The Building and Construction Minister is backing scaling back some insulation standards.
The Government's called the changes 'common sense' - with building costs rising more than 40 percent since 2019.
It's expected building code insulation requirements will be relaxed by the year's end.
Chris Penk says they add huge costs.
"Depending on where you are in the country or depending on what the conditions are or which way your house faces, you don't need all of that, you just need some of that. So as long as we can get to the same good overall result without being so prescriptive, then there's money to be saved and houses to be built."
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
The Building and Construction Minister is finally pulling the trigger
on his insulation reform. The insulation requirements in the building
code are going to be made more flexible by the
end of the year. The Minister reckons it'll save the
cost of the average new build buy up to maybe
fifteen thousand dollars. Chris Pink is the Building and Construction
Minister and with us Hey, Chris.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hey, that how are you so?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And well, thank you? So explain to me how this
would work. Right at the moment, we have like a
standard one size fits all for houses. But you're going
to make this more flexible.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, that's right. We've got what we call the schedule method,
which sets out in a very prescriptive way all the
different parts of the building that need to be insulated
or double glaze in a certain way. And that adds
a huge amount of costs because in some cases, depending
on where you are in the country, or depending on
what the conditions are or which way your house faces,
you don't need all of that, you just need some
(01:04):
of that. So as long as we can get to
the same good overall result without being so prescripted of
then these money to be saved and homes to be built.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So one of the examples that you used was if
you change the size of the window, it will affect
how much insulation you need. Run me through that.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, well, I mean windows are the most vulnerable part
of the house. You can imagine they leak more hot
air or cool air as the case may be, than
you know, walls and even doors, So you know, changing
that design element will significantly affect how much insulation you
need to have in the walls, or whether a concrete
slab will make any difference, and so on. So the
(01:40):
idea is a bit of give and take and what
are called the calculation or modeling methods. Mean, if you
want bigger windows, that's fine, you might need a bit
more insulation. You've got smaller windows, you might need a
bit less. So it's about not having a one size
fits all because when you're that prescriptive, that's when all
the additional cost comes, and that's what we're trying to
get away from.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And the orientation of the house. So what if you're
north facing less insulation, well.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You get more suns so you know, it depends. Of course,
that's the point about insulation is that it keeps you
wall if these womans inside the house because get this leakage.
But also of course you've got to think about the
way that sunlight can come in and cause more more heat.
So there's a you know, reflective glass called low EG.
So there's lots of different factors and I'm not going
to successfully describe them all, but suffice to say the
(02:23):
design and location, including the location in New Zealand by
the way, Northland being quite different from Southland. Yeah, all
max factor. So if we allow all those to be
taken into account and don't go down the prescriptive path
in again, as I say, you'll get a you actually
get a better result in terms of in terms of
the don't.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
We already have zones Chris like, don't we have zones
that that's specified that if you're further south you need
to build build a sturdier house.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
To some extent. But but there isn't, for example, a
special zone for Northland that takes into account the difference
you know, how warm they are. So we've actually said
as well that we're looking at and I've asked MB
to look at establishing a whole new separate one for
Northland because up here where I am actually now with
our excellent local MP, Grant McCullum, there's both both, you know,
(03:08):
the lesser requirement for insulation against cold, but actually also
the cost of building is huge and that's obviously a
massive effect for the communities.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And that I was actually talking to Grant just before
when he said that he was with you. What are
you two up.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
To visiting a number of small businesses and manufacturing outfits
up here. Actually that's a different minister that ire with
so a lot going on up here, but lots of
challenges and opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Hey, I have one more question about this though, So
how does this interact what you're doing with new builds?
How does that interact with rentals and healthy home standards?
If you change the standards for new builds, do you
need to change the standards for healthy homes?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Technically separate So actually, and I mean it's a bit crazy.
