BBWG’s Second Newsletter
WELCOME TO 2024!
The BBWG would like to wish you a Happy New Year! We hope your year will be full of successful builds and projects and hopefully in a way that helps build a better Queenstown Lakes District.
In this edition we'll touch on:
Update of BBWG's strategy session
Focus on: Passive Housing on the Rise
Upcoming Events
Please forward this to anyone that could be interested in jumping on board with better building. To register for the newsletter, click HERE.
BBWG’s Strategy
End of 2023, we got together to review our strategy. Focal areas for the coming year will be:
Partnership and Collaboration
Circular Economy
Getting rid of toxic materials in the industry
How to be Climate Smart
As the year rolls on, we'll be bringing you more information on the above.
THIS MONTHS FOCUS:
PASSIVE BUILDINGS ON THE RISE
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘰 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨
Carolin Friese, architect and founder of Carolin Friese Architecture, gave a tour of her own elegantly designed passive house during the Summit. Friese explained how airtightness and airflow are the two core intertwining concepts of any Passive House.
Friese's in-person home tour showed viewers how passive homes substantially decrease owner's living expenses by reducing the need to heat or cool the home due to intelligent home design and state of the art air filtration systems.
Not only do Passive Homes help homeowner's back pocket, but they are also inherently healthier places to live thanks to such homes' excellent air filtration systems.
In a world where decreasing your household costs and increasing your own health are top of mind, the term Passive House is becoming more common.
In December there was a "Passive House at the Pub" event held at Wānaka's B.Effect in which those interested in the concept could come together to simply talk about passive homes. This will be ongoing, so feel free to come along to the next one on March 5 at B.Effect!
Not only is Passive House an increasingly common term among homeowners and potential home builders, but also for those in the trades. Jessica Eyers, who led the first Wao Summit Passive House tour at the Luggate Community Hall, is leading a Certified Passive House Tradesperson (CET) course in Dunedin from February 12-16. Event link below in the "Upcoming Events" section.
The Passive House Institute of New Zealand lists 51 passive house projects across the country. This includes both completed and yet to be completed builds. Of the 51 there are six passive house projects in the Queenstown Lakes District. These include projects such as Wānaka's very own Dunlop Builders, who lay claim to New Zealand's first commercial passive office, and the Luggate Memorial Centre.
For more information around Passive House concepts, check out the Passive House Institute New Zealand's website.
Photos © Carolin Friese Architecture
UPCOMING EVENTS
LOCAL EVENTS
CERTIFIED PASSIVE HOUSE TRADESPERSON (CET) COURSE - 12-16 February | 10am-4pm | Dunedin. Five day course at the end of which you may sit the externally assessed exam to become a Certified Passive House Tradesperson with the specialisation "Building Envelope".
BETTER BUILDING BREKKIE - 22 February 7:00am | PlaceMakers Wānaka. Come to PlaceMakers on Thursday 22nd of February for a free brekkie. A small presentation will be given to show what can be done on and off building sites to help reduce waste and build sustainably.
PASSIVE HOUSE @ THE PUB - 5 March 6pm | B.Effect Wānaka. No agendas, presentations, formalities, just rock up, buy yourself a drink and nibbles, head upstairs to the mezzanine to catch-up with folks with an interest in Passive House.
NATIONAL EVENTS
DECARBONISING NEW ZEALAND - 19-20 February | Cordis, Auckland. Brightstar's 3rd Annual Decarbonising New Zealand - -Brightstar's 3rd Annual Decarbonising New Zealand event. Join likeminds for an interchange of in-depth knowledge and collaboration across organisations to tackle decarbonising.
Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to read the FIRST Better Building Newsletter and hopefully sharing it with other like minded individuals and groups!
We aspire to make this as best a resource as we can for the Queenstown Lakes District building community, and welcome any feedback. If you have any suggestion for content you'd like to see in this newsletter or any events that you'd like us to help promote, please email betterbuilding@wao.co.nz.
