Celebrating World Environment Day with Government confirming thousands more healthy homes

On January 31 New Zealand Green Building Council held a Day of Truth.

This was a day where developers, practitioners, owners and others could have a say on Homestar and the future of homes in New Zealand. It builds on Homestar registrations growing tenfold over the last year and a half

Here are a few of the thoughts we received on the day:

• “Few people are using Homestar for existing homes”
• “It’s great to have a mechanism to independently check quality”
• “Homestar is good, it just needs to be made quicker”
• “Homestar needs to be configured for apartments ”
• “Windows with thermal breaks should be better incentivized ”
• “Slab-edge insulation is challenging for the warmer north of the NZ where it is not standard practice”
• “Homestar 6 is technically not too onerous – many housebuilders are building to a similar standard – lower costs and complexity of certification will increase uptake ”
• “Council building inspectors might have a role in certifying Homestar”

Thank you to all those that contributed. The feedback is really useful, and is being taken on board, along with thoughts from the CEO roadshow, the members’ survey and discussions in person / email with people like you in the sector.

The feedback from these events and interactions has been considered in some depth. A major revision of Homestar is being undertaken to provide you:

• simpler, quicker and cheaper processes
• less technical and more consumer friendly language
• a rating that is amenable to existing homes – with a minimum standard (sitting below Homestar 6) that will be extremely simple to certify

The development of an app is also being considered to help improve workflow. The new version, version 4 or v4, will be released by July, 2017.

NZGBC CEO Andrew Eagles says “This is an exciting time. Homestar has significant market uptake. It is really starting to gain traction. We are building upon this by working with the sector to make significant improvement to Homestar and the process around it. Watch this space”

We welcome further thoughts, feedback or requests for involvement. Send these through to info@nzgbc.org.nz.