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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Agricultural Land | DABv1 | November 2020 | 24 - Sustainable Sites | Conditional Requirement: Ecological Protection and Highly Productive Land | Link |
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Approved Ruling: Both the Green Star Design and As Built and Communities tools have as a conditional requirement that the land to be built on is not Prime Agricultural Land. The Government is proposing a National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) to improve the way highly productive land is managed under the Resource Management Act 1991 - more information here. In light of our recent survey and developments in central government around this issue NZGBC has decided the forthcoming Highly Productive Land guidance is very likely to be used in Green Star. From this point forward any mention of “Prime Agricultural Land” will be replaced with “Highly Productive Land.” Once the final NPS-HPL Statement is issued, if any significant modifications to this TQ is necessary, an updated TQ will be issued. The criteria for Highly Productive Land will be: 1. The capability and versatility of the land to support primary production based on the LUC classification system - currently this will be LUC1-3 land using this website using the "NZLRI Land Use Capability" layer 2. Highly Productive Land excludes all urban zoned areas and all future urban zoned areas in district plans. Project teams are highly encouraged to ensure their site fulfil the minimal requirements in the Sustainable Sites credit prior to expending time on a project. If there are any questions about this credit the project team is highly encouraged to contact NZGBC for clarification |
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