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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 access the online Technical Question form here

Technical Question Title Tool Version Date Released Credit Name Sub-credit Name TC Link
Retained Elements can be included in Credit 19 Life Cycle Impacts and Credit 21 Sustainable Products. DABv1 October 2023 19 - Life Cycle Assessment/Impacts, 21 - Sustainable Products Sustainable Products, Life Cycle Impacts
Approved Ruling:

Projects that include retained elements of a building structure and/or envelope can include these elements in both Credit 19 Life Cycle Impacts (either 19A and 19B.3) and Credit 21 Sustainable Products (21A Reused Products). This is to encourage and reward projects which refurbish existing buildings rather than demolishing them.

This supersedes the Technical Clarification for Credit 21 issued 10/19, noting if a project is also targeting Credit 19 Life Cycle Impacts, only building materials that have eligible additional Transparency or Sustainability Initiatives will be recognised for claiming additional points in the ‘Sustainable Products’ Credit.

Note this clarification is only applicable to retained elements of a building. The existing Technical Clarification issued 10/19 still applies to all newly installed products.