Last year we wrote about the debate on the H1 insulation standards, and whether they needed to change. Minister of Construction Chris Penk directed the Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to investigate further when some in the sector said the new H1 rules could cause overheating and would be too expensive to implement.
The Government has since been reviewing the rules, as well as feedback from across the industry. MBIE consultation finished at the end of February. As a result, the focus of change has largely shifted from insulation to ventilation standards.
Many submissions highlighted that poor housing design, rather than increased insulation, was the cause of overheating and increased costs. In particular, the way ventilation is designed and installed can have a real impact on the liveability of a home.
At Auckland’s recent
Housing Summit, Minister Penk said energy efficiency standards had got "out of whack" with requirements to ventilate homes. "It seems to me that the ventilation part of the Building Code needs an update and obviously the insulation or rather energy efficiency element has been addressed in the sense of the H1 rules.”
Expect to see changes and potentially further consultation on this in the near future.
Meanwhile, MBIE has proposed scrapping the schedule method for calculating a home’s insulation requirements as an option to increase design flexibility and bring down costs. The schedule method is essentially just adding up all the components, which often results in significantly higher costs than other methods.
MBIE recommends using the calculation method when working out how much insulation you need for your build. It lets you mix and match different insulation elements to get the best result – and it’s a lot cheaper.
MBIE has also consulted on adapting building framing ratios to better meet insulation specifications, and whether energy loss from framing needs to be more of a factor when calculating insulation. Guidance for the industry is due soon.
For more information on the H1 Energy Efficiency consultation, visit the
MBIE website.
