Industrial insulated panel design · Warehouses · Cool stores · NZ
Industrial insulated panel design in New Zealand covers warehouses, cool stores, freezers and other commercial envelopes built from metal-faced panels, the Kingspan and Bondor systems of steel skins bonded to an insulating core. We design those buildings for NZ seismic loading and fire compliance, and take them through consent by CodeMark or an Alternative Solution, working from Palmerston North alongside two of the country's largest panel installers. We are also regularly called in to fix panel designs that were drawn elsewhere and stalled.
Why people come to us for this
Most NZ design firms treat insulated panels as the supplier's problem. We do not. A large part of what we do is industrial and commercial panel design, and we have built the relationships and technical knowledge to do it properly for New Zealand conditions.
Both of New Zealand's largest insulated panel installers are based in Palmerston North. We work alongside them on warehouse, cool store and industrial envelope projects, so the design reflects how these systems actually get built on site.
A steady part of the work is sorting out panel drawings, often from Australian firms, that miss New Zealand lateral loading or fire compliance. We are regularly brought in once a warehouse or cool store project has stalled on site.
We use CodeMark-certified panel systems where they fit, an Alternative Solution where they do not, and engineer the structure and fixings to AS/NZS 1170.5, with documentation councils here expect to see.
Yes, when the building is engineered for it. Metal-faced insulated panels (steel skins bonded to a PIR, EPS or mineral wool core) are not the structure on their own. They are fixed to a primary frame, usually a steel portal frame, so the earthquake design is really about that frame and the way the panels are held onto it.
That means the connections do the heavy lifting. They have to carry the panels' own weight and face loads, and cope with the building flexing in a quake, all designed to AS/NZS 1170.5 earthquake actions for the site's seismic zone. On our projects the frame and the panel fixings are specified and signed off by a CPEng structural engineer. A panel envelope is only as good as what holds it on.
Most of the panels we work with hold a New Zealand CodeMarkcertificate. CodeMark is the country's deemed-to-comply product scheme, and a council must accept a current certificate as evidence of Building Code compliance, provided the panel is used within the scope the certificate sets out. For a lot of standard warehouse, cool store and façade work, that is a clean path through consent.
The catch is the scope. When a building steps outside it (unusual spans, a specific fire separation, or a use the certificate does not cover), you are back to an Alternative Solution justified with specific engineering. Knowing which pathway a project actually sits on, and getting the documentation right for it, is where consents are won or lost. It is also exactly the experience a generic firm is missing on industrial panel work.
Because the insulating core matters as much as the steel. PIR and EPS cores are combustible insulating materials under the Building Code, and fire is where panel buildings have historically gone wrong. Under Acceptable Solution C/AS1, a wall or ceiling system containing foamed plastic has to achieve a Material Group Number of 3 or less; many PIR panels test better than that, to Group 1-S. Where a panel forms a fire separation it may also need a fire resistance rating that a standard certificate does not cover.
For cool stores and food processing, insurers frequently want an FM Global-approved core on top of Building Code compliance. So core selection is a genuine design decision: PIR for its thermal performance and char behaviour, mineral wool where non-combustibility is the priority, EPS where the budget and use suit it, or a fire-tested core such as Bondor's XFLAM. Getting that call right early keeps both the council and the insurer on side.
This is the most common problem we are asked to fix, and it comes down to two things. New Zealand sits on an active plate boundary, so the earthquake loads on a warehouse or cool store are far higher here than most Australian designs assume under AS 1170.4, so the primary frame and the panel fixings can be genuinely under-designed for an NZ site.
There is a paperwork gap too. An Australian CodeMark or BCA approval does not carry across the Tasman: the building still needs NZ CodeMark evidence or an NZ Alternative Solution, and the fire compliance pathway here is different again. The result is a design that may be sound for where it was drawn, yet fails consent or underperforms once it is built in New Zealand. We are frequently brought in to redraw exactly this kind of work through our building design remediation service.
What we design
Our current insulated panel work is industrial and commercial, using metal-faced systems from Kingspan and Bondor. We have designed residential panel work in the past, but that is not where we focus today.
Insulated panel warehouses and light industrial buildings where structural, thermal and fire requirements have to resolve together. Buildability and erection sequencing matter as much as the consent set.
Industrial building design →Temperature-controlled panel envelopes where joint integrity, core selection, refrigeration loads and insurer fire requirements are part of the design from day one. Scott acts as lead LBP designer, coordinating structural, refrigeration, fire and panel specialists as the project needs.
Commercial building design →Frame and fixing design to AS/NZS 1170.5, core selection and fire detailing to the NZBC C clauses, and review of industrial designs that have not accounted for NZ lateral loading or fire performance.
The standards behind the work
We do not expect you to take any of this on faith. The seismic, fire and consent claims on this page come from the official Building Code guidance and the panel manufacturers' own New Zealand certification. Structural and earthquake loads are designed to the AS/NZS 1170 series, including AS/NZS 1170.5 for earthquake actions.
The deemed-to-comply scheme most Kingspan and Bondor roof and wall panels are certified under. A council must accept a current CodeMark certificate when the panel is used within its stated scope.
Sets the Material Group Number and combustible-insulation requirements that govern PIR and EPS panel cores. The official MBIE source behind the fire section on this page.
The compliance pathway a panel building falls back on when it sits outside the CodeMark certificate scope, such as unusual spans, specific fire separations, or an unusual use.
Common questions
Whether you are starting a new industrial insulated panel envelope or trying to rescue a design that is stuck at consent, tell us what you are working with. There is no cost to start the conversation, and we will be straight with you about what it needs.