David Whitburn: Property developer and investor on the plan to increase ventilation requirements for new builds

The Government's planning to increase ventilation requirements in new homes to address overheating in townhouses. 

RNZ reports Auckland homeowners have complained of 30-degree temperatures overnight due to poorly ventilated buildings. 

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says changes are needed so people don't get cooked alive in their own house. 

Property developer and investor David Whitburn told Mike Hosking the problem's driven by cost and design. 

He says the building code has changed for insulation standards, while ventilation rules have stayed the same. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got some movement on the issue that's turned up in
housing townhouse overheating, So the Construction Minister is going to
change ventilation requirements for new builds. Overheating because of poor
planning has become a real thing now. David Whitburn is
a developer and investor and he's well, there's David. A
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Seems as am I being unfair? It seems very hard
to believe. I mean, it's not like we started building
houses last Wednesday. How is it we're still building houses
that don't work properly.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's a throwback to when my grandfather was building. We'd
have the gable vents and we'd have a few gaps
and the floorboards and houses could actually breathe properly. These days,
unfortunately the houses are tied there. It can get a
bit cooked alive because the ears simply not circulating. We've
got small egs with so particularly in the north and

(00:46):
western facing the windows, we're having some real problems. So
sometimes Minister Chris Pink's quite correct that people are getting
cooked alive in their own homes. With some design challenges
with houses are simply not breathing properly.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Is this design or cost? Is it driven by costs
therefore you get the problems on design or is it
we just don't know how to design ours properly.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's a bit of both, Mike. We have some design challenges.
We're not forced to do this. The building code has
changed in terms of what you alluded to with those
H one rolls. We've got to make sure that we
get the insulation standards correct, that there's been no changes
to the ventilation aspects of it. And then the cost

(01:30):
drivers are there where developers are trying to minimize their
costs and as a result, a few things go and
a lot of people want to have the large windows.
Then they don't give too much thought to how your
tenant's going to feel and what's it like at thirty
degrees at nine o'clock at night when you're trying to
get to sleep in summer.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Is this a real issue in terms of there are
vast swathes of townhouses out there with the problem or
is this a little bit of an urban myth.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
No, this is a genuine issue. I did a development
finishing it just a couple of years ago. Seventy four
terraced houses in west Auckland, and some of them that
do have north or northwest faces do get rather warmer
in there. So it's one that I think can be
addressed with active ventilation. The healthy Homes stands only deal

(02:21):
with the living room. There's nothing in the bedrooms, and
potentially we can deal with this with active ventilation, but
there can be some design having breathed or building papers
to do. This is a genuine issue, and I am
aware from a niece that's fainted and one of her properties.
It's what's in a property she's rented as well. The

(02:42):
temperatures of that can simply just be too hot and
there's a genuine problem that needs to be addressed well.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
On David Nisens, I appreciate it very much, David Whitburne,
who's a professional property developer and investment For

Speaker 2 (02:55):
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