In the News: NZCB welcomes new proposals on H1 building regulations

Building Minister Chris Penk has responded to concerns raised by NZCB about a potential rollback of insulation standards, proposing instead more sophisticated methods for calculating how much insulation new homes need.

Rather than setting a pre-determined level of insulation required by all new builds (the schedule method), MBIE is proposing to move towards a calculation method, advocated for by NZCB, which would take into account the specific build and determine how much insulation was required for the build to meet the standards.

NZCB Chief Executive Malcolm Fleming welcomes the move, signalled in a new public consultation document MBIE has released on changes to H1 building standards, which deal with insulation.

Speaking to The Post and to Newstalk ZB, Malcolm said the industry was concerned several months ago when the Minister signalled that H1 regulations might be removed completely, due to claims that the regulations imposed excessively high costs on new builds.

NZCB disputed the figures, saying the new regulations added very little extra cost to new builds, pointing to research it had commissioned using new NZCB Studio plans as case studies.

“The proposals show the minister has listened to industry views, and is not going to roll back the regulations that we support, so New Zealanders will still get warm, cosy new build homes.

“It is a good outcome, and shows the minister has listened to industry, including the research we did with EBOSS that provided much needed hard data to inform the H1 cost discussion, and that’s encouraging.”

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