Author: Matthew Cutler-Welsh
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Being a Green Architect
What does it mean to be a ‘green architect’? Sian Taylor trained to be an architect in Cardiff, Wales. When she arrived here in New Zealand, like many others who have experienced homes in colder climates, Sian was pretty appalled at the state of New Zealand houses. Since then Sian has gained experience working in…
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Rebuild and Renovate Christchurch
Amanda Magnus is the Exhibition Director for Exhibitions & Events New Zealand, and is responsible for organising the inaugural Rebuild and Renovate Christchurch Home Show. http://www.canterburyhomeshow.co.nz/index.htm The show, which is on from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th March at CBS Canterbury Arena, is a response to huge demand in Christchurch for information about building a…
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How to Insulate a Concrete Floor Slab
UPDATE: Check out this article for a list of slab edge insulation solutions, and episode 125 for my interview with Henry Edney of MAXRaft. The first thing to consider when looking into different types of concrete floors is why it’s so important to insulate the floor slab. To do this, we need to consider where…
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Passive Solar House in Riverhead
Ingo Ratsdorf is a registered architect now with Fat Parrot Architecture based in Auckland. He has also designed and built a passive solar house in Riverhead, Auckland. I caught up with Ingo this week and he shared his story. Having grown up and been trained in Germany, Ingo is very aware of how poorly most New…
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How to build efficient houses without extra cost
How do you build efficient code 4 houses for the cost of code 3. And how do you get industry to solve the problem themselves? Richard Buchanan is an Associate Director at BRE and Founder of Green Building Consultancy Ltd. I met Richard recently inside a LinkedIn group during a discussion about housing affordability. It…
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Political Party Comparison of Affordable Housing Policies
Here it is. A comparison of the affordable housing policies from the three main New Zealand political parties. While National and Labour target 1,000 houses per year, the Green’s proposal targets 3,000 units per year plus another 1,000 per year through funding provided to third sector organsiation. The estimated demand of housing in New Zealand…
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Housing Affordability
I worry about the seemingly constant reference to greenfield development and opening up current city limits, in the debate over housing affordability. Another article just today concluded with that sentiment. And greenfield development seemed to be the foregone conclusion even at the outset of the Productivity Commission report last year. What are the other solutions?…
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Summer Projects – Outdoor Laundry Line
Well it’s been far too long, but I have been busy while I’ve been away from the computer. Most recently I enjoyed a great Christmas & summer break. My Dad was also here and we got some great projects done around that house, many of which will help improve the overall sustainability of our home.…
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Housing is a Health Issue
Poor quality housing is housing that doesn’t do it’s job well. So what’s the job of a house? I think it’s to keep us warm, dry and healthy. These are the basics. Above that it’s a place for us to live; grow, entertain, learn, rest and share happy times with friends and family. Perhaps sometimes…
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Small Homes are the Next Big Thing
Just heard a recent interview with ‘Urbanist’ Tommy Honey talking on Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon. The topic was micro units. You can listen to the interview here: As Tommy Honey points out, microacrchitecture is not a new concept and there have been some other recent developments here in New Zealand. The bright young…