What were your early career intentions and what led you to study engineering?
It took me a long time to define my career and even now I’m constantly learning and adapting it! I decided to study engineering at university as it kept a lot of career opportunities open. During my studies I developed an interest in computer modelling and specifically computational fluid dynamics (CFD). After a brief career as a CFD engineer and reading an article on the zero energy development BedZED in the UK I decided I wanted to work in sustainability in the built environment.
What piqued your interest in sustainability?
Sustainability has always been a way of life for me. I grew up in Cornwall, surrounded by nature and wind turbines. My mum was a keen recycler at home, long before the days of convenient curb side collection. She would also often take me to talks on the natural environment and conservation. These talks made me realise from a very young age that the way we choose to live has both a direct and indirect impact on the surrounding environment and the creatures we share it with. It wasn’t until later in life that I realised how I could combine this way of life with a career.
What global trends and drivers are you seeing in the sustainability and business spaceWe are starting to see a shift towards regenerative design. Currently this is happening in small pockets internationally, including locations in Aotearoa, but this trend is growing. Being sustainable is about having a neutral impact, but we have already done so much damage to our world that this is not enough. We need to move beyond that net zero mark to have a positive impact on the environment, enabling nature (including ourselves) to thrive. In Aotearoa, we are surrounded by beautiful countryside so it’s easy to think this might not be so relevant here. But, we know our waterways are polluted and there are several endemic species that are on the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, climate change and introduced pests and pets.
Two of my favourite places in Aotearoa are the Poor Knights reserve and Tiritiri Matangi island. These places are rich with sea life and bird life, but they aren’t accessible to everyone. Globally, however we are starting to see an increase in focus on biodiversity and nature in the built environment. For example, in the UK the Environment Act 2021 mandates that all new developments achieve a net gain in biodiversity. Imagine if that became a requirement here too. We would be able to experience some of that richness without having to travel far at all.
How has studying and working in England informed your work in Aotearoa? What do you think we could learn from the UK regarding sustainability
I’ve been in Aotearoa so long now that I’m not sure my experiences in the UK still inform my work here. Speaking generally, I think we can look to the UK for ideas for how we can embed sustainability into our business-as-usual approach and how we can set out a clear pathway towards meeting our climate change targets. For example, the UK has a much more rigorous and holistic Building Code for energy efficiency.
It looks at insulation, glazing performance, ventilation, airtightness and also considers overheating. Our Building Code has recently seen a great improvement in insulation and glazing performance but is still lacking in good standards for the other elements. With Homestar v5 I think we will see a shift in the industry in the right direction despite this as it takes this holistic approach to energy efficiency. This approach to energy efficiency is based off the Passive House standard which is the ultimate goal. Homestar v5 is also starting to engage the industry with thinking about overheating in homes. With increasing temperatures due to climate change this is only going to become more relevant in the future.
Likewise with the new Green Star Buildings Tool that is just about to be launched and the pathway to having absolute performance limits for buildings. If we want to see significant changes to our energy use nationally, we need to start working towards absolute carbon embodied and operational targets. This has already been signalled as the way forward by MBIE in their Building for Climate Change frameworks, but I think the Green Star Buildings tool will ultimately pave the way for this approach to become the norm within the industry.
What are the biggest challenges and opportunities we face to decarbonise our built environment?
Our biggest challenge is ourselves! We have a lot of the skills and knowledge to make the changes we need, but we are currently moving too slowly, doing too little and often still in an approach that is too siloed. I think humans are often held back by a fear of change and because projects often become too defined by tight timeframes and focused on capital costs. We need to bring our focus to outcomes and long-term value that we can add to projects. The opportunities lie around become better at collaborating, sharing knowledge and supporting each other to move forwards so that no one is left behind. He waka eke noa, we’re all in this together. The NZGBC’s and GBCA’s Masterclasses are great spaces for sharing knowledge.
What changes do you hope to see with the regarding energy usage in our buildings and homes?
We need to be thinking much more holistically about energy in the built environment. Not just about energy efficiency, but how and when energy is used. Shifting loads so that they coincide with any onsite renewable energy generation or lower cost energy, and even being able to adjust load in response to the demand on the grid. Hopefully with the new Green Star Buildings tool and the Grid Resilience credit we will see a lot of growth in this space fairly soon in commercial buildings.
Within new housing developments I think we will see more community energy systems. These might be community PV connected to a customer network, centralised hot water systems and in the colder parts of the country shared GSHP ground loops. To get the most economic benefit from these shared systems communities will need to be smart about how energy is used not just at the building level, but across the development. For example, having systems that manage load for the residents across the development, to provide the optimum economic outcome for those residents and reduce their impact on the mains grid. Hot water and EV charging are two easy ones within homes as they are often big loads and can be programmed to match PV generation or to suit demand control requirements. We are already seeing many Clients asking about how they can building communities be more resilience to changing energy costs in the future.
How can we make our built environment more climate resilient and embed practices to achieve this in our industry?
Two of the most common outcomes we expect to see in the built environment as a result of climate change predictions are an increased risk of overheating and an increase in impact from more severe storm events. How we develop land has a big impact on our climate resilience. If you look at the standard housing development in Aotearoa it is made up of detached houses each with their own section with vehicle access. This creates a lot of hard surfaces that can be problematic both with regards to managing stormwater and also retaining heat. By building higher density housing typologies and leaving more space for nature we can create developments that are more climate resilient, but also potentially have a lower upfront impact through the use of less high impact materials (e.g. carbon). These types of developments can be at a lower risk of flooding through the use of ecosystem services to help manage the impact of storm events. These natural spaces could also provide other benefits such as supporting physical and mental health of the residents, and providing a cleaner, healthier and cooler local environment.
Overheating within buildings is already a problem and with increasing air temperatures we will see this problem grow without good design. Thankfully we already have some good tools and solutions for mitigating this problem. Using thermal modelling we can get an indication of thermal performance and using approaches such as CIBSE TM52 or TM59 we can start to understand overheating risks and develop appropriate mitigation solutions. These solutions need to be built into the building envelope, we should not be solely reliant on mechanical systems to keep our buildings comfortable as this could just lead to greater energy costs and challenges in the future. We need to also ensure a level of resilience that enables a building to be useable even in a power cut.
Do you have a favourite green building?
Yes the Zero Energy House in Auckland! It achieved an 8 Homestar rating under the second version of the rating tool and a Net Zero Energy certification from the Living Building challenge. My partner, Shay Brazier, and I were intimately involved in the design and build of this home, but it was the collaboration of designers and builders that made this project so successful and such a joy to be a part of. It’s now our family home and every day I am so thankful to live in a comfortable, healthy home.