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 Green Star Technical Clarification Rulings

Technical Clarifications for Green Star represent our answers to Technical Questions submitted by projects, and provide further guidance and reference to others. The list is regularly updated.

There are two types of Technical Clarifications listed in the table below:

General Clarifications

These are extensions to the guidance provided in the Submission Guidelines. They clarify and sometimes supersede the original Credit Criteria or 
Compliance Requirements. General Clarifications set precedent for future project teams to follow. Should a project team wish to apply a general clarification to its project, there is no requirement for further Technical Questions to be submitted. NZGBC Assessors will also use them as precedents to assess submissions.

Project Specific Clarifications

These are published as references for other projects but, unlike General Clarifications, they do not set precedent. They often relate to special 
situations where multiple prerequisites exist for a particular project and are less likely to reoccur to another project. Therefore, rulings set for Project Specific Clarifications are often conditional and will likely vary for other projects. Each project still needs to submit its own Technical Questions and provides evidence relating to its own building in order to have a similar ruling approved for that specific building. 

Should you wish to apply any Technical Clarification for legacy rating tools to your projects, please submit a Technical Question to the NZGBC to 
explain why and how it applies. You can download the Technical Question form here

Clarification Type Tool Version Month Released Credit Name Sub-credit Name Tool Category Amendment/Approved Ruling
General DABv1 1/5/2022 9 - Indoor Air Quality Ventilation System Attributes
General DABv1, DABv1.1 1/6/2024 26 - Light Pollution Light Pollution to Neighbouring Bodies
General DABv1 1/11/2020 18 - Potable Water Sanitary Fixture Efficiency
General DABv1 1/11/2020 14 - Thermal Comfort Thermal Comfort
General DABv1 1/11/2020 5 - Commitment to Performance End-of-life Waste Performance

In lieu of a 'make good' lease clause between the building owner and the tenant(s), the project team may provide another suitable formal commitment that indicates the building owner will undertake those commitments and responsibilities. The formal commitment must be a separate legal agreement and/or a memorandum of understanding (MoU), and address all the credit compliance requirements.

General DABv1 1/1/2021 9 - Indoor Air Quality Provision of Outdoor Air
General DABv1 1/11/2020 11 - Lighting Comfort Localised Lighting Control

A project team may target the credit criteria Localised Lighting Control for a base building targeting a Green Star - Design & As Built rating, by installing a DALI system within the base building, which can then be utilized by the tenant to deliver localized lighting control. Project teams must provide a Tenancy Fitout Guide (or similar) to the tenant, which contains relevant information about the DALI system.  

General DABv1 1/8/2021 29 - Innovation Global Sustainability
General DABv1, DABv1.1 1/5/2024 19 - Life Cycle Assessment/Impacts Comparative Life Cycle Assessment

The default service life in all LCA calculations is to be 50 years (not 60) to align with NZBC and the DAB v1.1.1 Submission Guideline. 

General DABv1 1/12/2020 15 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The definition for Reference Projects is amended as below:
A hypothetical building of the same size, shape and floor area as the Proposed Building, but whose building fabric and building services characteristics are based predominantly on the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions as defined in this document.