Articles & Insights

For years NZBC E2 has forced windows outside the insulation layer, turning your best thermal element into a heat leak. Recent H1 changes are starting to shift this — here's what it means for your build.

When the design team, procurement team, and funding bodies all push back, but the build itself is the easiest part — a case study in making high-performance housing work at entry-level budgets.

The VILA140 story — 144m², 3 bedrooms plus studio, SIPs construction, Formance Ready system, thermally broken recessed windows, and the honest truth about whether standard plans actually work.

Wake up in a tent and touch the wet fabric — that's remarkably close to how most New Zealand homes perform. A European-trained architect looks at why we accept so little from our buildings.

My professor in Europe, 2005: all his flat roofs in Germany work 100%. Outside Germany they leak. The problem wasn't the roof — it was a contractor with a steel rake.

Build magazine's solution? A double timber frame to overlap insulation layers. There's probably an easier solution out there — one that doesn't involve timber studs at all.