LowCO House

A three-bedroom home in South Auckland is a beacon of change for residential building.  

The 10 Homestar rated dwelling speaks a new low-carbon language about housing in Aotearoa. 

Essentials 

What: LowCO House (Low Carbon 1.5°C) 

Details: 120 square metre prefabricated house; three bedrooms, two bathrooms, single garage; near to three compact LowCO terrace units 

Where:  Waiata Shores subdivision (FL); former Manukau Golf Course in Takanini 

Owner: Fletcher Living; leading developer of communities in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtautahi Christchurch; currently building 900 to 1000 homes per year  

Address: 91 Waituarua Drive, South Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau  

Project certification: 10 Homestar version 5 built rating (April 2024)  

Project Snapshot 

Concept design: Strachan Group Architects 

Detailed/developed design: Architype  

Landscape architect: Beca 

Building Science: Sustainable Engineering  

Homestar professional: Sustainable Engineering  

Project timeline: design commenced early 2021; design completed August 2022; construction commenced May 2023; full completion January 2024; tenanted July 2024                              
Sitting in its streetscape pleasant-looking, neatly-proportioned LowCO House doesn’t give much away. 

Its timber piles, dissimilar to the concrete slab floors of surrounding homes, are the only hint this unassuming home is a sustainable superstar. Set on a 431 square metre section, the timber-clad dwelling is a testing ground and launchpad for Fletcher Living’s ambitious LowCO project, designed to help Aotearoa reach its climate change goals. 

Delivering mind-blowingly low-carbon, low-energy and low-water use results, LowCO asks and answers questions about why and how this country needs to up its game around high performance residential housing. Fletcher Living’s Head of Sustainability, Nicola Tagiston says LowCO is the result of a three year journey with a relentless focus of carbon reduction, water efficiency and biodiversity. 

“We were galvanised by a 2020 report from BRANZ and Massey University - the first study of its kind to calculate a carbon budget for standalone New Zealand homes - which found housing must shrink its carbon footprint by 80 percent if we’re to stay within two degrees of global warming.” 

“The LowCO House is our bold response to the challenge of building sustainable homes - within Aotearoa’s carbon budget. It is a testament to what we can achieve when we prioritise the needs of future generations and push the boundaries of what’s possible in construction today.” 

Fletcher Living assembled a team of passionate industry experts to drive the project. An intense focus on LCA, meticulous energy-modelling, testing scenarios and dynamic green technologies informed decision-making across design, materials and systems. 

LowCO House:  

• uses seven times less carbon and half the electricity of a standard built home 
  
• 80 percent potable water savings 
  
• 90 percent diversion of materials from landfill during construction
• reduced carbon and improved ecological performance through on-lot landscaping  
• tenanted for three years; post-occupancy tracking of consumption against reduction targets; six monthly occupancy experience reviews
• all IP publicly released (architecture, landscape plans, full product lists) 
• project learnings shared with government/industry groups to impact systemic change 

Fletcher Living is developing a plan to scale components of the LowCO House and higher performance construction details across its builds. Nicola says the 10 Homestar rating for the LowCO House has been validating. 

“We knew the project established a new industry high-water mark from a volume home builder. It’s great to have received the highest independant rating – it reflects the hard work behind the scenes on design and material choices, waste minimisation, radical water efficiency and pioneering on-lot landscaping.” 

Architype architect, Tim Ross says the form of the house was designed around simplicity of construction with shading to the north and sheltered deck spaces to the east and west. 

“We hope the LowCO House is outstanding for its occupants and provides excellent data for Fletcher Living. We want houses with this kind of performance to become the norm.” 

• prefabricated wall system etc (reducing waste) – morphed from a suspended timber floor to a weather-tight building with a roof in one day 
  
• external wood fibre insulation - seen as an industry game-changer for improved building envelope performance without increasing embodied carbon 
  
• air source heat pump providing efficient seasonal heating/ cooling. Water and electricity charges predicted to be very low.
  

Ensuring LowCO delivered superior low-carbon environmental and community outcomes has also been vital. 

Low carbon landscape architect, Craig Pocock says the project tested on-lot design and landscape performance.  

A holistic design philosophy meant issues from biodiversity and community food production to sustainable stormwater management came into play. 

Homestar goals and sustainable guidelines were folded into processes. 

Edible landscapes, sharing fruit trees, minimising rainwater run-off from low function hard surfaces and environmentally-resilient timber for deck surfaces were part of the mix. 

“We’ve created a template to reset the residential housing and landscape industry to a low carbon future – this could have a profoundly positive climate impact on both private and government housing providers,” says Craig. 

Sustainable Engineering Building Science Analyst, Jessica Eyers says the project’s commitment to excellence in every Homestar category has been a standout feature. 
 
She says Aotearoa needs to quickly transition towards more sustainable homes and Fletcher Living is transforming the volume building sector by showcasing what’s commercially possible.

“LowCO is about influencing the specification of green technologies and unearthing ways to improve home building performance at scale.” 

“The commercialisation of LowCO House will drive green construction growth and shift the entire supply chain - changing the way Aotearoa constructs homes.”