Author: Matthew Cutler-Welsh
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Black Pine Architects
Duncan Sinclair is the founder of Black Pine Architects. His practice and his home are in Whanganui, but thanks to the internet, his work can be anywhere. It’s About People Construction and architecture is technical work, but for Duncan it’s ultimately about people. Good buildings should look after the people that occupy them. Good buildings…
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Box Living
Dan Heyworth, General Manager of Box Living, is on a mission to improve the range and quality of houses available to New Zealanders. After returning to New Zealand from the UK a few years ago, Dan realised there are really only two main options for getting a house built, either going to a building company for…
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Sustainable House Success Story
Ron and Maureen’s home is characterised by it’s modest size, flexible layout and an edible garden. What might not be so obvious about this sustainable house success story, are the very low running costs and very high comfort levels year round. As Ron explained to me during our chat, visitors are often surprise at how ‘normal’ the…
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Nudura Insulated Concrete Forms
Nudura is a type of Insulated Concrete Form (ICF). This particular flavour of ICF was created by Canadian former builder, Murray Snider, who is now President and CEO of Nudura. “The forms are interlocking modular units that are dry-stacked (without mortar) and filled with concrete.” Wikipedia Like other types of ICF, Nudura Insulated Concrete Forms are basically like…
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Sustainability Options
Phil and Nik Gregg run Sustainability Options, an ‘altruistic business’ that aims to work for the benefit of others in their community. When I first had the pleasure of meeting the brothers last year, I was slightly confused and also inspired by their commitment to return 85% of their profits to charity and community in…
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What’s the Value of a Rating for Your Home?
How much would you value a rating for your home? What if, just by getting that rating, your house become more valuable? Aside from the extra confidence you’ll gain from having another professional look at your home, and of course, all the comfort and health benefits you’re likely to get from having a ‘good’ home,…
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Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood
It was a privilege to talk with Robin Allison about her journey of creating and growing Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood. Robin turned to architecture as a choice of profession because she saw how powerful and important good architecture can be. I find this incredibly inspiring, and I’m not even an architect (although this thought makes me seriously…
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Ground Source Heat Pumps
What other form of heating provides a coefficient of performance, around 5 – 7? That’s the promise of ground source heat pump technology. Last week I spoke to Senior Hydrogeologist at Geoscience Consulting, Huw Williams about this amazing technology. We discussed if it’s suitable for houses in New Zealand and why Huw is so interested…
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Zero Energy House
I’ve been following Jo Wood’s and Shay Brazier’s Zero Energy House project for nearly three years and I’m very excited to have them both on the show to share some of the details of their design and inspiration. Characteristics of a Good Home I wanted to cut the chase and find out what makes this…
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EcoBuild 2014 Ben Adam-Smith’s Learning from Year 1
Ben Adam-Smith first appeared on Home Style Green back in episode 17, almost a year ago. After this, I was inspired and motivated by what Ben is doing and wanted to stay in touch. So I did. Now he’s back to share his learning from year 1. Ben and I have chatted nearly every week…