Home Style Green

Enveloped provide all the products and systems you need to take an ordinary house and make it a high-performance home. Murray and his team help with the selection and installation of airtightness systems, insulation, ventilation, high-performance windows, heating and water heating systems for homes throughout New Zealand. "Remember, the Building Code is the minimum level of performance you are leg...

Through his work, Simon Croker is showing that designers can make a difference and be significant wherever they are. From big city firms to small country town practices, everyone can play an important role in creating sustainable, healthy buildings for the benefit of everyone.

Architects shape the places where they work. Good Architects are themselves also shaped by their surrounding environment. Living and working in Wanaka, Beth Chaney is very aware of being part of a place that most people only get to visit on holiday. This acknowledgment provides motivation for looking after the environment through her work as an architect. In this episode, we discuss how Chaney and...

CarbonLite is a producer of prefabricated Passive House and high-performance buildings, based in Victoria Australia. Founder Burkhard Hansen explains some of the problems with typical Australian building practices, and how CarbonLite is using building science and experience to produce fit for purpose homes. 

Idealings Architecture is based in Fremantle, Western Australia and serves Perth and the Southwest of the state. Run by Timo and Najwa Bleeker, the aim of Idealings is to help future homeowners and organisations to create healthy, comfortable, energy-efficient and sustainable buildings.

After studying Japanese and international business, Daniel Gudsell's plan was to go to Japan and sell New Zealand produced milk, but he ended up selling wood in the South Pacific, an enterprise that led to the creation of Abode Wood.

Murray Robertson took a liking to technical drawing during intermediate school, which he carried on through college. After considering both industrial design and landscape design, he eventually settled on Architecture. He 'did his time' at a few practices and then found himself at McLaren Associates in Edinburgh where he was introduced to the environmental rating processes of BREEAM. Back in New Z...

In 2019 Anne Salmond was made a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, a high honour available to a maximum of only ten people at any one time. As a trailblazer throughout her career, Anne is a worthy recipient of this title. At one time Anne was told that she was running the largest architecture firm in the country that was directed by women. In our interview, Anne and I...

Simon Wansbrough is the Founder and Director of Third Little Pig, a custom home builder based in Christchurch. We discuss how Simon got into building in the first place, what building better homes means to him, and how he's been able to become more selective about the projects he takes on.

Daniel Wolkenberg is a student of the 90s. He took the fairly typical route out of Architecture School and worked for a couple of different studios as a graduate. During this time Daniel worked on some fairly major projects such as Federation Square in Melbourne. He gained experience in master planning and got exposure to people and practices. With a desire to own more of the complete process and...

Before Reece Beresford trained as a builder and started his own company, he did some time working on oil rigs. Now he's aspiring to build Certified Passive House for clients in Perth, Western Australia.

Viktoria Nikitina is Managing Director of Blue Sky Windows, a manufacturer of high quality, high performance uPVC windows based in Melbourne, Victoria. With so many locally manufactured options now available, there are plenty of reasons why you should consider windows and doors like these for your next project.

Simon Cator of Pro Clima New Zealand recently caught up with Kirstie Brown at a sustainable house that Kirstie has built using ECO-Block Insulation Concrete Forms (ICF) in Tauranga. Simon finds out about the advantages of using ECO-Blocks and how an airtight construction is already contributing to great performance. This episode and accompanying article originally appeared on Eboss, https://www.eb...

Browsing the photo gallery on Jeff Bogard's R.E.A Homes website, 'sustainability' is not likely the first word that comes to mind. Can large, luxury houses actually be sustainable? This is one of the topics I discussed with Jeff who's been providing high performance homes for discerning clients in Saint Louis for over fourteen years.

I'm always interested in the perceptions of architects and builders who have been trained or have experienced living in Europe and then come to the Southern Hemisphere. Their reaction to typical houses in New Zealand and Australia usually involves a level of disbelief. A common sentiment is that they've never been colder, despite this being a milder climate.

Joachim Herrmann developed an interest in building biology while working as a teacher. As a trained biologist, he describes the science of life as "endlessly fascinating". We discuss the 25 principles of Building Biology and how they contribute to creating healthy places to live.

Robert Whitehouse wants to build houses that work the way they should, and he's thinking about how to make them affordable for everyone.

The uPVC window market is relatively small in Australia right now, but it's growing fast. I caught up with Kathrin Sender, Managing Director at Integra Windows recently to find out what's so good about uPVC windows and doors.

Ian Chamberlain learnt his craft as a cabinet maker and joiner in the UK. Nearly 40 years on, he's now crafting beautiful and high performing homes in Taupo, New Zealand. What are the most important things to ensure you get the comfortable, energy-efficient home you deserve and can afford? More at https://homestylegreen.com/212 Brought to you by Endurobuilders and LABDesign . Music attribution: Ca...

Energy Architecture is based in Wellington and specialises in Passive House design with leading expertise in designing for SIP construction. Find out more, and contact Guy Shaw via their website .

Enduro Builders is quickly becoming one of the leading builders of high performance and sustainable homes in Australia. I met up with Jackson while he was nearing completion of another stunning home in the Adelaide Hills during a trip in late 2019. In this chat, we discussed how Jackson got into building in the first place and how Enduro Builders is helping to lead an important change in the Austr...

Ben Ingledew has a background in teaching, but following the Canterbury Earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, he took a new path which eventually lead to Livewel Construction. Livewel Construction focusses on energy-efficient, comfortable homes and renovations. Ben in Certified Passive House Tradesperson and a member of the Superhome Movement.

Aluminium is stable, completely recyclable and relatively abundant, but it's also a great conductor of heat. It's the dominant choice of material for window and door frames in New Zealand, accounting for 90% of the market. But how can you make it a more sustainable choice? OMEGA Windows and Doors offers some good options. Dyann Stewart learnt computer-aided design (CAD) while working as a receptio...

Design Basics has as unique point of difference. They value and promote the input of women in the design process. I discuss with Executive Vice President Natalie Wendling, and Vice President of Business Development, Paul Foresman; the concept of 'Women-Centric Home Design' and how it can benefit everyone.

Green certification of building projects faces multiple challenges; from sourcing appropriate products, documenting and verifying materials, through to minimising, sorting and recording construction waste. Compiling all this information in a form that's useful for the certifying agency can be yet another big challenge. Through Green Badger, Tommy Linstroth's goals is to make sustainability in the...