I’ve been asked several times for information on the New Zealand Healthy Homes Standards and how it impacts high-performance buildings. Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) introduced the legislation to force the large number of minimally compliant landlords to improve their rentals to at least a minimum standard. This is a good focus; but …
Passive House award winners featured in online flipbook
Check this out: a lovely flipbook with in-depth case studies of the projects from the Passive House Architectural awards in 2021. Lavishly illustrated, illuminating text and lots of drawings: this is a feast of information bound to inspire. Projects from around the world feature and diverse typologies: multi-unit residential buildings, educational buildings, offices, retrofits and more. My own favourite is …
Hempcrete thermal modelling info
A residential project involving hemp as a building material is targeting Passive House certification in New Zealand. Hemp is a new material for the Sustainable Engineering team and it’s interesting to go diving into the techie details. As with other natural building materials, hemp is not a standardised product. The exact mix of the hempcrete and its reasonably expected thermal …
Mary James’ work influential
Mary James is the director of publications at Passive House Accelerator in the US. She’s written multiple books on aspects of Passive House and her work New York Passive House 2015 was my inspiration to write and publish Passive House for New Zealand: The warm healthy homes we need. I was quietly pleased to see myself and Arthur Lee of …
SEL provides PHPP support for PHINZ
Have you purchased the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) software from PHINZ and got stuck with some aspects of energy modelling using this tool? PHINZ now has a PHPP support service available. PHINZ has contracted the Sustainable Engineering team to answer questions via email on PHINZ’s behalf. The questions and answers will also be compiled as a FAQ, which will …
Grand design at Tapu more than meets the eye
Stuff’s ranking of this season’s homes featured on Grand Designs is of course highly subjective and arguably not particularly useful. Sustainability did feature as a criteria but frankly was a bit token. Rainwater tanks are hardly an optional sustainable upgrade when town water supply isn’t available. Predictably, our team puts the Watterson Residence in Featherston in the #1 spot. We …
Renewal of your PH Designer/Consultant or PH Tradesperson Qualification
We’re often asked by accredited PH Designers / Consultants and Tradespersons how to renew their qualification. For PH Designers / Consultants there are two ways to renew your qualification: By documenting a Certified Passive House, EnerPHit retrofit (or Precertification) or PHI Low Energy Building for which you have done the PH design work in a special technical report format and …
“Grand” Passive House project in spotlight
Great to see certified Passive House performance getting some prime media coverage. It featured on Grand Designs this month, which was then written up by Stuff. It’s a large home in Featherston, designed by one of the owners, and looks fantastic. The owners got stuck in on the construction side too; it was a great effort but had to be …
Better windows start now
It’s disappointing that the c have been delayed further. However, new levels of window thermal performance kicked in last week. So did new calculation methods. As of 3 Nov 2022 the old H1/AS1 etc are no longer acceptable. I’ve included the new schedule below. It’s more complicated because some parts of the upgrade were pushed back a further six months. …