The South Pacific Passive House Conference in Wellington was epic and is going to help move the bar with high performance building in New Zealand and Australia. Andy pulled together a great summary of the conference and PHINZ is going to post the papers so those of you that missed can at least read up on the conference. There were

The developer’s environmental and social conscience is driving this project, which is currently in its detailed design phase. The three-storey building houses four units; well-designed, comfortable yet modestly sized between 60-120 m² TFA. It will sit alongside detached family homes in a newer Auckland suburb, an example of the densification urban planners are urgently calling for. The developer is passionate

Beautiful English Passive House social housing apartments for the elderly: “18 apartments split into three blocks totalling 1057 sqm treated floor area. The larger block is comprised of 14 one-bedroom apartments at 55 sqm each, while the two identical smaller buildings each contain two two-bed apartments at 68 sqm each.” Unlike most project descriptions, this article has a refreshingly frank

This entry-level course is a 9-week online introduction to designing healthy, energy-efficient homes. It will help students to understand the leading order factors in building energy use, and enable them to creatively employ their understanding of energy efficiency fundamentals. The skills gained are a precondition for proceeding to the exam preparation course as Certified Passive House Designer/Consultant. On passing the

Talk of mandatory energy performance certificates (EPC) for New Zealand homes is always guaranteed to spark a lively debate. I admit to still being a bit on the fence on this issue. But the study I discuss below does recommend most of what I’d like to see included, should such a programme be introduced to Aotearoa. Two things are controversial:

Everybody was talking about Model and with good reason. Conference organisers gave this property developer and its consultants a lot of time to talk about its concept and the work currently in early design stage. Model describes itself as an “Australian purpose-first build-to-rent group” which is a bit of a mouthful, but its intentions are ambitious: “Our projects – designed for Passivhaus

Presentations by Jess Berentson-Shaw from The Workshop were a highlight of this and previous year’s PHINZ conferences. She offers science-based advice on how the Passive House community can most effectively influence the adoption of a building standard that creates warm healthy buildings and solves a lot of social problems. In 2019, when she first delivered a keynote address, I’d just

Australia is much warmer than New Zealand but apparently not inside their homes in winter. This new study points out that 80% (!) of the Australian homes measured failed to meet WHO recommendations for minimum indoor temperatures. We know from our own issues here in New Zealand that cold equals mould and poor health.  The problem of cold homes isn’t

There are only a few actions individuals can take to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) in their own homes and the buildings where they work, learn or socialise. New Zealand buildings are typically not designed for 100% fresh air ventilation at sufficient rates. The long-term solution is to increase both expectations and regulations: every building should have continuous mechanical ventilation. 

This in-depth international review, The Keys to Successful Passive House Implementation, aimed to identify how to successfully implement Passive House construction at scale. The research was commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission, which aims to apply these learnings in that state. The report developed a “Passive House Best Practices Toolkit” to increase the uptake of the Passive House standard

MBIE’s Building for Climate Change programme is going to drive greater energy efficiency in new buildings. Among other things, it will introduce actual performance modeling for New Zealand buildings. This is a huge step forward. However, we also urgently need to improve our existing buildings. Let’s talk retrofits. Retrofit solutions to existing homes are needed. We need to improve insulation,

There’s still lots of talk about the cost premium to build a detached family home to the Passive House standard and how much that premium is. Let’s not overlook that it is much easier for large buildings to meet the Passive House performance targets. The physics is easier and that usually means it costs less too. I like to use

It’s great to see this piece in popular media, outlining research that shows that, like the rest of the world, New Zealand’s path to a zero carbon future requires homes that need nearly no power for winter heating. The Passive House standard is measured and verified in New Zealand as needing 90% less energy to heat both new homes and

In this high-profile recent opinion piece, Marcus Hogan (professional practice director at Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects), points out that even new homes built to meet the Building Code in New Zealand are not good enough. He writes, “The government knew, more than 80 years ago, that there was mould in the ceilings and walls of over

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 also—those that only just met the Building Code minimum standards of their day. They’re not airtight (many of them are horribly draughty) but they still need proper ventilation. How do

Rochelle Ade’s doctoral research findings have had quite a bit of media attention in recent weeks. Not surprising, given her claim that Homestar ratings aren’t delivering what they claim (and that the rating tool may be breaching the Fair Trading Act). Effectively, Ade measured the temperature and relative humidity of 30 homes in Auckland: those built according to the current

Stuff ran an impressively long and well-researched story on Passive House and the need for net-zero buildings this week; it’s well worth a read in its entirety and a plug on your social media feed. Good to see the Dunedin co-housing build steadily progressing; wouldn’t it be great if all new homeowners could enjoy living somewhere that functioned as well as

In our opinion every home needs continuous mechanical ventilation. EVERY HOME. Alice Peacock, who works as a social worker with the healthy housing programme, travels around the Bay helping vulnerable families in mouldy houses. “It’s in everyone’s homes – but it is just particularly bad in some homes where it is a lot harder to ventilate the home – if