Renovation Home to Solve NZ's housing woes

Work Begins on Renovation Home to Showcase Solutions to NZ’s Housing Woes

- 1st best practice renovation home in the country -

Over half of New Zealand’s homes are harming their occupants’ health, according to Future-Proof Building. 900,000 homes in New Zealand out of a total of 1,706,900* have either no, or ineffectual, insulation, which results in asthma issues that affect one in four children and one in every seven adults, costing New Zealand $800 million every year in lost work days and medical bills.

To address this issue, Future-Proof Building is beginning 2010 by renovating a home in Ellerslie, Auckland, to demonstrate an alternative approach that will create a healthy, efficient home that will offer its inhabitants a better lifestyle.

The renovation build starts today and will last into July, incorporating the following features among the many that will be built in:

- A new cladding system, which includes building paper, to provide a more durable home with less maintenance;

- A rainwater harvesting system, to capture all rainwater from the roof and channelling it to storage tanks. This is then used as ‘free’ water for use in all toilets;

- Increased thermal and acoustic insulation, so the home is warmer, quieter and healthier;

- Numerous heating options, both electric and gas powered, used in conjunction with a whole-house heat exchange ventilation system which collectively will improve air quality, reduce moisture and reclaim energy otherwise lost from the home. This means less heating or cooling is required to maintain a comfortable indoor environment.
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Aidan Jury, Chief Executive, Future-Proof Building, says: “It is appalling that so many New Zealand homes harm their occupants. Future-Proof Building is renovating this home to showcase a number of features that will improve New Zealand homeowners’ quality of life, save them money over the long run and ensure their homes’ future value improves. Our message is: Improve, don’t move.”

- The build’s progress and features can be viewed on the Future-Proof Building website: www.fpb.co.nz

*(source: Statistics New Zealand estimate, September 2009)

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