Level: Sustainable Building Series

A critical aspect of a house's energy use and sustainability is the overall design of a building - its orientation on site, careful sizing and location of windows, specification of above-minimum insulation and making the best use of sun and wind for heating, cooling and ventilation.

This guide explains the technical background to good passive design, the choices and compromises that need to be made and Building Code and standards requirements that must be met.

The thermal performance requirements of building elements given in this book are from the 4th edition Building Code acceptable solution H1/AS1 and verification method H1/VM1. Note that 5th editions of H1/AS1 and H1/VM1 replaced the 4th edition from 3 November 2022.

This publication gives guidance to designers and plumbing contractors in the key decisions and requirements around design and installation of hot and cold water supply and sanitary plumbing in a domestic building.  

This publication covers:

• statutory requirements
• design of water supply systems 
• materials selection
• water supply fundamentals including rainwater harvesting
• cold water supply installation
• hot water system selection and installation
• sanitary plumbing including greywater harvesting. 

Note that this book was prepared before the November 2023 updates to Building Code Acceptable Solution G12/AS1.

This popular publication gives designers and electrical contractors guidance around designing and specifying electrical and other cabling in domestic buildings. It pays particular attention to energy efficiency and homeowner comfort while reducing household running costs.

This publication covers:

• Building Code and standards requirements
• power supply system design
• internal electrical wiring
• wiring layout and installation
• low voltage systems. 

This publication helps designers, specifiers and builders ensure that new and existing houses are warm and effectively ventilated, providing owner comfort, convenience, health and safety while minimising running costs. It acknowledges the importance of good passive design - taking advantage of free sources of energy such as sun and wind to provide heating, cooling and ventilation.

This publication covers:

• heating and cooling design considerations and methods
• thermal design
• ventilation design considerations and methods.

This guide covers important choices facing designers and homeowners in selecting active energy systems such as water heating, space heating and lighting and looks at options such as photovoltaic electricity generation. Considerations include what different technologies can achieve and which options are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than others.

It explains the requirements of the New Zealand Building Code, standards and other obligations that need to be met while pointing out that going better than the required minimum typically brings benefits in comfort and ongoing cost savings.

Note that since the publication of this book the energy efficiency requirements in H1/AS1 and the water heating requirements in G12/AS1 have both been amended.