Queenstown Builder Hosts Passive House Training in Response to Tackling Better Building Challenges

In response to the growing awareness that the minimum building code is not adequate for the Central Otago climate, DCD, a Queenstown building company, is hosting a 1.5-day workshop for other builders and designers to learn about the theory and practical application of building homes to the Passive House standard.

The workshop, which is also sponsored by Proclima, MAXRaft, Expol and Terra Lana, and will be held at The Sherwood in Queenstown on November 7-8.

The workshop is timed to take place one week after the annual ONE Summit, which explores issues of sustainability in several industries, including construction. This year, the panel includes Dowling, Jason Quinn, Passive House Certifier, and Sam Archer from the New Zealand Green Building Council. The topic of the panel is to explore the challenges to building better in New Zealand.

The Passive House Primer & Practicum aims to provide an answer to industry players at how better performing homes can be built.

"What’s distinctive about this workshop is that it is aimed at increasing knowledge (theoretical and practical) on how to build to the Passive House standard, particularly in our region which is the most demanding in NZ," Dowling says.

This area is home to many industry experts in this field, yet training events of this sort are usually held in urban centres, like Auckland and Christchurch. This is an opportunity for local industry shareholders to learn from these experts without having the added expense of travelling, but more importantly, the detailing of building to this standard within our particular construction challenges.

Jessica Eyers, Certified Passive House Consultant, will present the Primer, similar to the course she offered at this year’s South Pacific Passive House Conference. The Practicum will feature Proclima’s CUBE, a travelling version of the HUB, their training centre in Auckland. Dowling will offer the builder’s perspective and other presenters include an two passive house architects, an engineer, a sustainability consultant and MHRV expert.

Several of the presenters are on the team that QLDC has recently appointed for building the Luggate Hall as a Certified Passive House.

ends

© Scoop Media