In the News: NZCB’s advocacy helps shape insulation reforms

Minister Chris Penk announced today that MBIE will adopt a new method for calculating insulation needs in New Zealand homes, following advocacy by NZCB, EBOSS and others.

The new system will move away from the current “schedule approach” which prescribes how much insulation is required in a house in different parts of the country to a new “whole of house approach”, in which a builder can use online tools to calculate or model how much insulation is needed based on total heat loss.

In mid-2024, MBIE first announced the building code H1 regulations around insulation were going to be reviewed and possibly repealed. In response, NZCB argued forcefully that they should not be rolled back but should be applied in a more nuanced way.

NZCB research conducted in collaboration with EBOSS and YourQS showed that H1 insulation standards were not adding much to the cost of new builds but were significantly improving the healthiness of New Zealand homes. However, it showed that there were improvements that could be made in the way insulation needs were calculated.

NZCB chief executive Malcolm Fleming said the removal of the “blunt instrument” that was the schedule method was good news and demonstrated the minister was listening to the industry.

“These are sensible and pragmatic changes to the H1 regulations. They’ve been in action for two years now, and it is not uncommon to make appropriate adjustments to such systems as time goes by.”

Read the full story on Stuff.

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