New Zealand Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles summarises recent conferences, events and handy resources for the sector.
Kia ora koutou. I hope business is going well for everyone — things for us have been busy, with a very successful Green Property Summit held in Auckland recently giving me a lot of confidence in the sector. Ticket sales were up 40% on last year, and I saw a real enthusiasm from the commercial builders, landlords, designers and members who came along.
We heard about the state of the local construction industry (times are still tough, but showing some positive signs), some inspirational international trends, and the growing popularity of green building certifications. Other topics on the programme included the push to get more of our buildings off gas, building to new Green Star Buildings standards, and the growing role of AI in the sector.
It was a great opportunity to remind our audience that in the past 20 years, the popularity of green certification for buildings has kept growing, with 5.5 million square metres of commercial property now covered by green certification.
Of those commercial buildings valued at more than $10 million, 79% of office buildings since 2007 are Green Star rated, and 40% of all buildings in New Zealand are Green Star rated. There’s more than 16,000 Homestar-rated homes also, which means there’s $50 billion worth of projects across New Zealand.
You can read a full summary of the Summit at https://nzgbc.org.nz/news-and-media/green-property-summit-2026-summary.
Homestar
Our standard for healthy efficient homes is Homestar, which is getting strong uptake. It was useful to see new research from BRANZ last week confirming that good ventilation is essential for new build homes, which is part of the reason we require strong ventilation in Homestar.
This ensures moisture is extracted from the home. Too often, families are seeing mould build up in new build homes.
The big four banks and Kiwibank now provide lower interest development finance for developers building to Homestar. Anyone building homes now has a great opportunity to make buildings that are more efficient, have great air quality, and can also help reduce finance costs.
Fit-outs
We’re also really excited about the launch of Green Star Fit-outs, a certification tool to help deliver less waste, healthier lower-carbon, and more adaptable fit-outs.
Fit-outs are refreshed every five to seven years, making them one of the most frequently replaced components of our built environment.
Each refresh has implications for embodied carbon, waste, occupant well-being and project costs, yet these impacts are often underestimated or treated as short‑term choices.
For a long time, these impacts sat outside the spotlight. But as expectations rise around circularity, climate performance, and healthier interiors, these once-hidden impacts can no longer be overlooked.
For more information about the new fit-outs tool, visit https://nzgbc.org.nz/green-star-fitouts.
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New report provides more evidence of the benefits of switching from gas to electric
A new report we’ve just released provides even more evidence on the benefits for homes and small businesses to electrify and get off piped natural gas.
Kiwi households and small businesses stand to save many thousands of dollars by moving away from piped natural gas towards more efficient electric technologies, according to this new research. The economics have now swung decisively in favour of electricity as natural gas supplies decline and gas prices rise.
Profitable investment
For the vast majority of households, replacing gas heating and hot water systems with electric alternatives such as heat pumps is now one of the most profitable investments that can be made.
The research found a typical new build household would save approximately:
• $17,260 over 15 years by using a heat pump rather than gas for space heating, and
• $15,900 over 15 years by using a hot water heat pump instead of gas water heating.
The biggest barrier isn’t technology. It’s that most households don’t have the time or information needed to undertake a detailed financial assessment of their future gas and electricity costs.
The evidence shows many households would benefit from switching, but they need clearer signals and practical support to help them make that decision — so we are talking to government on that.
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Events and education
We’re still busy with our programme of education and training, with our next “Better by Design” residential energy modelling workshop in Nelson on September 23. Then we’re in Dunedin on October 23.
With summers getting hotter, we’re seeing more and more overheating problems, particularly in apartments and townhouses. Modelling how a building will perform in the design stage is a crucial step to help avoid this.
This workshop shows builders, designers, and developers how to stay ahead — using modelling to make faster, better design decisions.
The success of the recent Green Property Summit was a positive sign of a real enthusiasm in the sector around delivering better quality, more efficient homes and buildings. Get in touch if you want to know more!
See all our events and courses at https://nzgbc.org.nz/upcoming-events-courses-webinars.
