1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,800 Speaker 1: The Building and Construction Minister, is finally pulling the trigger 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: on his insulation reform. The insulation requirements in the building 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: Code are going to be made more flexible by the 4 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: end of the year. The Minister reckons it'll save the 5 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: cost of the average new build buy up to maybe 6 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars. Chris penk is the Building and Construction Minister, 7 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: and with us, Hey, Chris, hey, that, how are you so? 8 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: And well, thank you so explain to me how this 9 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: would work. Right at the moment, we have like a 10 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: standard one size fits all for houses. But you're going 11 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: to make this more flexible. 12 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. 13 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 3: We've got what we call the schedule method, which sets 14 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 3: out in a very prescriptive way all the different parts 15 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 3: of the building that need to be insulated or double 16 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 3: glazed in a certain way. And that adds a huge 17 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,919 Speaker 3: amount of cost because in some cases, depending on where 18 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 3: you are in the country, or depending on what the 19 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 3: conditions are or which way you house faces, you don't 20 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 3: need all of that, you just need some of that. 21 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 3: So as long as we can get to the same 22 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 3: good overall result without being so prescriptive, in these money 23 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 3: to be saved and homes to be built. 24 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: So one of the examples that you used was if 25 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: you change the size of the window, it will affect 26 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: how much insulation you need. Run me through that. 27 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean windows are the most vulnerable part 28 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 3: of the house. You can imagine they leak more hot 29 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 3: air or cool air, as the case may be. Then 30 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 3: you know walls and even doors, so you know, changing 31 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 3: that design element will significantly affect how much insulation you 32 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 3: need to have in the walls, or whether a concrete 33 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 3: slab will make any difference, and so on. So the 34 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 3: idea is a bit of give and take and what 35 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 3: are called the calculation or modeling methods. Mean, if you 36 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 3: want bigger windows, that's fine, you might need a bit 37 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 3: more insulation. 38 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 2: You've got smaller windows, you might need a bit less. 39 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 2: So it's about not having. 40 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 3: A one size fits all because when you're that prescriptive, 41 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 3: that's when all the additional costs comes in. 42 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: That's what we're trying to get away from. 43 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,279 Speaker 1: And the orientation the house. So what if you're north facing, 44 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: less insulation. 45 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 3: Well you get more suns so you know, it depends. 46 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 3: Of course, that's the point about insulation is that it 47 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 3: keeps you warmer if these. 48 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 2: Womths inside the house, because get less leakage. 49 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 3: But also of course you've got to think about the 50 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 3: way that sunlight can come in and cause more heat. 51 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 2: So there's a you know, reflective glass called LOWI. 52 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 3: So there's lots of different factors and I'm not going 53 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 3: to successfully describe them all, but suffice to say the 54 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 3: design and location, including the location in New Zealand by 55 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 3: the way, Northland being quite different from Southland. 56 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, all max effector so if. 57 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 3: We allow all those to be taken into account and 58 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 3: don't go down the prescriptive path in again, as I say, 59 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 3: you'll get a you actually get a better result in 60 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 3: terms of terms. 61 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: Of the Don't we already have zones Chris Like, don't 62 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: we have zones that that's specified that if you're further 63 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: south you need to build build a sturdier house. 64 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 2: To some extent. 65 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 3: But but there isn't, for example, a special zone for 66 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 3: Northland and that takes into account the difference you know, 67 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 3: how warm they are. So we've actually said as well 68 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 3: that we're looking at and I've asked MB to look 69 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 3: at establishing a whole new separate one for Northland because 70 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 3: up here where I am actually now with our excellent 71 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,079 Speaker 3: local MP, Grant McCallum. There's both both, you know, the 72 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 3: lesser requirement for intilation against cold, but actually also the 73 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 3: cost of building is huge and that's obviously a massive 74 00:02:58,840 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 3: effect for the communities. 75 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: And I was actually talking to Grant just before when 76 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: he said that he was with you. 77 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 3: What are you two up to visiting a number of 78 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 3: small businesses and manufacturing outfits up here. 79 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 2: Actually that's a different minister that I wear. So a 80 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 2: lot going on up here, but have lots of challenges 81 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 2: and opportunities. 82 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: Hey, I have one more question about this though, So 83 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: how does this interact what you're doing with new builds? 84 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: How does that interact with rentals and healthy home standards? 85 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: If you change the standards for new builds, do you 86 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: need to change the standards for healthy homes? 87 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 3: No, technically separate. So actually, and I mean there's a 88 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 3: bit crazy. The systems don't talk to each other. But 89 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 3: as off who you describe on your show in the 90 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 3: last couple of days, many of us are living in 91 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 3: homes quite happily that we wouldn't be able to rent 92 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 3: out there. Yeah, circumstances were different. So it's actually a 93 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 3: different thing because you know, that's a provision of a 94 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 3: heat punt as opposed to heaters and so on, whereas 95 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 3: this is just the insulation or energy efficiency. 96 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: Yeah cool, Hey, thank you very much, Chris appreciated. Chris 97 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: Pink Building and Construction Minister. For more from Heather Duplessy 98 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: Alan Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be from 99 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.