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
Associação Passivhaus Portugal (PHPT)
Hellenic Passive House Institute
North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)
Passive House California (PHCa)
Plataforma Edificación Passivhaus (PEP)
PHINZ and Sustainable Engineering Ltd are well on the way to completion of the High-Performance Construction Details Handbook. (Download a technical draft of the handbook here. 02.06.21 The draft is no longer available as the handbook will be published soon.) Funded by The Building Research Levy, PHINZ and Sustainable Engineering, 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.
This month’s Build Magazine features an article by Jason Quinn of Sustainable Engineering and Elrond Burrell, chair of PHINZ, outlining the need for such guidance, details about the handbook, and its future uses including supporting and informing MBIE’s Building for Climate Change Programme and Building Code improvements. The article is online here: High-performance details | BRANZ Build (buildmagazine.org.nz) and you can download a PDF of it from here.
The Handbook is also featured in a second Build Magazine article, this one focusing on walls: High-performance domestic walls | BRANZ Build (buildmagazine.org.nz)
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.
Kia ora koutou,
In honour of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, I had a chat to Kiharoa Milroy (Tūhoe and Ngāti Whakaue) about the gifting of our Te Reo name – Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa – earlier this year.
Kiharoa explained that he was approached by a member of the board to see if he could identify a suitable name for us, and given some Passive House reading material. A few weeks later, Kiharoa had given a lot of thought to suitable words that described the essence of Passive House, and had hit upon the word Korou which encompassed both energy and vitality. “Energy” felt appropriate because Passive House buildings are energy efficient, and “vitality” too, as healthy buildings facilitate vitality for those who use them. With the word Tōpūtanga meaning gathering or group, and Whare as house or building, the name fell into place.
Kiharoa felt that there could be a few meanings for the phrase Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou, both of which could be appropriate. Firstly, our aim is to gather people into Passive House buildings. Secondly, we want to create groups of “houses of vitality”; we would love to see Passive House buildings everywhere in the community.
Our board member and his colleague loved the name straight away. They pondered it for a while and introduced it to the rest of the board, who thought it was great and suggested the addition of ki Aotearoa.
So, the name was adopted through a ceremony, held online due to Covid-19, with board members conducting a karakia and mihi – Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa. Here is a link to the original story about this. We are grateful to everyone who had input into this.
Ngā Mihi Nui
Amy Tankard
CEO Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa
We were very pleased to have Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw from The Workshop keynote at SPPHC19 (video and slides available here – it is highly recommended watching before making use of the checklist below)
Subsequently, PHINZ has worked with Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw to develop a checklist for our members. It is intended to help you advocate for Passive House by communicating its proven benefits using accurate and compelling story-telling.
It is free to download on the resources page.
Within the industry and media, there are occasionally claims that buildings meet or exceed the Passive House standard simply because they might include particular features or approaches that are similar to Passive House. For example, they achieve a good air-tightness result, include insulation above the building code minimum, or use very little energy for heating. It is incorrect to claim that such a building is a Passive House unless it can be shown to be designed and constructed according to all the certification criteria.
PHINZ have taken legal advice and, based on a similar document from the UK, produced a technical briefing outlining relevant NZ law and clarifying PHINZ’s position on claims of the “Passive House Standard” and how the terms “Passive House” and Passivhaus” should be used in Aotearoa NZ.
It is free to download on the resources page.
PHINZ, Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa, the Passive House Institute New Zealand welcomes the government announcement on Thursday (30/07/20) of a planned $500 million investment into the Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities Retrofit Programme.
The good news is this housing for our most vulnerable people will be made warmer, drier, better ventilated and more airtight. Other positives are the job opportunities this will create within the local communities, and retrofitting of existing homes means that the embodied carbon remains in the buildings.
At this stage Kāinga Ora aims to bring these buildings up to existing new build and Homestar 6-star rating level. However, the government’s recently announced Building for Climate Change Programme and associated consultation makes it clear that the existing building code is inadequate both in terms of ensuring healthy buildings for those who inhabit them, and for meeting New Zealand’s 2050 carbon targets.
PHINZ CEO Amy Tankard points out that;
“Aiming to the current minimum standard, whilst making the housing much better than it was, means that the newly retrofitted housing will soon fall below minimum standard again. Slightly better but still-not-great buildings will be unlikely to be revisited in the near future, thus Kāinga Ora risks locking in mediocrely performing, high emission buildings for another 50 years.”
Passive House is a building standard with tools and methods to accurately model how a building will perform prior to any building or retrofitting is started. The performance in terms of thermal comfort, air quality, moisture and heating energy use is measurable, and of the highest level. The quality of life that building or retrofitting to Passive House standard can deliver is hugely beneficial to the people living in those homes.
