What’s it like? Passive House homeowners tell

Another in-depth article from the Stuff network about Passive House, that talks to people about their experience living in a (mostly certified) Passive House. It gets into the thorny cost...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jan 2022

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Healthy Homes Standard tweaked

A December 3 announcement on changes to the Healthy Homes Standard solves one of the issues caused by this well intentioned legislation. We were designing absolutely best practice apartments, which...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Better school buildings get closer

Architect—and newly graduated PH designer—Murray Robertson wrote a really insightful piece about his experience designing a mass timber school building to the Passive House standard. Things were looking good: “We...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Dec 2021

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New thermal performance data for NZ timber window profiles

Consulting with building component manufacturers to help them make good products even better is a favourite activity for the Sustainable Engineering team. Lunds Joinery, a highly-regarded family-owned company in Timaru,...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Dec 2021

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Loopholes in H1 changes?

To be clear folks: H1/AS1 housing changes apply to all housing, even apartment buildings of any size**. BPI (Building Performance Index) is no longer a permitted compliance method. Curtain walls...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2022

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NZ “outsulation” guide now available

Now available: the Outsulation Guide for High Performance Walls, brought to you by Outright, suppliers of continuous insulation. Sustainable Engineering provided the thermal modelling calculations and I enjoyed the discussions...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Energy efficiency will improve

Today we have it: the new H1 has been released. I no longer need to keep it all secret and can finally talk about the new energy efficiency requirements. Note...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2021

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Airtightness results in NZ PH builds keep improving

The Leith Valley Passive House in Dunedin is New Zealand’s newest certified Passive House Plus home and can boast of an extraordinary blower door test result: 0.17 air changes per...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Nov 2021

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Gone in 60 mins

Wow. The scale of this Irish development is immense: 219 Passive House homes planned across a 26-acre site in Belfast, a £70m project . The first 12 houses released for...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2021

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Passive House homes make for happy families

Wonderful article from Stuff on the Sole Family Passivhaus in Christchurch. The Soles built a well-above-Code home about 10 years previously, but decided to go all the way on this,...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2021

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Passive House is totally achievable (and worth it)

This is a stand-out article from San Francisco Bay area Passive House builders, One Sky Homes. These guys are the real deal, coming to Passive House over a decade ago...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Westpac get behind Raglan PH build

An in-depth Passive House case study … from a major bank? Good to see Westpac recognising the value of Passive House certification and providing finance for this Raglan project.  This...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Nov 2021

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SIP build a good PH option

“How much space do you need? Do you need a TV room, a rumpus room, a dining room, and a living room? New Zealand is an amazing country: get out...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2021

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Ngā Kāinga Anamata announced

Kāinga Ora’s first Passive House pilot project was a great milestone but we knew far more was in the works and today we are happy to be able to share...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Passive House subdivision in Christchurch blazes a trail

Interesting perspective here on materials from an experienced builder of certified Passive Houses. Peter Bielski of Ethos Homes is a fan of panelisation—in a shed on site, in the case...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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ALL certified PH builds in NZ have been written up

Here’s a handy short cut to case studies on all certified Passive House projects in New Zealand to date. Phcert.nz will take you to the Sustainable Engineering website’s case study...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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PHPP10 launched

Update [June 2022] PHPP10 is now available in English. In case you hadn’t heard, PHPP10 was released at the 25th International Passive House conference in Wuppertal last month. That’s the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jun 2022

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Why bigger is easier

There’s still lots of talk about the cost premium to build a detached family home to the Passive House standard and how much that premium is. Let’s not overlook that...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Oct 2021

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