COVID19 response
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga has made health and safety adjustments at our offices and properties to minimise the risk of infection to our visitors, members and staff. Check in here to find out more about how different parts of our business are responding to the situation.
Our offices and most properties are reopening to visitors following the announcement by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, that the country is now at Alert Level 1. We continue to have contact tracing registers in place, and applying other governmental recommendations for physical distancing, deliveries and other personal and workplace hygiene.
The advice provided by the Ministry of Health is the best way for our community to protect ourselves.
For up-to-date information and advice on the pandemic please visit
Heritage New Zealand office and property reopening
All Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga offices are open to the public subject to contact tracing and hygiene procedures. Please arrange any on-site or face-to-face meetings with staff in advance.
The properties that Heritage New Zealand cares for started to reopen from Wednesday 27 May. Opening is wbeing rolled out over the next month as processes are put in place to protect you and our staff. Some properties will remain closed as is normal for the Winter season. Check our blog post or directly with the property you may wish to visit before you go. We've missed you!
We are open for enquiries regarding future venue hire for your special occasions.
The Online Shop has reopened. Deliveries may take longer due to the backlog of parcels moving around the country.
Looking after our people... and you
Contact tracing registers, additional cleaning and hygiene procedures, monitoring of group sizes and other governmental advice regarding COVID-19 response applies. We ask you to be patient if some services may not be available as promptly as usual. We appreciate your understanding - the health of all of us continues to be the most important thing right now.
National State of Emergency and Archaeological Authorities
The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 makes it unlawful for any person to modify or destroy, or cause to be modified or destroyed, the whole or any part of an archaeological site without the prior authority of Heritage New Zealand.
Our archaeologists and pouarahi are working remotely and the authority process is running as normal at present. Currently we are in 'working days' as defined by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014. Read more about how the normal authority process is working under lockdown.
When a civil defence, local or national state of emergency is notified such as has occurred with the national COVID-19 response, a simplified and streamlined process - the Emergency Archaeological Authority process - may apply to quickly consider work that affects archaeological sites under Subpart 3 Emergency Authorities, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014.
COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020
If you believe that an emergency archaeological authority is needed, please first discuss the circumstances for which the emergency authority is needed with either:
- Vanessa Tanner, Manager Archaeology phone 027 6089537, or
- Frank van der Heijden, Senior Archaeologist 027 6889741.
Please note the emergency process will be available ONLY for work needed on archaeological sites to enable essential businesses to continue to be provided or maintained. Please see www.covid19.govt.nz
Find out more about the emergency archaeological authority process during the COVID-19 response.
Membership administration
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga members are our financial and moral lifeblood and your support of our work through membership and donations is crucial. Now, more than ever, we need your support and understanding.
As you might expect, the processing plus delivery time for standard membership (new and renewing), magazine-only subscriptions and donations at this time is impacted by the country's response to COVID-19 and is a little slower than usual. We are able to manage most administrative processes associated with our membership programme although mail delivery is impacted by the backlog of mail being cleared by postal and courier services.
Soft copies of many of our publications are available in the Resources section of our website.
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