Passive House certified homes are likely to be the only ones that currently meet or exceed future efficiency requirements for the government’s Building for Climate Change Programme and New Zealand’s 2050 net-zero carbon target.
Passive House designers and consultants, a list of which can be found on the PHINZ website, are trained in energy modelling new and existing buildings and establishing the most cost-effective upgrade measures for the best outcomes. These retrofits could be planned to deliver really great, healthy buildings to the Passive House standard. When this is not possible, practical or affordable to achieve in a single intervention, a series of retrofit steps can be planned with a defined target and timeline to reach the desired outcomes.
On Radio NZ on 9 July, Alex Baker, Sustainability Programme Manager of Kāinga Ora said they were looking at Passive Housing, and “We’ve also got 50,000 houses around the country that will need major reinvestment over the next 10 to 20 years. And that in itself is an opportunity to significantly shift the performance of those buildings.”
Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa, the Passive House Institute New Zealand, extends our support and encouragement to Kāinga Ora in delivering quality, healthy homes for people, their whanau and communities.
Amy Tankard, CEO of PHINZ was interviewed on RNZ Nine To Noon on the 9th of July, alongside Alex Baker from Kāinga Ora and Emma Osmundsen from Exeter City Living. There is a good write up of the interview on the RNZ site here including the audio. You can also listen below.
With calls for a green edge to the post-covid recovery – and billions committed to building new state houses in New Zealand – should the Government be considering passive housing?
Passive homes require little-to-no heating because of their design. These are airtight, but ventilated and very well-insulated.
Advocates in New Zealand say there should be a legal requirement for all builds to be passive – and for social housing in particular.
PHINZ, Te Tōpūtanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa, the Passive House Institute New Zealand enthusiastically welcomes the MBIE Building for Climate Change programme announced by Ministers Salesa (Construction) and Shaw (Climate Change) last week.
MBIE explains “The changes we’re planning will make homes warmer, drier and better ventilated, and provide a healthier place for us all to work and live” and discusses setting targets for energy efficiency and carbon emissions.
This is a vision that PHINZ is aligned with and can (and is!) already be achieved by building to the Passive House standard which ensures healthy, high performing and energy efficient buildings. In support of achieving this vision, Passive House Institute New Zealand offers:
Importantly, Passive House training, tools and methodologies encompass cost effectively renovating existing buildings to a very high standard as well as designing new buildings.
Additionally, a stand out feature of the Passive House standard is that it has an excellent track record, of over 30 years worldwide and over a decade in New Zealand, of reliably achieving the intended outcomes. To tackle climate change we need buildings that deliver the emissions reductions they are designed to, not aspirational targets that never eventuate.
PHINZ CEO Amy Tankard says
“Us kiwis can be a hardy and humble bunch, often willing to make the best of limited resources and, as BRANZ reports have repeatedly shown, this has led to us accepting less than ideal conditions for our living and working spaces. With covid-19 we’ve recently seen how we can work together as a country to achieve common goals and take pride in innovative solutions to our challenges. So here it is – Passive House is a tried and tested solution, for building for climate change, scientifically proven in theory and practice.”
MBIE’s initiative sends a clear message that first costs and building to a currently inadequate Building Code are no longer the right focus. The programme is fantastic news for builders, designers and suppliers alike, paving the way for quality and fit-for-purpose products and buildings to become the norm. In turn, this market demand will mean warm, dry, healthy and energy efficient buildings should become easier and more affordable to achieve. Mandating the Passive House standard for new buildings and renovations, or specifying it as an exemption to energy efficiency requirements like the Healthy homes standards already does for heating, would be one way to accelerate this process and set Aotearoa NZ well on the way to achieving our 2050 emission reduction targets.
Minister Salesa said the Government had recently signed up to a joint statement with Australia, Canada and the United States to work together to develop building code responses to the changing climate. This is also good news as there are already jurisdictions in both Canada and the United States that offer incentives or exemptions for developers building certified Passive House buildings.
PHINZ welcomes the opportunity to work with MBIE and all stakeholders on this programme and recommends the government look to the leadership already shown by PHINZ members in this area, especially those with professional passive house qualifications.
This programme is a historic call to action, and PHINZ will continue to advocate for the government to make bold decisions and get this right for Aotearoa NZ
After the “High-performance buildings at scale” event, Emma Osmundsen of Exeter City Living kindly shared a short video with us. It is a conversation taking place between some of the Keir Construction team on the construction site of the St Loyes Extra Care Facility for Exeter City Council. More about the project on the website of the architect, Architype UK.
Enjoy!
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