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Tim Ross featured on Home Style Green in episode 191 to talk about getting started on New Zealand’s first Passive House co-housing project. I interviewed Tim again a year ago as we were kicking off the Passive House Podcast, and the Dunedin Toiora High Street Co-housing project was well underway. My apologies to Tim for taking another year to publish this episode, but better late than never. Just like a good Passive House project, Tim’s wisdom and insights are timeless.
Since conducting this interview, the Toiora Cohousing Project has progressed even further and residents have now moved in. Meanwhile, Tim’s team at Architype has moved on to a number of other great Passive House projects around New Zealand.
WD Homes
Architype has developed an alliance with another former guest of the show, WD Homes (episode 238: Building Passive Houses). Tim obviously has great respect for Wayne Dyet. Their collective experience highlights the benefit of a strong relationship between architect and builder.
For a successful project, shares Tim, your team members need to have a positive ‘can do’ attitude and ideally have a bit of experience. They don’t necessarily need to have done a Passive House before. If they can build to a high standard, they’ll be able to deliver high performance.
Achieving Airtightness
Airtightness is a key factor in achieving good building performance and doors and windows, are usually the weak point of the building envelope, explains Tim. As new products find their way to New Zealand, Tim is always looking around for better options. Local brand, Thermadura is certainly one of his favourites, particularly for high end projects, but more and more products coming to market. Combined with improving Passive House knowledge and skills in New Zealand, Tim enthusiastically says “It’s become easier and easier to do Passive House”.
Dunedin Council saw what was going on at the Toiora Cohousing project as realised that Passive House makes a lot of sense for their own social housing. “If you’re a pensioner, you’re home a lot of the time,” says Tim. The health benefits of Passive House social housing are perhaps more significant than the inevitable energy efficiency and durability benefits.