86 | Maple Build T T Virginia Wright Constructing high performance homes “Passive House standard is the ultimate for high performance and this suits some of our clients.” BUILDING Zac Prestidge grew up building with his father and over the past 10 years, Zac has been developing his own team of builders at Maple Build Ltd. Currently the team of five are based in Featherston and include two apprentices working alongside three experienced, licensed builders. While historically Maple Build has done extensive renovation work and high end architectural new builds, in recent years the team has developed a passion for creating high performance buildings. ”We have a general culture within our team and with the clients that we work with, that we want to achieve better outcomes than the code minimum affords.” says Zac. “Passive House standard is the ultimate for high performance and this suits some of our clients. For most, we are looking for the best outcomes that fit within the clients budget and goals.” In practice it means they’re often targeting a more airtight building, for example managing the building’s ventilation, and increasing their level of performance through better insulation and detailing around the windows and foundations, all with the goal of having a home that’s healthier, more energy efficient and cost effective to run in the long term. “Most houses in New Zealand are built to the New Zealand building code as a target, but if you build to that standard you’re building the worst house you’re legally allowed to get away with, it’s a minimum standard. “The H1 (energy efficiency) (building) code updates do improve that a little but there is still a lot of opportunity to push further and take a more holistic review of how we are building homes in NZ when it comes to energy efficiency. For us we look at that minimum standard and work out how far above that standard we can go with the budget we’ve got,” explains Zac. Recently the Maple Build team was involved in their first certified passive house build, which featured on last season’s Grand Designs, for clients Josefine and Will Watterson. Josefine was both the client and the architect and Zac worked closely with the couple on the buildability of their dream house before they started the build itself, through the design process, to find cost-effective solutions that met the budget. “It wasn’t so much around the thermal performance or the engineering but more around the build sequencing and materials that can be used to achieve the same goal with a lot less labour involved,” he explains. One way or another the improved buildability helped to shave over $200,000 off the quote that came with the first set of drawings, further helped by the clients taking on some of the work such as installing the internal ply linings and painting the house themselves. The house is not only certified passive but highly architectural and Zac enjoyed the challenge that comes with combining the two. “Working out how to do that well, particularly around our airtightness targets which was a bit nerve-wracking at times, keeping some tricky junctions airtight. “We had really good on-site support from the team at Proclima who supplied the airtightness membranes which made a big difference.” NEW AND RE-ROOF SPECIALISTS • FREE QUOTES • 027 287 6633 • WWW.ATROOFING.CO.NZ • ATROOFINGNZ@GMAIL.COM PROUD TO SUPPORT MAPLE BUILD Pro Clima NZ & Crighton ITM Greytown proudly supported Maple Build with the supply of high-performance external weathertightness system and certified passive house internal airtightness system components for their Wairarapa build featured on Grand Designs. Crighton ITM Greytown 06 304 7193 gtmanager@crightonsgtown.co.nz itm.co.nz/Stores/Crighton-ITM-Greytown @ITMGreytown Pro Clima NZ Ltd 0800 PRO CLIMA (776 254) welcome@proclima.co.nz proclima.co.nz @proclimanz
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