Photo by Mark de Jong on Unsplash
Happy new year. I hope you are well and had a fantastic break. Last year saw tremendous steps forward with major commitments to drive lower carbon healthier buildings through changes to the building code and energy labels on buildings. Government procurement also stepped up driving greener healthier buildings for new government projects.
This year, the goal remains the same. With your help we are going to achieve even more on the journey to make all homes and buildings in Aotearoa green and sustainable, making healthier, happier New Zealanders.
A major initiative for 2023 has already been set. You may have seen the launch of a diverse, powerful new alliance calling for our politicians to commit to a major retrofit programme to tackle the woeful state of our homes. Originally boasting 22 signatories from across numerous sectors, The Homes We Deserve has boomed to over 100 supporters - demonstrating the need and desire for better, warmer, more efficient homes for everyone. Sign up here to show your support
That alliance is just the start, and will no doubt continue to grow and become harder for our political parties to ignore. 2023 is of course an election year, presenting an opportunity for our country's leaders to further gauge what's important for New Zealanders and set out their strategies for addressing the challenges we face. We expect housing, cost of living and climate to be key. Over the next few months there will be more research released and advocacy work bringing some of our industry’s key challenges and solutions to the fore.
At the same time, our certifications are helping guide further industry change and performance. Next week from 1 February, all new Homestar projects registered will be under the new v5. It's an important step, and one that will contribute to further industry change and even better homes. If you're not already across the new version’s changes then be sure to check out our past webinars and keep an eye on our upcoming events.
We are proud that Homestar v5 is helping the sector understand how to design and build healthier more energy efficient homes and, through use of the free Homestar embodied carbon calculator (HECC), be better equipped to measure and reduce embodied carbon.
The team is also working through your feedback on the initial Green Star Buildings consultation. We expect to release the first draft of the new tool in the coming months.
The Green Property Summit in May will be a further chance for those involved in commercial buildings to engage with us and others in the sector - if you haven't already, I'd encourage you to secure your spot before it sells out like last time.
I will be talking through our advocacy work and NZGBC’s plans for the year in the next CEO update webinar on 14th February.
That's just some of what to look forward to in 2023. I'm excited and optimistic about the year ahead. With your support and mahi, I expect we'll make some significant strides towards a better build, more sustainable Aotearoa.
Ngā mihi nui,
Andrew