diff --git a/protos/common/block.go b/protos/common/block.go
index 96635f611f1..449c74a80b6 100644
--- a/protos/common/block.go
+++ b/protos/common/block.go
@@ -28,9 +28,13 @@ func NewBlock(seqNum uint64, previousHash []byte) *Block {
 	block.Header.Number = seqNum
 	block.Header.PreviousHash = previousHash
 	block.Data = &BlockData{}
-	block.Metadata = &BlockMetadata{
-		Metadata: [][]byte{[]byte{}, []byte{}, []byte{}},
+
+	var metadataContents [][]byte
+	for i := 0; i < len(BlockMetadataIndex_name); i++ {
+		metadataContents = append(metadataContents, []byte{})
 	}
+	block.Metadata = &BlockMetadata{Metadata: metadataContents}
+
 	return block
 }
 
diff --git a/protos/common/common.pb.go b/protos/common/common.pb.go
index 487b3a9012d..842f40998ce 100644
--- a/protos/common/common.pb.go
+++ b/protos/common/common.pb.go
@@ -129,24 +129,27 @@ func (x HeaderType) String() string {
 }
 func (HeaderType) EnumDescriptor() ([]byte, []int) { return fileDescriptor0, []int{1} }
 
-// This enum enlist indexes of the block metadata array
+// This enum enlists indexes of the block metadata array
 type BlockMetadataIndex int32
 
 const (
 	BlockMetadataIndex_SIGNATURES          BlockMetadataIndex = 0
 	BlockMetadataIndex_LAST_CONFIGURATION  BlockMetadataIndex = 1
 	BlockMetadataIndex_TRANSACTIONS_FILTER BlockMetadataIndex = 2
+	BlockMetadataIndex_ORDERER             BlockMetadataIndex = 3
 )
 
 var BlockMetadataIndex_name = map[int32]string{
 	0: "SIGNATURES",
 	1: "LAST_CONFIGURATION",
 	2: "TRANSACTIONS_FILTER",
+	3: "ORDERER",
 }
 var BlockMetadataIndex_value = map[string]int32{
 	"SIGNATURES":          0,
 	"LAST_CONFIGURATION":  1,
 	"TRANSACTIONS_FILTER": 2,
+	"ORDERER":             3,
 }
 
 func (x BlockMetadataIndex) String() string {
@@ -388,7 +391,7 @@ func init() {
 func init() { proto.RegisterFile("common/common.proto", fileDescriptor0) }
 
 var fileDescriptor0 = []byte{
-	// 866 bytes of a gzipped FileDescriptorProto
+	// 871 bytes of a gzipped FileDescriptorProto
 	0x1f, 0x8b, 0x08, 0x00, 0x00, 0x09, 0x6e, 0x88, 0x02, 0xff, 0x84, 0x55, 0xdd, 0x6e, 0xe3, 0x44,
 	0x14, 0xae, 0xe3, 0xfc, 0x34, 0x27, 0xa5, 0xeb, 0x4e, 0xb7, 0xbb, 0xde, 0x8a, 0xd5, 0x56, 0x96,
 	0x40, 0xa5, 0x15, 0x89, 0x28, 0x42, 0x82, 0x4b, 0x27, 0x9e, 0x74, 0xad, 0x4d, 0xed, 0x65, 0xc6,
@@ -437,11 +440,11 @@ var fileDescriptor0 = []byte{
 	0x11, 0xd3, 0xa1, 0xe6, 0x80, 0x9f, 0x35, 0x05, 0xbd, 0x00, 0x54, 0xa5, 0x6d, 0x0f, 0x5f, 0x69,
 	0x35, 0xa4, 0xc3, 0x73, 0xec, 0x58, 0x2e, 0xa1, 0x98, 0x54, 0x6e, 0xa8, 0xe8, 0x25, 0x1c, 0xba,
 	0xc4, 0xc2, 0xe4, 0x11, 0x51, 0x47, 0x47, 0x70, 0x60, 0xe1, 0x91, 0xcd, 0x3d, 0x53, 0x8c, 0xdf,
-	0xf9, 0xb6, 0x33, 0x74, 0xb5, 0xc6, 0xd9, 0x18, 0x50, 0x65, 0xec, 0x36, 0xff, 0x67, 0x8c, 0xf6,
+	0xf9, 0xb6, 0x33, 0x74, 0xb5, 0xc6, 0xd9, 0x04, 0x50, 0x65, 0xec, 0x36, 0xff, 0x67, 0x8c, 0xf6,
 	0x01, 0xa8, 0x7d, 0xe9, 0x98, 0xde, 0x98, 0x60, 0xaa, 0xed, 0x70, 0x1f, 0x23, 0x93, 0x7a, 0x7e,
-	0xc5, 0x8c, 0xa6, 0xf0, 0x6a, 0x5b, 0x55, 0xa8, 0x3f, 0xb4, 0x47, 0x1e, 0x26, 0x5a, 0xad, 0xff,
-	0xf9, 0x0f, 0xe7, 0xf3, 0x30, 0x5b, 0x6c, 0x26, 0xfc, 0xf9, 0xf5, 0x16, 0xf7, 0x6b, 0x96, 0x2c,
-	0xd9, 0x6c, 0xce, 0x92, 0xde, 0x4d, 0x30, 0x49, 0xc2, 0x69, 0xfe, 0xc9, 0x48, 0x8b, 0xcf, 0xca,
-	0xa4, 0x29, 0xe0, 0x97, 0xff, 0x05, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0x24, 0x97, 0x92, 0x02, 0x6e, 0x06,
-	0x00, 0x00,
+	0xc5, 0x8c, 0xa6, 0xf0, 0x6a, 0x5b, 0x55, 0xa8, 0x3f, 0xb4, 0x47, 0x1e, 0x26, 0x5a, 0x8d, 0x37,
+	0x59, 0xd8, 0xd0, 0xd4, 0xfe, 0xe7, 0x3f, 0x9c, 0xcf, 0xc3, 0x6c, 0xb1, 0x99, 0xf0, 0xb7, 0xd8,
+	0x5b, 0xdc, 0xaf, 0x59, 0xb2, 0x64, 0xb3, 0x39, 0x4b, 0x7a, 0x37, 0xc1, 0x24, 0x09, 0xa7, 0xf9,
+	0xf7, 0x23, 0x2d, 0xbe, 0x31, 0x93, 0xa6, 0x80, 0x5f, 0xfe, 0x17, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0x21,
+	0xa9, 0x8a, 0xec, 0x7b, 0x06, 0x00, 0x00,
 }
diff --git a/protos/common/common.proto b/protos/common/common.proto
index 2f836882cab..2a34050bfa3 100644
--- a/protos/common/common.proto
+++ b/protos/common/common.proto
@@ -43,11 +43,13 @@ enum HeaderType {
     DELIVER_SEEK_INFO = 5;         // Used as the type for Envelope messages submitted to instruct the Deliver API to seek
 }
 
-// This enum enlist indexes of the block metadata array
+// This enum enlists indexes of the block metadata array
 enum BlockMetadataIndex {
     SIGNATURES = 0;             // Block metadata array position for block signatures
     LAST_CONFIGURATION = 1;     // Block metadata array poistion to store last configuration block sequence number
     TRANSACTIONS_FILTER = 2;    // Block metadata array poistion to store serialized bit array filter of invalid transactions
+    ORDERER = 3;                // Block metadata array position to store operational metadata for orderers
+                                // e.g. For Kafka, this is where we store the last offset written to the local ledger.
 }
 
 // LastConfiguration is the encoded value for the Metadata message which is encoded in the LAST_CONFIGURATION block metadata index