The systems don't talk to each other. But as off
who you describe on your show in the last couple
of days, many of us are living in homes quite
happily that we wouldn't be able to rent out. Yeah,
circumstances were different, So it's actually a different thing because
you know, that's a provision of a heat punt as
opposed to heaters and so on, whereas this is just
the insulation or energy efficiency.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah cool. Hey, thank you very much. Chris appreciated Chris
pink Building and Construction.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
For more from News Talk st B, listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The Building and Construction Minister is finally pulling the trigger
on his insulation reform. The insulation requirements in the building
code are going to be made more flexible by the
end of the year. The Minister reckons it'll save the
cost of the average new build buy up to maybe
fifteen thousand dollars. Chris Pink is the Building and Construction
Minister and with us Hey, Chris.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Hey, that how are you so?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And well, thank you? So explain to me how this
would work. Right at the moment, we have like a
standard one size fits all for houses. But you're going
to make this more flexible.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, that's right. We've got what we call the schedule method,
which sets out in a very prescriptive way all the
different parts of the building that need to be insulated
or double glaze in a certain way. And that adds
a huge amount of costs because in some cases, depending
on where you are in the country, or depending on
what the conditions are or which way your house faces,
you don't need all of that, you just need some
(01:04):
of that. So as long as we can get to
the same good overall result without being so prescripted of
then these money to be saved and homes to be built.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So one of the examples that you used was if
you change the size of the window, it will affect
how much insulation you need. Run me through that.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, well, I mean windows are the most vulnerable part
of the house. You can imagine they leak more hot
air or cool air as the case may be, than
you know, walls and even doors, So you know, changing
that design element will significantly affect how much insulation you
need to have in the walls, or whether a concrete
slab will make any difference, and so on. So the
(01:40):
idea is a bit of give and take and what
are called the calculation or modeling methods. Mean, if you
want bigger windows, that's fine, you might need a bit
more insulation. You've got smaller windows, you might need a
bit less. So it's about not having a one size
fits all because when you're that prescriptive, that's when all
the additional cost comes, and that's what we're trying to
get away from.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And the orientation of the house. So what if you're
north facing less insulation, well.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You get more suns so you know, it depends. Of course,
that's the point about insulation is that it keeps you
wall if these womans inside the house because get this leakage.
But also of course you've got to think about the
way that sunlight can come in and cause more more heat.
So there's a you know, reflective glass called low EG.
So there's lots of different factors and I'm not going
to successfully describe them all, but suffice to say the
(02:23):
design and location, including the location in New Zealand by
the way, Northland being quite different from Southland. Yeah, all
max factor. So if we allow all those to be
taken into account and don't go down the prescriptive path
in again, as I say, you'll get a you actually
get a better result in terms of in terms of
the don't.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
We already have zones Chris like, don't we have zones
that that's specified that if you're further south you need
to build build a sturdier house.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
To some extent. But but there isn't, for example, a
special zone for Northland that takes into account the difference
you know, how warm they are. So we've actually said
as well that we're looking at and I've asked MB
to look at establishing a whole new separate one for
Northland because up here where I am actually now with
our excellent local MP, Grant McCullum, there's both both, you know,
(03:08):
the lesser requirement for insulation against cold, but actually also
the cost of building is huge and that's obviously a
massive effect for the communities.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And that I was actually talking to Grant just before
when he said that he was with you. What are
you two up.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
To visiting a number of small businesses and manufacturing outfits
up here. Actually that's a different minister that ire with
so a lot going on up here, but lots of
challenges and opportunities.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Hey, I have one more question about this though, So
how does this interact what you're doing with new builds?
How does that interact with rentals and healthy home standards?
If you change the standards for new builds, do you
need to change the standards for healthy homes?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
No?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Technically separate So actually, and I mean it's a bit crazy.
The systems don't talk to each other. But as off
who you describe on your show in the last couple
of days, many of us are living in homes quite
happily that we wouldn't be able to rent out. Yeah,
circumstances were different, So it's actually a different thing because
you know, that's a provision of a heat punt as
opposed to heaters and so on, whereas this is just
the insulation or energy efficiency.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah cool. Hey, thank you very much. Chris appreciated Chris
pink Building and Construction.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
For more from News Talk st B, listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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