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Passive House Social Housing gets going in Aotearoa

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courtesy of Kāinga Ora

A Kāinga Ora social housing project in Māngere, Auckland has passed pre-construction review and is now on track to become the first central government funded Passive House social housing in Australasia. Construction on the 3 level, 18 unit “Bader Ventura” project is due to start by the end of this year, and to be completed by mid-2023. There are currently also another seven Kāinga Ora Passive House projects in the design phase, all 3 level walk-ups in Auckland. 

PHINZ CEO Amy Tankard paid tribute to Kāinga Ora’s vision in adopting the Passive House standard for this development.

“It’s fantastic that Kāinga Ora is taking the lead in starting to build housing that will not only keep occupants warm, dry and healthy, with minimal power bills, but also takes a big step towards meeting MBIE’s Building for Climate Change proposed 2035 targets. 

Kāinga Ora is the main housing provider in Aotearoa New Zealand, and therefore this commitment has massive implications for the future of building here. Bader Ventura will demonstrate that it is achievable to build to Passive House standard at scale. It will give certainty to suppliers and other Passive House industry professionals, and widen the knowledge base and awareness of Passive House”

Key partners on the project include PHINZ members 

Peddlethorp – Architects

Oculus – Passive House lead and facade engineer

Sustainable Engineering – independent certifier

Congratulations to all who have progressed the project to this point. We will be following with interest!

You can read more here:

New Mangere development promises tiny carbon footprint and power bills :: Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (kaingaora.govt.nz)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/126303137/heating-for-1-a-day-kainga-oras-first-passivedesigned-social-housing-block-is-a-blueprint

Kāinga Ora announces first Passive House development | Architecture Now

Peddlethorp and Kāinga Ora celebrate first Passive House public housing development | Scoop News

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Certified Passive House projects in Aotearoa

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The number of certified Passive House projects is growing fast in Aotearoa NZ. And with Passive House being in the media more frequently, PHINZ is often asked how many Passive House projects there are in Aotearoa NZ.

Unfortunately, this question does not have a straightforward answer.

Passive House certification is an independent process undertaken by an accredited Passive House certifier and PHINZ, as a charity, has no role in certifying projects. This also means we don’t keep a complete list of all certified projects.

Many certified Passive House projects get submitted to the international Passive House database, however, this is voluntary and therefore not comprehensive. There are currently (as of 07 September 2021) a total of 56 certified Passive House projects in Aotearoa NZ listed on the database. These include:

  • 47 certified Passive House Classic dwelling units made up of 27 certified projects as some are multi-unit.
  • 8 certified Passive House Plus projects
  • 1 certified Passive House Premium project

Current figures can be found on the international Passive House database using the advanced search function.

As noted, there may be other Passive House projects not on the database.

Additionally, one of our members, Sustainable Engineering, maintains a map of certified projects in Aotearoa NZ and Australia.

We are aware of many more projects being developed that are targeting Passive House, not least the exciting project announced by Kāinga Ora today and in the news here also.

PHINZ is currently developing a project directory for our website. This will showcase Passive House projects in Aotearoa NZ and the builders, designers and component suppliers involved.

There are also number of Passive House projects showcased on the PHINZ youtube channel – check them out and subscribe to see more in the future!

Please note that Passive House is an as-built building standard and is protected by consumer law. Projects that do not meet the standard cannot be referred to as “Passive House” regardless of what they might claim. For more details on this please see our article on Claiming the Passive House standard.

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Passive House and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

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In 2015, the UN set 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be reached by 2030. The Passive House Standard plays a direct role in achieving many of these global aims for the built environment.

