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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
Custom welded sections for beams and columns Green Star Buildings NZ, DABv1, DABv1.1 July 2025 19 - Life Cycle Assessment/Impacts, 21 - Upfront Carbon Emissions
Approved Ruling:
Custom welded sections for beams and columns spanning more than 30m can be assumed to be 100% sourced from domestic steel plate with an emission factor of 4,092 kg.CO2e/tonne in the reference building. This is in recognition of evidence supplied to NZGBC that custom made large span beams and columns are generally domestically sourced.
 
For clarity, the definition of the reference building for Warehouse type buildings may include portal frames over 30m and this large span steel would use this new emission factor.