UFDD: Sustainable Standards

Objective
Contribute to the sustainability of New Zealand’s building and development standards by:
• Promoting sustainability elements for consideration within existing legislation; and
• Supporting the development of a sustainable building index, initially for voluntary uptake.

Approach
Building and development standards establish a base-line for urban development, however do not yet adequately reflect sustainability concerns. This project will focus on incremental improvements to existing standards, and support the development of a new, more targeted standard for sustainable buildings.

Projects
Building Code Review
The Building Code is currently under review, led by the Department of Building and Housing. The review needs to reflect the sustainable development purpose of the Building Act 2004 – that buildings are designed, constructed and able to be used in ways that promote sustainable development.
The UFDD work strand is particularly concerned to see that the review addresses two issues:

• improving the sustainable performance of buildings; and
• the development of quality intensive housing.
  

View more information about the Building Code Review (Department of Building and Housing)

Sustainable Building Index
A sustainable building index is an important mechanism for measuring the performance of buildings, and encouraging improved design. The UFDD work strand is working to support the development of a sustainable building index that is relevant to the New Zealand context, as a way of securing faster uptake of sustainable building design and technologies.

Numerous examples of indices exist internationally, including Green Star and BASIX. A similar web-based tool – TUSC – is under development in New Zealand, initially for voluntary uptake.