In order to identify how Passive House contributes to the SDGs, the International Passive House Association derived a list of relevant and recurring themes by reviewing the targets and indicators of the individual SDGs, summarised into 8 categories:

  • Health and wellbeing
  • Economic and job creation
  • Social housing and energy poverty
  • Education
  • Resilient and innovative buildings
  • Sustainable consumption and production
  • International cooperation
  • Climate change protection and accountability

Using these categories, 10 applicable SDGs were carefully selected from the original list of 17 where relevant targets or indicators show Passive House meaningfully influencing the particular SDG. These are:

SDG 1 – End poverty in all its forms

SDG 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all

SDG 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote learning opportunities for all

SDG 7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all

SDG 8 – Promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth and productive employment for all

SDG 9 – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation

SDG 11 – Make cities and human settlements safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable

SDG 12 – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

SDG 13 – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

SDG17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

Conclusions drawn:  If both the public and the private sector increase their implementation of the Passive House Standard, the results on a larger scale can lead to a substantial reduction of the total building-related carbon emissions, meet development targets including health and wellbeing, climate action, affordable and clean energy, and responsible consumption and production among others.

In a period when policymakers and the private sector are making decisions about the direction their building guidelines and business development will go, it is important to highlight the way the Passive House Standard can lead to better health, social, economic, and environmental outcomes. The SDGs are an ideal backdrop to illustrate where the Passive House Standard fits into global aims.

Please feel free to share the credited graphic above which sets this information out in a clear fashion, and you can read more detail on Passipedia here Passive House and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Connecting an international building standard with global aims [ ] (passipedia.org)

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Passive House: Homes Where People Thrive

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We are very pleased to announce our new “brochure” – Passive House: Homes Where People Thrive.

This is an accessible guide for people planning to build a new home – learn all about the health, comfort and quality benefits of a Passive House. This concise guide also has the details of what sets Passive House apart, the stages of a Passive House project and much more.

Free as a PDF from the downloads page.

Passive House: Homes Where People Thrive (Cover)
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Launched: High-Performance Construction Details Handbook

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At the Passive House Hui yesterday (13 June 2021), the High-Performance Construction Details handbook was launched.

You can head over to the HPCD page and download a free copy of the PDF handbook and a copy of all the CAD details.

The handbook will be a valuable resource for design and construction professionals, providing practical tools to exceed Building Code thermal performance minimums. It will also provide consenting officials with a reference when presented with high-performance Alternative Solutions.

The handbook was funded from the Building Research Levy and in-kind by Sustainable Engineering, PHINZ and Resilienz.

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SPPHC21 – Call for Abstracts

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Passive House – Our Common Future

The South Pacific Passive House Conference will be held at AUT, Auckland, in November 2021

Conference Topics

  1. Passive House social housing
  2. Proven outcomes of Passive House projects
  3. Intergenerational well­ being and Passive House

We would like to see talks addressing these topics, but are open to all research on Passive House matters relevant for people in the South Pacific.

How to submit

  • Submissions close 30 June 2021 14 July 2021 (extended)
  • Abstracts must be a maximum of 2 pages, submitted in pdf format.
  • Email admin@passivehouse.nz for access to the submission platform
  • Submissions will be peer-reviewed, with speakers notified from August 2021

Please Note:

  • All presentations will be in person (COVID conditions dependent) in Auckland. Please confirm you are able to do this in your abstract submission.
  • All presentations will be filmed
  • All presentation slides will be published online

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Launch of the #EfficiencyFirst Pamphlet

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The international campaign continues, with the launch of the PHINZ #EfficiencyFirst Pamphlet. This is available on our downloads page, and you can also view the pamphlets for other iPHA affiliates here

iPHA

Associação Passivhaus Portugal (PHPT)

Hellenic Passive House Institute

IG Passivhaus Deutschland

New York Passive House (NYPH)

North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)

Passivhaus Austria

Passive House California (PHCa)

Passivhaus Trust

Plataforma Edificación Passivhaus (PEP)

ZEPHIR Italy

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Competition: Explain Passive House!

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Have you seen the well-known visual example describing Passive House as a thermos versus a conventional building as an actively heated coffee machine? It’s time for an update!

In order to celebrate the announcement of the Efficiency: The First Renewable Energy campaign, the International Passive House Association is running a competition from 15 February – 1 March. The #ExplainPassiveHouse competition will showcase what the Passive House Standard is, using everyday household objects to describe how a Passive House building works! To take part, simply follow us and post your description of how a Passive House building works using common items to social media with the hashtags #ExplainPassiveHouse and #EfficiencyFirst between the 15th of February and 1st of March.

