FAQs

An Accredited GHS Assessor must examine your plans using specific assessment worksheets.

Due to intellectual property reasons and the possibility of misrepresentation, only the first sub-section of the Assessment Worksheet is available to the public here. However, many of the issues and the way in which they are examined are summarised in the Key Issues link. From this, you are able to get a pretty good impression of what issues are examined and therefore what to target in during the design process.

They can be found here.

This depends on such factors as the complexity of you home design and who's doing the assessment. A typical home design assessment will take about an hour to do. Very complex designs may take up to twice as long to assess.

The scheme has been designed for new detached or semi-detached housing configurations. The sustainability possibilities for higher density housing are different enough that they would be significantly disadvantaged if the GHS were to be applied to them.

A preliminary GHS assessment can be made even when the early design stage - for example, at the concept design stage. However, the final GHS assessment must be carried out on the plans/working drawings and specifications as submitted to the local authority, as part of the consent process. Only then will there be enough supporting documentation for a complete assessment. Also, there is the added assurance that the building as constructed will match what was assessed under the GHS. Obviously, the earlier sustainability issues are thought of, the greater the chance of making significant environmental improvements to the long term operation of the scheme.

The scheme was developed by BRANZ Ltd (and independent building research organisation), and was based on one of the most successful scheme operating today - the UK's BREAAM initiative. This stands for: the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method. The New Zealand version has been significantly adapted to better address our different building codes and standards, climate and social practices. After a piloting process in 1996, it was launched in 1997 by the Minister of the Environment.

Yes, examples include:

1. the Now House, located in new Lynn (which received a 'Good' GHS rating).
2. the Powered Living Home (which received an 'Excellent' GHS rating)
3. The Waitakere City Councils Eco-Friendly Home (which received an 'Excellent' GHS rating).

Yes - but only one. It is the overall thermal insulation level of the house. Good thermal performance is considered to be a cornerstone of sustainable design, having implications for ongoing non-renewable energy use, carbon footprints, climate change, health of the occupants, durability of the building materials, overseas dependence, etc. Therefore, all house designs must obtain the equivalent of a Better Practice rating as defined in NZS PAS 4244:2003 'Insulation of Lightweight-framed and solid timber houses'.

A climate change readiness indicator is provided as part of the overall GHS assessment. This indicator looks at two aspects of climate change:

1. The effect the design has on climate change, due to its predicted use of non-renewable (i.e. carbon-based) fuels during its lifetime.
2. The effect climate change has on the design, due to the increased frequency and magnitude of extreme weather.

The first aspect is determined by how well the passive heating and cooling aspects of the house are met by the design. The second aspect is determined by how well the design supports increased protection from extreme weather events (such as weather tightness and increased winds).

Like the example on the right. It provides some details on the key sustainably-issues achieved by the design, grouped into four categories: energy consumption, use of sustainable materials, water economy and climate change friendliness. In addition, an overall environmental performance rating is provided - Fair, Good, Very Good and Excellent, according to how many issues were met by the design.

The GHS aims to promote sustainable and healthy homes by recognising the impact buildings have on their occupants and their surroundings. To have a fairy comprehensive home assessment tool that could be carried out within about an hour, which would provide a good indication of the likely environmental attributes of house. To provide a simple and practical assessment method that would be flexible and easy to use, and based on scientifically sound methodology.

An accredited Assessor is a building specialist (architect, designer or technologist) who has attended a BRANZ-run GHS accreditation workshop. The workshop trains up assessors so that they can independently assess either their own home designs or someone else's.

If you re a designer, architect or building technologist, then all you need to do is contact us, and we'll let you know when the next workshop is held in your area. You will be under no obligation to attend.

Accreditation workshops are held on an on-demand basis. At least 10 people in one area are required before a workshop can be held. If you are interested, please contact us and we will inform you when the next one is held in your area.

The 4 hour training workshop costs approximately $250. All material to carry out assessments are provided in the workshop - including manuals, assessment worksheets, background documents and key access to these web pages . This includes a 2 year licence to carryout assessments.

The typical workshop covers:

1. Overview of the drivers for Sustainable Building
2. Introduction to essential tools used in sustainable building - hardcopy/web other
3. The GHS - an overview: philosophy, scope, structure and documentation
4. What's new and why. Most recent changes made due to key legislative and building related initiatives.
5. Global Issues assessment - thermal design: a look at the building envelope
6. Tea + Coffee Break
7. Local Issues - reasons for inclusion, method of assessment, and possible solutions to meeting the requirements.
8. Indoor issues - reasons for inclusion, method of assessment, and possible solutions to meeting the requirements.
9. What is expected from the assessor, and from BRANZ
10. Wrap up and questions