News & Articles

I’ve often wondered in the past exactly what percentage of New Zealand’s health burden is due to our damp and cold homes. Well I obviously didn’t look in the right...

Health burden of cold damp houses costs millions every year

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2021

This excellent top-level round-up of multiple UK retrofit programmes sadly reveals how many were really poorly done. The most recent was a politically driven voucher system that lasted less than...

Lessons from failed UK retrofit programmes

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

They won’t win points for style, but these semi-detached, two-storey Irish homes fit seamlessly amongst their neighbours. This is a very familiar UK building style, now made better: both Passive...

Ireland nails affordable Passive House

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2021

MBIE has provided its initial feedback based on consultation with industry on its “Building for climate change”. There are some promising signs from industry as the snapshot below indicates. We...

MBIE responds to climate change consultation

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

I’m looking forward to this seminar on how to effectively market Passive House and encourage those working on and designing Passive Houses to attend. This Zoom seminar is hosted by...

Join US expert on marketing PH to homeowners

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

If you haven’t already reviewed the technical draft of our High-Performance Construction Details (HPCD) Handbook, BRANZ has just published two great summaries that pull out the high-performance wall and roof...

HPCD summaries released by BRANZ

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Jason Quinn of Sustainable Engineering Ltd has been New Zealand’s sole Passive House certifier for five years but he’s no longer alone in the job. Toby Brooke and Sara Wareing...

More Passive House certifiers in NZ

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Mar 2026

If you haven’t heard about the Passive Solar versus Passive House bash up argument in Australia, you missed an entertaining example of people talking past each other. I am reminded...

Aus Passive House vs passive solar misses the point

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2021

PREDOS director Rory Crosbie’s article in BRANZ’s Build magazine mostly argues for a national home warranty scheme based on the Canadian model. He does briefly touch on the inadequacy of...

Leaky buildings aren’t over: thermal bridges create moisture issues

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2021

A study in the UK of 97 certified Passive House projects shows predicted heating demand was accurate in both flats and houses. Measurements were recorded for over a year of...

Does what it says on the tin

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2021

The Ministry of Education manages a huge property portfolio (>15,000 buildings, 2100 sites, >$31 billion replacement value). There are a lot of problem buildings, including some that are only a...

“Must do better”: Education Ministry sets new standards for school buildings

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2021

Joe Lyth is an Auckland based architect and newly-minted Passive House designer. He’s also an UK import who looks on the crappy homes New Zealanders put up with through an...

We can build Passive House quality for the same price as Code-minimum: here’s proof

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Bushland Park is a new subdivision south-west of the Christchurch city centre, at the foot of the Port Hills and all its 12 homes are targeting Passive House performance. Given...

NZ’s first Passive House subdivision

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

I highly recommend attending the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors’ training day in Auckland on 20 March. You’ll hear about Kāinga Ora moving to low carbon building at scale,...

Worthwhile training course: next week!

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

The International Passive House Association (iPHA) has launched a campaign called #EfficiencyFirst! It makes the case for focusing on energy efficiency first, before increasing renewable energy. This makes sense from...

First, use less energy: #EfficiencyFirst!

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2021

I’ve had clients call me with issues but then tell me, “the salesperson said it met Building Code”, as if that means something. All it means is the developer wasn’t...

The Building Code is a minimum, not a quality mark!

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2021

Well-built high-performance buildings need mechanical ventilation. Times have changed, nobody’s really arguing about this any more. But all the other homes built in the last 50 years need mechanical ventilation...

Mechanical ventilation everywhere: not just high-performance buildings

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2021