Good news: Parka Wrap has just picked up a 2026 Passive House Institute Component Award for their Optimised Window Retrofit Solution. Awesome to see an EnerPHit retrofit solution recognized from New Zealand. All of the systems are shown in the PHI 2026 Component Award Booklet.
Before you get too excited, If you look at the award details, it’s a very European construction-centric award. The assumed baseline is mass concrete or brick walls, where the standard retrofit move is adding external insulation and shifting windows out into that layer. Even Parka Wrap’s entry is shown installed outside a mass masonry wall. In reality, Parka Wrap’s system was originally developed right here to retrofit New Zealand’s notoriously drafty timber-frame villa-style construction.
Parka Wrap’s Window Cam system, is a cylindrical PVC bearing designed to support the window’s weight out in the insulation layer. You simply install the cam with an off-center stainless-steel screw, rotate it to level the window, and secure it. This pragmatic design reflects the reality of building renovation, where uneven substrates require flexible products. The whole assembly is then surrounded with continuous insulation, enabling EnerPHit-standard Uw-values.
While the award highlights this window installation technology, Parka Wrap is actually a whole-of-building solution. The cam can be combined with their ‘Banana Bracket’ façade anchor to externally insulate walls without removing the existing cladding. I discuss this system and many other retrofit approaches extensively in my Deep Energy Retrofit Handbook for New Zealand, which is in production with the graphic designer. It is fantastic to see a highly practical homegrown solution get global recognition.