NEW TECHNOLOGIES & ONGOING RESEARCH
Ongoing Research
Beacon Pathway – Thermal Bridging
Beacon Pathway has recently undertaken a Building Research Levy funded project which examined some aspects of thermal bridging in walls of New Zealand new residential houses.
The project measured the percentage of framing in modern construction through a case study approach of 47 newly constructed dwellings spread throughout Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton. The results show that the average percentage of timber framing compared to the area of the wall is above 34%. This is much higher than the 14 – 18% framing content generally assumed by both regulators and the industry. The results strongly indicate that the content of timber framing in external walls in residential new builds is at such high levels that the increased thermal bridging compromises the performance of walls and may mean that designed R-values are not being achieved.
The research also highlighted significant weak points and blind spots in key aspects of current house construction. These ‘defects, including uninsulated corner junctions, uninsulated mid-floors, uninsulated interior to exterior wall junctions and areas of timber flashing, timber packing and blocking, all compromise the performance of the thermal envelope.
BRANZ – SIPS Panels
BRANZ’s research on SIPs is relevant to people interested in building with them. Their research findings will support development of a simplified pathway to Building Code compliance for SIPs buildings in New Zealand. BRANZ is keen to speak to people who have built, or are thinking of building, with SIPs - to understand your experience with this way of building.
Assessing performance of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) in New Zealand.
The research is due out December 2021
Future Technology
Superhome Movement Projects
hPAD
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY + PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD
The Dashboard acts as a platform to inform consumers and professionals and make them aware of where the NZBC sits in terms of performance and the benefits of exceeding these minimums. It provides a clear insight into current living, built and operating conditions and the negative effects of these on the occupants – from a health and cost perspective, in contrast to high-performance reference homes.
The tool is designed to inform consumers and construction industry professionals of the standard of dwelling currently being achieved by the legally defined minimum Code Standards and then illustrates correlation to aspirational standards of higher ratings. Research funding for this application applies specifically to phase one of the development of the dashboard tool.
The Superhome Movement Dashboard is a multifaceted, fun and easy use info graphic communication tool. It is primarily for understanding true housing affordability, cross referencing building cost and performance related to ongoing costs. One additional function of the tool is a mortgage calculator that shows users the degree to which mortgage terms and interest costs can be reduced if energy bill savings are put towards additional mortgage payments. There are several other elements to the tool, some of which create awareness of important tangible non-financial benefits. Future development phases (if implemented) will provide additional functions or plugins to the basic tool.
