It was still hoped the first- and second-floor administration areas would be finished by that date to enable staff to prepare for the start of the academic year, property services director Barry MacKay said this week.
The delays had not increased the $25 million budget for the building, he said.
Work began on the five-storey building on Leith Walk, near the Commerce Building, in July last year.
When completed, it will provide teaching, research, laboratory and office spaces.
It had always been intended the project would attempt to achieve five green star accreditation, Mr MacKay said.
Green star accreditation is a voluntary rating system developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council in partnership with the building industry.
Buildings are evaluated on their environmental attributes and performance in areas such as indoor air quality, the amount of construction waste reused or diverted from landfill, use of natural light, use of low energy lighting and use of environmentally-friendly paint, treated timbers and adhesive products.
The psychology project was originally in the green star "office" category, but Mr MacKay said the decision was made to switch to the newly-created "education" category because that category was more relevant to the building's use.
"The draft version of the rating tool for the education category was only released by the Green Building Council in December last year, with the final approved version released in May this year.
"The psychology project is now registered as a pilot project under this category and, as such, the particular requirements of the new category rating tool are having to be assessed and implemented into the contract as the works are progressing.
"This has led to some building services design amendments."
The amendments meant the commissioning of the building would be delayed by "a couple of weeks" but staff would be able to move in at the end of January as planned, he said.
