Future-Proof Building — the consumer story

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Future-Proof Building is designed to educate consumers about how to create a better end result in their building project. Over the next few months Building Today will go into detail about each of the eight icons that make up the Future-Proof Building programme.

As a professional in the construction industry, it is important to understand how the programme reaches customers, and how important education is to achieving the required results.
Buildings are complicated and, for most people, the biggest investment they will make. Yet often they have less knowledge about how their home is constructed and the products used than they do about how a car or household appliance works.

Future-Proof Building teaches consumers how to incorporate features into their home which will improve their quality of life. The Future-Proof Building Story uses eight icons to highlight particular areas of importance throughout the home.

For instance, Resource Responsibility or sustainability highlights simple features such as grey water recycling or solar hot water heating that can have a significant effect on the household power bill while reducing the effect on the environment.
“The idea behind Future-Proof Building is to create a badge of confidence that consumers can use to identify products and professionals that are committed to better building products and practices,” according to FPB national education manager Jamie Fear.

Future-Proof Building recognises the importance of budgets to all prospective home builders and seeks to incorporate Future-Proof features without blowing that budget.
“The building code, which controls all building processes, is really only a minimum, so to build something to meet building code requirements may not give someone the level of finish or quality they are going to want. So you need to build in enhancements based on your own budget and lifestyle,” Mr Fear says.

The Future-Proof Building programme is growing in influence, including the creation of New Zealand’s first Future-Proofed subdivision, Anselmi Ridge, in Pukekohe.
The former farm is being transformed into 340 sections, all of which will incorporate Future-Proof Building into the homes developed on the site.

Development company McConnell Property has restricted the builders able to develop the sections to those who show a commitment to sustainable building practices and the construction of Future-Proof homes.

Information on Future-Proof Building can be found at www.fpb.co.nz, where you will also find out who is supporting the programme, and learning about becoming a Future-Proof Builder.

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