RESENE, HOMESTAR & YOU
Last Wednesday Jon attended a Designing and Rating Seminar run by Resene which featured presentations from leading expert Dr Paul Bannister and Matthew Cutler-Welsh on the latest update on the Residential Rating Tool - Homestar™.
Features of Paul's presentation:
Design rating systems vs performance in commercial buildings, including a discussion of NABERS vs Green Star and key lessons from each.
Design rating systems vs performance in homes - and why it’s different, including lessons from NABERS and the development of NABERS Homes.
Comfort vs energy efficiency in homes - why ‘efficient’ buildings may actually use more power - but have healthier occupants.
Matthew Cutler-Welsh , brought us up to date with the latest news on the Homestar™ Residential Rating Tool and its application in New Zealand. Matthew is the Technical Manager for Homestar™ and intimately involved with the application of the rating tool in New Zealand homes. Matthew has a degree in Natural Resources Engineering and has focused his studies on energy and environmental sustainability. He is experienced in leading teams of residential assessors working within the New Zealand energy efficiency retrofit market and has also managed a 600 home sustainability program in Melbourne, Australia.
Homestar™ is a residential rating tool for standalone homes and aims to be the primary measurement of best practice home performance in New Zealand. Matthew’s presentation provided an update on the development and process of the Homestar™ certified tool and discussed ways to incorporate Homestar™ into residential design services.
Following the seminar Peter and Jon have signed up to do the next training course on the 27th of July to become Homestar™ Professionals. This will enable them to ensure that appropriate sustainability features are considered during the design and documentation phases to achieve the client desired rating level for the finished dwelling.
An initial on-line "self"assessment can be undertaken on properties either existing or proposed by going to http://www.homestar.org.nz/