News & Articles

The owner of Mona Vale’s former Stable Master’s Cottage got carried away when he visited Christchurch four years ago – he fell in love with an “as is, where is”...

2019 September 20 Stuff: Former Stable Master's Cottage Rebuilt As Certified Passive House

2019 September 20 Stuff: Former Stable Master’s Cottage Rebuilt (and targeting) Certified Passive House

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) endorsed an ultra-low energy ‘Passive House’ concept for the new hall late last year. Since then, Council officers have been working to turn this aspiration...

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2019 September 18 Queenstown Lakes District: Design Team Appointed For District’s First Passive House-Standard Community Building

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

“Perhaps most disappointing for building professionals were responses about the impact of green building on the environment, people, and communities. “Only 11% of respondents associate words like ‘green building’ and...

2019 September 9 Building Green: People Want a Greener Future but Don’t Know How to Get There

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

“A house with leaking and damaged gutters, rotting window frames, illegal stairs, a sagging and mouldy ceiling, rotting weatherboards, a rotten toilet floor and exposed electrical board have earned a...

29 August 2019 NZ Herald’s Anne Gibson: Why a Henderson mother won $13k from her landlords: 22 separate issues at rental property

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Sep 2019

Congratulations to Joe Mercieca of Blue Eco Homes for Sapphire Passive House in the Blue Mountains and Andy Marlow of Envirotecture for the Thornleigh house. The article states that “The...

27 August 2019 The Fifth Estate’s Poppy Johnston: NSW gets its first Certified Passive House homes

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

1600 extra death per year 20% of serious respiratory infections prevented. Seems like warm dry healthy homes would cheaper than what we do now. Content by News Hub....

15 August 2019 News Hub’s Mel Logan & Dan Satherley: Damp, mouldy homes blamed for high rate of kids with respiratory infections

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

Humorous comment that matches my maxim of buildings should be durable without requiring crazy intervention from the occupants. I still remember one of mates telling me the reason for mould...

12 August 2019: Seriously the mould is a design flaw not the tenant

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

“A two-year-old born prematurely with a chronic lung condition has been hospitalised multiple times this year. Part of the problem is that the child is sleeping on a damp mattress…”...

27 July 2019 NZ Herald: Kids doing it tough in winter

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

-3C – barely insulated house and no heating. The cost of electricity and line charges in that area is wild but so is running a unflued portable propane heater inside...

08 July 2019 Stuff’s Ellen O’Dwyer: Cold and ill but bill puts heat pump off limits

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

Great article on the Hawera Passive House build that is the first in New Zealand to target the Passive House Premium build. We are looking forward to reviewing the final...

29 June 2019 Otago Daily Times’ Kim Dungey: Homely as it gets

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

This building is pretty incredible. Most Passive House buildings can change the form (the external shape) and use less glass to meet the performance standard, but that wasn’t an option...

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2019 June 19 New Energy Economy: World’s First Certified Passive House Car Dealership

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Window installs watch Florian and Skyler install a Passive House window into a home. Notice the good explanation of the aluminium cut back distance to allow over insulation of the...

PH Window Installs

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2019

Although this media release doesn’t mention it the Queenstown Lakes District Council has been methodically reviewing the costs and benefits of Passive House for some time. After this review and...

Certified Passive House design required for Queenstown Luggate Memorial Hall

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2019

Paper in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health by Elinor Chisholm Michael Keall Julie Bennett Anaru Marshall Lucy Telfar‐Barnard Louise Thornley Philippa Howden‐Chapman Bottom line – even...

Why don’t owners improve their homes? Results from a survey following a housing warrant‐of‐fitness assessment for health and safety

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2019

Scala Seminar Series Hosted by the disciplines of Landscape Architecture & Architecture, Unitec Institute of Technology invites you to bring your lunch and attend a free public seminar on Thurs...

10 April 2019 Passive Houses in New Zealand: Let’s talk details

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2019

You would think this is rare and something that you need to go looking for but it is not abnormal in NZ The windows of the North East Valley flat stay...

Press

29 March 2019 Stuff’s Hamis McNeilly: Former refugee family placed in damp Dunedin home feels abandoned

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2019

Passive House Institute has released a climate morphing tool for use in examining future climates and building resilience. I’m particularly fond of this approach which simply takes an increased summer...

Future climate considerations in Passive House Planning Package (PHPP)

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Oct 2019