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Andrew Eagles: Green Building Council CEO on MBIE delaying the review and regulation changes for overheating houses · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: No quick fix for hothouses. These are the newly built
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: apartments getting cooked by the sun, pushing some bedroom temperatures
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: above 35 degrees during the day. Well, you'll have to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: wait years before rules are changed to cool you down.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: MB says they are reviewing the rules. They're looking into it,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: but nothing will change before 2031. Andrew Eagles, Green Building
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Council CEO with us this morning. Andrew, good morning.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Great to speak with you.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you too. So what exactly have they said?
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: They've said we are considering the issue, but we can't
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: make changes or won't make changes before then?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, look, I think this is just a
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: real shame. You know, a home should be a place
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: which is a sanctuary you go to recover. And instead,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Kiwis have got discomfort and stress. You know, they're saying
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: things like, my home is like an oven or it's
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a sauna without the sun. Auckland Council is really, really
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: alarmed about this and is calling for action. And there's
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: just no way we need to wait five years to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: fix this. Australia did this in 2019. There are no
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: qualms from there. We have the clause. We could implement
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: this and have better homes. And the thing they're not saying,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: the thing they're failing to say, is that a delay
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: of five years will impact over... 60,000 families will be
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: more at risk of these sweltering, terrible conditions.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Is that because new homes, new townhouses, apartments getting built
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: will be bought and they're too hot?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so around half of the homes we're building at
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the moment are terraced homes and apartments, and those are
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the ones that are more at risk. And if we're
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: not asking designers to check this, at that stage, then
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: we've got a huge number of homes that are at
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: risk of these conditions. Kiwi families just shouldn't have to
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: put up with that. That's 60,000 homes. If you say
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: that's three people per home, that's 180,000 people at risk
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: of these conditions. We really need politicians to just say,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: this is ridiculous. We've got a solution in other countries.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Let's crunch through this bureaucracy and analysis and delay and
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: get on with solutions for Kiwi families.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Andrew, if you're someone listening to this, you're about to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: buy a townhouse, you're about to buy an apartment or
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you're thinking of doing that. I mean, I've been reading
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: about the story. So if it's west facing, if there's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: floor to ceiling windows, you can barely crack the window
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: open and there's bugger all ventilation, no eaves, no window shading,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: all of those are sort of telltale signs.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Exactly. So your question to the developer is, have you
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: modeled this? And is it going to overheat? Show me
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the model, right? Or you could ask for a Homestar
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: certification that will confirm that risk has been dropped down markedly.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: But do say, show me the model and has this
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: been controlled for? They can reduce the glazing size. They
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: can put on the shading and that will reduce that risk.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: It means your family isn't going to be uncomfortable and
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: sweltering through January through to March. you're going to be
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: able to get better sleep. We actually think there's a
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: real case that these homes are breaching the building code
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: because the code is meant to be delivering comfortable, healthy homes.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: And it's just not. And no way we should wait
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: five years.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Sounds a bit dumb. Andrew Eagles, Green Building Council CEO.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: to Newstalk ZB from 5am weekdays or follow the podcast
• 3:41
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