You can win a Passive House Designer or PHPP expert course or tickets to the 25th annual Internal Passive House Conference in Wuppertal, Germany this September!

———————-

To participate:

1. Make sure you’re following iPHA on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram)

2. Post a description of how a Passive House building works using common items to social media between the 15th of February and 1st of March.

3. Don’t forget to include the hashtag #ExplainPassiveHouse and #EfficiencyFirst. That’s it!

Terms and conditions: https://www.passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=567

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A Successful Passive House Hui

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Saturday 31 October saw our largest hui to date, with over 80 attendees and 12 sponsor supplier stands, at Otago Polytechnic in Ōtepoti Dunedin.

After a Covid-related reschedule from August, we were lucky that our speakers and most of the original attendees were still available, and with a few new faces also now able to attend.

The day started informally as people arrived and enjoyed morning tea while networking and checking out the sponsor stands. There was an ever wider range of passive house components and products on display.

Mayor Aaron Hawkins kicked off the day with a thoughtful and inspiring address about the climate action the city council is taking. He mentioned the High Street Co-Housing Project, currently the largest Passive House project underway in Aotearoa NZ. He also shared an update on a project for 10 retirement dwellings being built to Passive House standard. This is aiming to be the first Passive House social housing project completed in Aotearoa NZ. Tautoko Dunedin City Council Kaunihera-a-rohe o Otepoti!

Tim Ross of Architype, local Passive House architects, gave us an update on his current projects, pointing out details and solutions of great interest to many of us. He clearly illustrated the power of a cross-sectional drawing to illustrate an unbroken thermal and airtight envelope which is central to Passive House.

Jason Quinn of Sustainable Engineering, and Gleb Speranski of BRANZ updated us on the High-Performance Construction Detailing Project. Members were excited to get their hands on this. The technical draft is now available to download from our website here: https://passivehouse.nz/Draft-HPCD Please review it and provide your feedback via the email address provided in the document. Cost and carbon information is still being developed and will be included with the details when it is published, projected to be March 2021. Gleb was also able to provide an update on work BRANZ is doing on warmer, drier, healthier homes. He also gave an insightful presentation of the recently published research by Beacon Pathway on thermal bridging in timber frame wall construction.

Lunch was another great opportunity to network, catch up with old friends, visit the supplier stands and reflect. Then we were on to architect Rafe Maclean for another great presentation, covering some of his current Passive House works in progress. Our CEO Amy then provided an update on PHINZ’s work over the last year, and plans for the next year and beyond.

Wayne Dyet of WD Homes, Tim Ross and Baden Brown of eHaus led a lively discussion on costs before we finished up with afternoon tea and more networking.

Associate Professor Tobias Danielmeier was instrumental in all the arrangements with the Polytech and helped ensure that the audiovisual components and the delicious catering ran smoothly on the day. Our photographer Bernard Park was able to capture some great photos of the day too.

Over half of the attendees rounded the day off with dinner out at No. 7 Balmac; the buzzing atmosphere from the hui spilled over into the restaurant in the evening.

Jonathan Holmes, owner of Hawea Flat Passivhaus, said

“Truly inspiring and well attended Passive House Hui event hosted at the Otago Polytechnic Architecture School, provided a welcome opportunity to get together as clients, suppliers, designers and builders to enthusiastically share ideas and experiences of designing and building healthy, comfortable and energy efficient homes across New Zealand.”

And Sian Taylor of Team Green said

“It’s always great to catch up with colleagues passionate about improving the built environment, and this year was no different. Completed with a great dinner out on Saturday night – a lot of fun!”

And many of us enjoyed the Sunday tours local members had arranged; A tour of the High Street Co-housing Project with Tim Ross and Baden Brown and a tour of Thermadura’s factory by Chris and Sandra Rampe, along with a lavish feast, with help from Jonathan Holmes and the Thermadura team.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to such an informative, enjoyable and successful event.

And a special thanks to the sponsors.

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