Home Style Green

Robert Whitehouse wants to build houses that work the way they should, and he's thinking about how to make them affordable for everyone.

The uPVC window market is relatively small in Australia right now, but it's growing fast. I caught up with Kathrin Sender, Managing Director at Integra Windows recently to find out what's so good about uPVC windows and doors.

Ian Chamberlain learnt his craft as a cabinet maker and joiner in the UK. Nearly 40 years on, he's now crafting beautiful and high performing homes in Taupo, New Zealand. What are the most important things to ensure you get the comfortable, energy-efficient home you deserve and can afford? More at https://homestylegreen.com/212 Brought to you by Endurobuilders and LABDesign. Music attribution: Carefree by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3476-carefree License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Energy Architecture is based in Wellington and specialises in Passive House design with leading expertise in designing for SIP construction. Find out more, and contact Guy Shaw via their website.

Enduro Builders is quickly becoming one of the leading builders of high performance and sustainable homes in Australia. I met up with Jackson while he was nearing completion of another stunning home in the Adelaide Hills during a trip in late 2019. In this chat, we discussed how Jackson got into building in the first place and how Enduro Builders is helping to lead an important change in the Australian residential building market.

Ben Ingledew has a background in teaching, but following the Canterbury Earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, he took a new path which eventually lead to Livewel Construction. Livewel Construction focusses on energy-efficient, comfortable homes and renovations. Ben in Certified Passive House Tradesperson and a member of the Superhome Movement.

Aluminium is stable, completely recyclable and relatively abundant, but it's also a great conductor of heat. It's the dominant choice of material for window and door frames in New Zealand, accounting for 90% of the market. But how can you make it a more sustainable choice? OMEGA Windows and Doors offers some good options. Dyann Stewart learnt computer-aided design (CAD) while working as a receptionist for New Zealand sailor Digby Taylor. With this valuable skill, Dyann soon found herself working as a junior designer for Nulook. From Nulook, she worked briefly with Fletcher Aluminium as a Technical Advisor, and then on to Fairview where she eventually become Group Technical Manager. She is now the Business Development Manager at OMEGA Windows and Doors where she's already helped the company achieve the significant accreditation of becoming the first Red List Free aluminium joinery supplier in New Zealand.

Design Basics has as unique point of difference. They value and promote the input of women in the design process. I discuss with Executive Vice President Natalie Wendling, and Vice President of Business Development, Paul Foresman; the concept of 'Women-Centric Home Design' and how it can benefit everyone.

Green certification of building projects faces multiple challenges; from sourcing appropriate products, documenting and verifying materials, through to minimising, sorting and recording construction waste. Compiling all this information in a form that's useful for the certifying agency can be yet another big challenge. Through Green Badger, Tommy Linstroth's goals is to make sustainability in the built environment as easy as possible. Green Badger is a cloud-based software platform that helps builders and contractors streamline and automate green building compliance. Simplifying these compliance processes allows builders and contractors to focus on building their building properly instead of chasing paperwork.

Jo Woods and Shay Brazier have been saving money on power since they moved into their Zero Energy House. At the same time, their home has been drier, healthier and warmer in winter than most New Zealand houses. Now Shay is continuing to help others achieve similar savings and benefits by looking into the feasibility of solar and energy efficiency technologies for building products via his new company Revolve Energy.

John Dupra is changing the way people select and buy hardwood flooring. His story about the creation of Revel Woods offers some valuable ideas about how others might bring the building industry into the age of e-commerce. Rather than a product-based sourcing method, Revel Woods now applies a project-based method to come up with viable solutions for their customers to choose from. Revel Woods asks customers about their project first. The customer is then only given options that will match their location, intended use, and style preference. John's story is a great example of putting the customer and the project first. Revel Woods have developed a user-friendly website and an algorithm-driven selection process to make a technical decision, accessible to anyone. How could the lessons of Revel Woods and Trunk Club before them, be applied further across the building industry? What does the future look like for your product or service, and why don't you be the one to create that future?

John and Nikki decided to put all their energy and attention in the home they’ve created. John gave up the idea of an office in Auckland and saved substantial city rent in the process. Now, rather than having an empty and sterile show home in a remote location, they have their own comfortable home, that's already drawn some attention. And their home is the base of their new venture - a prefabricated sustainable and architecturally designed house called modhouse.

In 2001, Lindsay Schack and Lindsey Love both started a Masters of Architecture at Montana State University. A decade on, the two friends created Love Schack Architecture together, from their respective home towns in Montana and Idaho. Love Schack Architecture combines Lindsey Love's experience and passion for natural materials, with Lindsay Schack's Certification as a Passive House Institute-US, Consultant.

After working as a Building Surveyor for over thirteen years, Nick Gaites is now turning his attention to the positive work of designing really awesome buildings that shouldn't need to the services a surveyor down the track. Nick has become a Certified Passive House Designer.

In 2003, thermal performance requirements for residential buildings were added to the Building Code of Australia for the first time. The initial performance requirement was 4 Stars in the National House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) as simulated using the benchmark software AccuRate. In 2006, the requirement rose to 5 Stars, then to 10 Stars in 2010. This all sounds great. The increasing rating requirements of NatHERS provides a measurable and predictable target for improving the energy efficiency of Australian homes. But the building products industry wanted to know, how accurate is AccuRate?

There's a new building enclosure consultancy in town. They're called Oculus and they've got a a great philosophy as well as a lot of international experience. I caught up with James Raimondo, a Senior Building Enclosure Engineer at Oculus to learn a bit more about the engineering and science of what they do.

Within the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt, there is a small group of people dedicated to coordinating the efforts of over 20 Passive House Affiliate organisations around the world. This group is the the International Passive House Association (iPHA). Giorgia Tzar is the head of International Communications for iPHA and I caught up with her following the Passive House Conference in Heidelberg this year.

"A lifetime of healthiness achieved through housing" is the mission statement of Phoenix Haus. What would it take to get an operation like this up and running in New Zealand?

SIPs - Structural Insulated Panels are pretty much what they say they are. Why aren't more designers and builders using this way of building energy efficient, warm, dry houses?

Jessica Grove-Smith has a Masters degree in Physics from the University of Sussex, UK. She's studied in Australia and Spain, done volunteer work in Africa and India and completed an internship in Denmark. She wanted to do something meaningful with her knowledge of physics, and in 2008 Jessica began another internship, this time at the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt. Now she's a Senior Scientist and Director at the Institute.