consistent, timely, innovative and affordable health projects for our country and communities are a key objective for the team.

Health NZ health infrastructure projects should expect to have design assurance reviews completed at each of the following milestones (see Design Guidance and Assurance Framework Appendix 1 to see what type of review is right for your project):

  • Test of Fit Design
  • Concept Design
  • Preliminary Design
  • Developed Design​​​​​​​


The following key areas are reviewed; 

  • Australasian Health Facility Guidelines – application, alignment, tracking and transparency
  • NZ Design Guidance Notes – application of principles and specific design considerations
  • Architecture – review of designed response and proposal
  • Schedule of accommodation – structure, content and tracking systems
  • Standardisation – application and management of standard components 

Supporting information, tools and templates: In order to aid understanding about what is looked at during the design assurance process, we have developed a suite of supporting guidance, templates and/or exemplars for each of the key project documentation.

 

Technical Guidance Note: Development guidance for a specific guidance document. 

 

Summary Statement: This advises what we would expect to see within each of the documents specifically relating to a design assurance review. The summary statement will outline why, when, and what we expect to see.

 

Template: Some of the documents we expect to see have a template available to use. While these are not mandated, it is recommended.

 

Exemplar: These provide some additional support about what we are expecting within key documents.

Completing the Design Assurance template

Completing the Design Assurance template

Design Assurance - Detailed Deliverable List

Design Assurance - Detailed Deliverable List

Functional Design Brief (FDB)

Functional Design Brief (FDB)

Masterplan report

Masterplan report

Design Report

Design Report

Schedule of Accommodation

Schedule of Accommodation

Room Data Sheet

Room Data Sheet

Room Layout Sheet

Room Layout Sheet

Peer Review

Peer Review

Standard room

Standard room

Contact Us

To contact the National Facility Design, Advisory and Assurance team email facility.design@tewhatuora.govt.nz

If you want to keep up to date with design guidance reviews and releases, click here to be added to our mailing list.