“Architects Declare”: NZ profession takes a stand on combatting climate change “We have a New Zealand version of Architects Declare, an international set of guidelines that signatories pledge to follow to help prevent irreversible damage from the global heating climate crisis.” It is good to see the architectural profession in NZ wake up and realise they can make a difference. …
2019 November 11 Otago Daily Times: Sustainable Architectural Approach Earns Distinguished Award
I had the pleasure of meeting Anne for the first time last week, at her office in Wanaka. She is the architect for Luggate Hall, which is targeting Certified Passive House performance. Good to see her recognised for her work. I’m looking forward to seeing something amazing for what we all hope will be the first of many Certified Passive …
2019 November 9 Newsroom: Unanimous Support For Landmark Zero Carbon Bill
Very excited to see the New Zealand Zero Carbon Bill passed … unanimously. Didn’t expect that but I’m very pleased. We know that buildings can contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions. Key to making that happen are deep changes in the building code and finding incentives for deep retrofits. Reaching zero carbon is going to take society-wide changes. The building …
2019 November 5 Passive House Institute: districtPH – Assessing Energy-Saving Potentials at the District Level!
Sustainable Engineering just purchased the first license for new modelling software, districtPH. This was developed in Germany by Passive House International with funding from the EU. Think of it as PHPP for neighbourhoods. It enables simulations of energy use and interactions across a district or even an entire region, modelling not just the energy use of buildings, but any infrastructure …
2019 November 4 Architecture Now: In Focus: Building Smarter (Part Two)
This is the second in a series of articles put out by Prefab NZ. Good to see the references to performance, as well as off-site construction. I think prefabrication could significantly enable higher performance homes: better in terms of health, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, carbon and speed of construction. “High-Performing Homes Building smarter can also mean building healthy, warm, …
2019 November 4 University of Otago Wellington: Improving Housing Standards for Co-Benefits for Energy Efficiency, Carbon Mitigation and Health
The Public Health Summer School symposium on 11 February will be eye-opening and I recommend you attend. This is the team that made the Healthy Home Guidelines a political reality and now they have turned their attention to fixing the Building Code, exploring the mutual benefits that flow from designing for energy efficiency, carbon mitigation and health. I attended the …
2019 October 31 Stuff: On the Ladder: Building a Passive House on First-Home Budget
“But how much will it cost?”. Anyone involved with Passive Houses hears that question a lot. Ross Brown of eHaus reckons an extra 20%, according to this article. I’ve also heard clients say their house cost the same as their neighbour’s. My favourite answer is, ‘It depends’. Then I go on to say, 5-15% more. Why the huge range? Well, …
2019 October 31 Chapman Tripp: Climate Change Risk – Implications For New Zealand Company Directors And Managed Investment Scheme Providers
Chapman Tripp – Legal opinion – October 2019 This is pretty intense when you realise the implications of this legal opinion. Directors of companies and/or investment schemes have a ‘legal duty of care’ to the price in climate-related financial risk. This applies in the case where a business directly depends on the climate itself, like farming, as well as a …
2019 October 29 The Fifth Estate: Every Building Counts – Time To Tackle The Laggards
Profitable carbon savings through better buildings … it’s a strategy we hear about more and more. I love hearing all these policy options: but I hope that the changes proposed are big steps that focus on achieving zero carbon by 2050 and not short-term reductions focused on say, 30 per cent by 2030. We must avoid “locking-in” carbon emissions by …