RITS

Participating Councils

RITS Document v2b Consultation Page

What is the RITS?

The RITS (Regional Infrastructure Technical Specifications) is the engineering specifications managed by Co-Lab on behalf of the councils in the Waikato.

Nine of the shareholding councils currently use the RITS and two other councils are considering joining. 

It was developed in 2016/2017 and adopted in 2018 by the member councils and is based on the former Hamilton ITS. This is the first update since 2018, although a number of improvements have taken place in the meantime. 

The RITS is widely used by engineering consultants, contractors and council staff. It’s a means of compliance document for resource consent conditions issued by councils to developers, and their agents. It’s also used as the technical specification for some council contracts. It’s not a document that the general public use or come across.

The Purpose of This Page

The purpose of this page is to invite feedback from key stakeholders on RITS version 2b.

Key Changes to the RITS Document

  1. Recognise that Rotorua Lakes Council is now included
  2. Section 2, Earthworks and Geotechnical Requirements, was re-written to include geothermal and to then enable Rotorua Lakes Council to join
  3. The introduction has additional background on the significance of the Waikato River and the importance of water
  4. The RITS was completely retyped so that the wording, structure and style is now more consistent, as v1 had some sections written by different authors
  5. Must is now used consistently rather than shall, will, should as well as must
  6. The Acceptable Products list is no longer in the main document so it can be updated more easily and regularly
  7. The drawings are no longer in the main document but are hyperlinked and this makes it easier to navigate to and from them. Higher quality drawings can be used now
  8. The stormwater section related to climate change requirements has been updated
  9. The use of NZ Vertical Datum 2016 has now been mandated by LINZ and replaces the 1953 Moturiki Datum
  10. A number of minor errors and typos were addressed
  11. Some enhanced wording for clarity and additional detail is provided
  12. Updates to other document links, references to standards and other key documents
  13. A number of sections were updated to reflect the latest engineering and landscaping thinking
  14. The drawings were reviewed and updated along with cross references to other drawings

Next Steps

  • The consultation period will start 12 November and close 5pm, 31 January 2025. 
  • Submissions will be reviewed and actioned by Co-Lab. The draft RITS v2b will then be updated if required.
  • The updated draft will be shared with the member council’s staff for final comment before being finalised. Any further feedback will be incorporated into RITS v2 and it will then be sent to each member council to be adopted. 
  • We intend to complete this process by late February 2025, dependent on the number and complexity of any submissions.

Documents for Review

We have two documents to download for review:

1 – the RITS clean version

2 – the RITS document with tracked changes on, so you can see where changes are being made.

You can use either, or both, to refer back to when filling out the Feedback Form (below).

Note: the yellow highlighted sections in the documents (below) are the parts that we are proposing changes to.

RITS Clean Document
RITS Tracked Changes Document

Feedback Form

Our feedback form is now open. We invite comments from anyone that uses the current RITS Document.

Submission Feedback Form

FAQ’s

The RITS is a ‘means of compliance’ with councils’ resource consent conditions that are issued as part of a development.
Note that the RITS can also be the general technical specification for council contracts.

RITS v2 is expected to be adopted by the member councils late-February 2025 and will be published soon after that.

Use the submission form button above, and follow the directions.

The submissions will be actioned by the RITS Co-ordinator. The RITS Co-ordinator is supported by staff from the member councils  

The RITS review was started in 2022 but was delayed due to insufficient resources. It took considerable time to receive and then action the large number of submissions from member councils. 

It’s been programmed in for two years after adoption of version 2.

Co-Lab is looking into converting RITS v2 to an e-Document for ease of viewing.

The RITS was produced in 2016/17 and is based on the Hamilton City Council’s ITS. It was adopted in 2018 by 8 councils and then Rotorua Lakes Council in 2020. 

The RITS is owned by Co-Lab, (Waikato Local Authority Shared Services) a Council Controlled Organisation on behalf of the Shareholding Councils.

IMPORTANT - RITS Announcement

LINZ has now made it mandatory for all councils to move from Moturiki Datum1953 (and others) to New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016 (NZVD2016) from 1 July 2024. So on 1 July 2024 all as-builts and data sheets will be required to be to NZVD2016. Note that some councils in the Waikato have already made this change.
For more information please visit LINZ NZVD2016.

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