Page 13 - Build 165

News
Assessing the state of our housing
Hundreds of homes will soon be assessed as part of a nationwide survey on housing quality.
THE GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY, undertaken every 2 years, asks questions about the wellbeing of thousands of New Zealanders and, in 2018, will include questions around housing. The survey will help improve understanding of the condition of New Zealand housing and pilot new approaches in data collection, according to Stats NZ.
2018 General Social Survey to include housing
This year’s General Social Survey (GSS) will ask participants in at least 400 homes to take part in an assessment of physical aspects of their house undertaken by an independent, trained assessor.
The 1-hour assessment, which is voluntary, will collect data on the physical characteristics of the house, including things like building size, insulation and heating, as well as the general condition of the house.
‘Assessors will just be looking – they won’t need to poke into walls or disturb the house or contents in any way to get the information they need,’ says Household Surveys Future Development Manager Calli Seedall. ‘We often hear about damp, cold homes that can put the health of New Zealanders at risk. The information gathered in the GSS and housing assessments will increase understanding of housing quality in New Zealand.’
Responses will be anonymous
People renting and owner-occupiers will be invited to take part in the physical house assessments, but all individual information will be rendered anonymous. ‘Researchers and policy makers will be able to see the overall results of the assessments, but they won’t know who owns or rents any given home represented in the data,’ Calli says.
Individual inspection results and temperature readings will not be used for compliance purposes by any agency.
The physical housing assessment survey is jointly funded by BRANZ and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is working with BRANZ to design the digital tool used for the assessments, and Otago School of Medicine is also supporting temperature taking at all homes included in this year’s survey.
The 2018 General Social Survey will run from April 2018 to March 2019, with initial results due out later in 2019.
‘Our ambition is to make the whole Norwegian market understand that building green is the natural choice and not more expensive than building non-green buildings. The market must see that buildings with low environmental standards are expensive and risky.’ – Kjersti Folvik, CEO Norwegian GBC.
‘Our ambition in 2018 is to make sure that more of our children, our parents and our grandparents are living in safe, warm homes.’ – Andrew Eagles, Chief Executive New Zealand GBC.
‘Along with increased investment, the industry should expect greater attention on the use of carbon as a key metric to assess building performance, an enhanced focus on green skills development and government policies and programs
to support the development of a retrofit economy.’ – Thomas Mueller. CEO, Canada GBC.
New-look
industry
awards
Entries for the New Zealand Building Industry Awards are now open.
TO MARK the 25th anniversary of its awards programme, the NZIOB has introduced two new categories – a Consultants Award and an Interdisciplinary Collaboration Award — and renamed the event the New Zealand Building Industry Awards.
The new name and categories identify that the awards programme is open to all occupations in the New Zealand building industry and broadens its appeal beyond primarily recognising project managers running commercial construction projects.
The revised awards have 11 categories. Six are de ned by the scale and cost of the project and can be entered by individuals or teams working on construction projects. These six cost-based category awards are:
● Resene Projects Under $2.5 Million Award ● Steel Construction New Zealand Projects
$2.5–5 Million Award
● Hilti New Zealand Projects $5–10 Million
Award
● Colorsteel Projects $10–25 Million Award
● Allied Concrete projects $25–50 Million
Award
● AECOM Projects over $50 Million Award. The other ve categories are:
● James Hardie Innovation Award
● Site Safe Safety Excellence Award
● 2018 Metro Performance Glass Consultants
Award
● BCITO Young Achiever Award.
● Hays Construction Interdisciplinary
Collaboration Award.
Award entries close on Friday 11 May.
For more For further information and to enter online, visit www.nzbuildingindustryawards.org.nz.
Build 165 — April/May 2018 — 11
FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH