The New Zealand Green Building (NZGBC) is alarmed to hear Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk is considering a major U-turn to vital H1 insulation standards.
“It’s effectively ripping insulation out of our children’s homes, out of the homes of future generations, sentencing them to a life of cold housing. It’s unbelievably short-sighted,” says NZGBC chief executive Andrew Eagles.
“This afternoon we have written to the Minister, urging him to listen to the majority of the sector who support warm, energy efficient homes, and who overwhelmingly endorsed the H1 standards when they came into force.”
“The reality is, the majority of the sector are successfully working to these standards in a cost-effective way, products and materials suppliers have invested millions in new products and manufacturing to meet them, and undoing that progress would severely dent any trust or confidence in government updates going forward.”
“What’s incredibly alarming, is that the Minister appears to be ignoring evidence-based advice from officials, and we risk rolling back these vital standards based on a knee-jerk reaction to a few builders’ reckons.”
“There are no grounds for weakening insulation standards. Doing so would radically reduce the quality of New Zealand’s housing, lead to higher energy consumption, higher cost of living for occupants, higher emissions, and worse health outcomes. It’s nonsensical to consider walking back basic insulation levels.“
In the letter to the Minister, the NZGBC has outlined key recommendations for supporting the industry to reduce insulation costs and to build to H1 correctly.
“What has been missing is good education in the sector. New Zealand’s building industry has long been reliant on the schedule method which provides a simplistic approach to insulation levels. Simple project-specific modelling often shows the level of insulation to achieve H1 is far lower than provided by the schedule method – meaning worryingly many may be over-insulating elements of their homes at additional cost and exacerbating the risk of overheating.”
Andrew Eagles says any review of the H1 requirements should be aware that many concerns relate not to the standard, but how the industry is implementing it.
”Modelling provides a better house and most of the OECD require it, yet we’re not doing it here. It not only helps understand insulation, but would also help resolve moisture issues and help set up other vital Building Code updates for things like ventilation and overheating."