Top 10 Climate Risks
New Zealand’s first national adaptation plan is out for discussion. I have to say it reads like a plan to have a plan. Now the real work begins: what we...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Aug 2022
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A compelling case for component-based housing solutions
Adam Cohen has a bold and creative vision: carbon-negative, decentralised building systems that will take Passive House performance to provincial New Zealand. He outlines it eloquently in this opinion piece...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Fletcher Living’s Low Carbon homes featured
Fletcher Living’s Low Carbon House featured in an excellent article by Nikki Mandow on Newsroom last month. Sustainable Engineering’s been involved from the beginning and it’s been awesome to bring...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Aug 2022
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Heavy health cost of NZ’s love affair with cars
It’s not just the climate that pays when fossil fuel is burned to transport people and goods. An update to the HAPINZ study on air pollution has, for the first...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jul 2022
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Insulation is not magic
The results of a survey on the state of New Zealand housing are getting plenty of media coverage at the moment, given the grim findings about the scale of the...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Bundle heating costs with rent?
Fuel poverty is no joke. Society is only as strong as its most vulnerable members. If the cost of keeping everyone’s house warm—not an allowance measured in dollars but by...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jul 2022
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Fletcher Living gets serious about low carbon homes
Great to see Fletcher Living’s announcement about its Low Carbon initiative. The Sustainable Engineering team has really enjoyed working with Fletcher Living’s people on their vision for low carbon homes...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jul 2022
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Historical insulation levels in NZ
Against the backdrop of all the recent noise about increasing Building Code minimum R-values, let’s look back at how the minimum standard (or typical values) have changed over time. This...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Optimal indoor CO2 levels: is 1000ppm too high?
We need to talk about ventilation. Urgently. Specifically, policy-makers and industry need to arrive at an agreed definition of sufficiently ventilated when it comes to the indoor spaces where New...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jul 2022
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Live counter of NZ’s Passive House projects
We’re very frequently asked, ‘How many Passive Houses are there in New Zealand?’ Well, as of 1625 hours, 11 July 2022, there are: That number is changing rather quickly now...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Sweden is on track
Did you know there is a country that has adopted Passive House performance levels in timber framed buildings, sorted the MVHR issues and has quite innovative framing practices we should...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Local design and manufacture focused on zero energy building
FMI is a family-owned designer and manufacturer of building components including joinery, glass, facades and cladding, marketed under brands like Eurowood, Nextra, Vetro Raccordi and Fairview. The Sustainable Engineering team...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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Better health is first result of H1 improvements
I appreciate the work Germán Molina is doing to get his PhD findings out into the world. I’ve linked to work he’s publishing on his blog, Buildings for People, before....
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jun 2022
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LEB projects in Christchurch, explained
It’s one thing to build bespoke higher-performing homes under contract for a client. It is quite another measure of risk to build spec homes that out-perform the Building Code minimums....
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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A LEB is not a PH
It’s not correct to say a Low Energy Building (LEB) is a Passive House. Yes, it is a PHI standard. But to claim it is a Passive House, as a...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jun 2022
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MBIE response (and ours) to NZ Emissions Reduction Plan
MBIE has summarised its take on the New Zealand Emissions Reduction Plan. Building for Climate Change (BfCC) will be its tool to make this happen through legislation. We will finally...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: May 2022
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First emissions reduction plan heading in right direction on buildings
The long-awaited first Emissions Reduction Plan was published yesterday and media commentators are rushing to dissect it. I liked that the foreword describes the problem as also an opportunity: “a...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Jul 2022
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Great developments in NZ social housing
Kāinga Ora’s priorities for New Zealand social housing were laid out in a recent detailed article in Architecture Now, which is worth reading in full. It charts the agency’s journey...
by Jason Quinn
Updated: Mar 2026
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