Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Rocket science is so complicated it’s a cliche. But Jason Quinn, New Zealand’s only current Passive House Certifier, considers the science of high performance buildings to be on par, or perhaps even trickier than the science of designing rocket engines. It’s all physics, just applied in a different way.
After a first career working for NASA as a rocket scientist (literally), Jason moved to New Zealand with his family seeking to do something important and significant. He turned his engineering mind from rockets and buildings, and has since been doing important and significant work, helping to grow Passive House in New Zealand.
Passive House for New Zealand
Jason Quinn has compiled information on the first twenty four Certified Passive Houses in New Zealand. He’s uniquely well placed to do this, having been involved with almost all of them.
In the lead up to this year’s South Pacific Passive House Conference in Wellington, Jason released a book showcasing these homes and making a great case for why New Zealand needs Passive House.
The Housing Crisis
It’s hard to talk about housing in New Zealand without mentioning “the housing crisis”. I brought this up with Jason because I’m interested in how passionate professionals discuss the apparent conflict between quantity and quality of housing supply.
The often cited “housing crisis” is usually described as a crisis of supply. I argue that quality is as much of a problem as quantity, but there’s no denying that the lack of affordable supply is a big issue.
“House supply is pretty complicated”, says Jason. He goes on to explain that our housing market is designed to maximise profit, not the number of houses. This is an important, but often missed point. Sure, building more houses might generate more activity and profits for some, but building companies have optimised their sales, design and building processes for maximising profit on each house sold. The most successful (largest) building companies will not necessarily benefit from maximising the number of houses they build, particularly if they build them using their current processes and to their current standard.
How much does it cost?
Most homebuyers look forward only about seven years. The New Zealand Build Code assumes a house design life of fifty years. The reality is that a lot of what we build today will be around for one hundred years. That’s what’s happened elsewhere, and there’s no reason New Zealand will be any different.
When we build, we’re building a legacy. But I get it. People want a return on their investment, now. Or at least within the next seven years.
Cost is always part of the decision making process for what goes into a building project and what gets left out.
Jason makes a clear argument that Passive Houses cost less, over time.
Why don’t we manufacture houses?
The production process for house building is vastly different from the efficient factory manufacturing processes of all other modern products. We make houses like individually commissioned works of bespoke art. Though not exclusively a Passive House issues, I was interested in Jason’s thoughts on the efficient production of housing because it relates directly to the issue of cost.
Where to from here?
Twenty four Certified Passive House family homes is a good place to start. But Australia has already overtaken New Zealand and globally, we’ve got some catching up to do. We also need to diversify.
Passive House is applicable to all types of buildings, from office blocks to school classrooms to public buildings. So why not make your next project a first for New Zealand? Get in touch with Jason directly, or contact PHINZ to find out how you can be part of the growing interest in Passive House for New Zealand.
RNZ Interview
On Thursday February 7th, 2019, Jason Quinn was featured on RNZ, Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan. Check out that interview here.
Leave a Reply