“Yeah, our old housing stock is terrible, but modern homes are all good.” It’s disheartening how often I hear this, about newly built homes constructed to only just meet the legal minimum of the NZ Building Code. It’s not true. And expensive retrofits can be miserable too, unless they have been designed (and modelled) to ensure comfort.
Steve Hughes, from Build Good Construction, in a recent LinkedIn post, mentioned how he previously lived in a renovated 1860s cottage in Ponsonby. “The renovation was designed by a registered architect … it currently has a CV of $2.6 [million]. In summer it would hit 35 degrees with surface temperatures of 45+. In winter, internal temperatures of 10 degrees and surface temperatures as low as 7.5 degrees. IN A $2.6 MILLION HOUSE!!! [Emphasis his.]
Any renovation is an opportunity to dramatically improve energy efficiency and comfort and reduce carbon emissions. The only way to know what you’ll get after spending all that money, is to make sure the project is energy modelled at design stage.