DOIA REQ 0019882 Response Letter.pdf

19 September 2025

Ref: DOIA-REQ-0019882-Le y Smith

Le y Smith
Email: [FYI request #32113 email]

Tēnā koe Le y Smith

Thank you for your email of 24 August 2025 to the Ministry of Business, Innova on and Employment
(MBIE) reques ng, under the Oﬃcial Informa on Act 1982 (the Act), the following informa on:

I am curious as to what rules there are around having a small personal or desk fan in workplaces
associated with your organisaƟon.

Are there any rules?  What are those rules? Who imposed those rules (for instance, senior
leadership team, leaders of a parƟcular site, building owner)?  Please provide as much detail as
possible.

Please also set out how many sites associated with your organisaƟon, and how many employees
normally located at those locaƟons.

MBIE’s Building User Guides are available to all staﬀ via the intranet and set out rules regarding the use of
personal fans. Please find below the relevant excerpt:

Personal heaters/fans
Personal heaters/fans are not permi ed in MBIE oﬃces for the following reasons.
•  The air conditioning system regulates the temperature using sensors within the premises.
•  Where a warm/cool spot is detected, the air conditioning will respond by providing extra
cooling/heating to reduce/increase the ambient temperature and potentially impacting
everyone’s comfort.
•  Our lease prohibits us from doing anything that will interfere with, or impair, the efficient
operation of the air conditioning system.
•  There is a potential fire hazard if a heaters/fans are left on.
•  It may impact or void the landlord’s insurance.
•  Small, personal USB powered fans are allowed but must be stored in your locker at the
end of each day.

As part of their MBIE staﬀ file, all employees have a designated oﬃce site recorded. The table below
details these sites, along with the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE)staﬀ associated with each loca on
as of 31 August 2025.

Region
Address
FTE

Northland 15
Porowini
Avenue
1.0
  Northland
Ngawha Innovation and Enterprise
3.0
  Northland
TEC, 144 Bank St, Whangarei
1.0
  Auckland Auckland
Airport
90.0
  Auckland
162 Victoria Street, Auckland
310.4
  Auckland
167b Victoria Street, Auckland
299.5
  Auckland
251 Massey Road, Auckland
83.3
  Auckland
3 Smythe Road, Auckland
195.5
  Auckland
50 Anzac Ave, Auckland
8.0
  Auckland
502 Rosebank Road, Auckland
9.0
  Auckland
Davies Ave/Wiri Station Rd, Auck
522.6
  Auckland Market
Services
Mt
Wellington
5.0
  Waikato
1 Melody Lane, Hamilton
3.0
  Waikato
430 Victoria Street, Hamilton
78.3
  Waikato
500 Victoria St, Hamilton
175.5
  Bay of Plenty
1254 Fenton Street, Rotorua
1.0
Bay of Plenty
727 Cameron Road, Tauranga
26.8
Gisborne 299
Gladstone Road, Gisborne
4.0
  Hawkes Bay
19 Bower Street, Napier
21.8
  Taranaki
214 Devon St East, New Plymouth
0.5
  Taranaki 49
Currie
Street, New Plymouth
6.8
  Manawatu-Wanganui 120a
Guyton
Street
1.0
  Manawatu-Wanganui
65 Rangitikei St, Palmerston Nth
163.0
  Wellington
1 Bowen Street, Wellington
222.4
  Wellington 110
Featherston St, Wellington
2.9
  Wellington
15 Stout Street, Wellington
1991.1
  Wellington 205-207
Victoria St, Wellington
15.6
  Wellington
25 The Terrace, Wellington
360.6
  Wellington 41
Johnston
Street,
Wellington
2.0
  Wellington 50
Customhouse Quay, Wellington
6.0
  Wellington
7 Heriot Drive, Wellington
315.1
  Nelson
322 Hardy Street, Nelson
0.8
  Nelson 38
Halifax
Street
10.6
  Canterbury Christchurch Airport
30.8
  Canterbury
145-161 Cashel St, Christchurch
775.8
  Canterbury 41
Coleridge St, Christchurch
5.0
  Canterbury 62
Worcester
Boulevard
3.7
  Otago Queenstown
Airport
3.8
  Otago
481 Moray Place, Dunedin
22.5
  Grand Total

5800.5

When referencing the table, please note:
•  Employees may not be present at their base oﬃce for a number of reasons, they may work from
home or from another MBIE loca on,
•  Where staﬀ members work fully remotely, they are s ll allocated a base oﬃce. Therefore, the
numbers for some loca ons may be larger than the number of staﬀ present in the oﬃce.
•  The table reflects permanent and fixed term New Zealand based employees only. Oﬀshore based
staﬀ, casual employees, contractors, and employees on extended leave are excluded from FTE
totals.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact [email address].

You have the right to seek an inves ga on and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Informa on
about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.

Nāku noa, nā

Kimberely Gilmore
AcƟng General Manager, Corporate Shared Services
Corporate and Digital Shared Services