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NZ Building-related standards

“The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (Building System Performance) has funded the following building standards, used for Building Code compliance, for free download.” Awesome. This includes most of the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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23 July 2019 Yes, your brand new house could be cold and damp

An example of a legally code minimum compliant new house that is cold and damp. Look at the photo of the condensation dripping off of the new double glazed windows....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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21 July 2019 Stuff’s Chris Hutching: New houses have cladding and joinery that lasts just 15 years

That title is a bit clickbaity but true. NZBC says the bits of house that are easily replaced only have to last 15 years. Twisted funny that this includes the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

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11 July 2019 Stuff’s Colleen Hawkes: First Kiwi passive house: Seventh winter without heaters

View PH1NZ Case Study “Fresh air is delivered via a heat exchange system and a series of ducts in each room. Some of the ducts remove air and others deliver fresh...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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11 July 2019 MBIE: R&D tax incentive: What’s eligible and how to claim

NZ Tax Credit for Research & Design uses designing to meet Passive House energy standard as an example of something that is known “and there is no scientific or technological...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Waikato (Taupiri) expoHaus is up for sale!

Announced in the eHaus winter 2019 newsletter: “We noted, with interest, the Waikato expoHaus today registered 19.5 degrees inside as the staff arrived for work, with an outside temperature of...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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

-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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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4 July 2019 NZ Herald: What it’s like living in a home with no insulation: Condensation, mould and large power bills

“Six months ago I moved house and didn’t think too much about the state of insulation and heating in our new rental home. It was the middle of summer in...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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02 July 2019 Scoop: Doctors welcome rules making insulation the norm in rentals

“Installing insulation in a house can have a 6:1 cost benefit ratio for the very young and the very old – these people are our most vulnerable, and they spend...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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02 July 2019 The Spinoff’s Elle Hunt: Renting isn’t about ‘surviving’ or ‘enduring’ – it’s about having a warm, dry home

“One of the barriers was a lack of knowledge about the home’s defects, or “believing the property [was] in better condition than it objectively is”. That’s easy enough to do...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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

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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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28 June 2019 RNZ: Family desperate to leave freezing HNZ home

“It just feels like you’re camping outside, that’s what it is,” she said. She said the small lounge heater provided by HNZ – the home’s only heat source – did...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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28 June 2019 Passive House Accelerator’s Bax Ingui Architects: Passive Retrofit: A Systematic Approach

Measured careful and structured approach to internal insulation retrofits for historic facades. It can be done but it needs to be done well the first time (or done over again...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2020

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28 June 2019 Stuff’s Libby Wilson: Kiwis ‘accept less’ from homes, passive house builder says

View Waikato expoHaus case study Title says it all – if what you want from a house is cheapest you are legally allowed to build than you should expect the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019

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Peel Passive House have just published an Appliance Modelling Guide for Certified Passive House Projects

See: http://www.peelpassivehouse.ca/resources.html “This study explores the Canadian and European energy standards for household appliances that are modelled for Passive House compliance in PHPP for residential buildings. An excel tool PHPP Appliance Input...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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25 June 2019 The Fern: Stay at Redfern’s new no-carbon luxury apartments

The main website might be a bit slow to load but the apartments are really incredible. These are all Passive House and are targeting certification. The awesome news is you...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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20 June 2019 The Harvard Gazette Colleen Walsh: Is your home making you sick?

Good summary of healthy homes via indoor environmental quality — starting with healthy indoor air. “Home is where the heart is. It’s a figurative expression but it’s literal too because...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jun 2019

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How to for healthy buildings from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The below guides are from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and summarize and simplify the public health science into simple recommendations with links to peer-reviewed journal articles...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jun 2019

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