Business North March 2021

| 85 Green Homes New Zealand BUILDING Efficiency, sustainability at the core Green Homes New Zealand offers healthy and energy efficient solutions that are safe and usable for people of all ages. T T Kelly Deeks A t the cutting edge of sustainable build- ing, and the only New Zealand builder to be compliant with the Internation- al Standards Organisation for design and construction of energy-efficient homes, Green Homes New Zealand promises its clients won’t have to pay more for energy efficiency and sustainability. “We are so proud of our ISO 50001 accred- itation,” says Green Homes New Zealand design and build consultant Kirsten Greig. “It means we can promise a degree of quali- ty service that’s independently accredited.” She says the exciting thing about the Green Homes New Zealand product is its offering of healthy and energy efficient solutions that are safe and usable for people of all ages and stages. “We are a Lifemark Accredited Partner, which gives our clients the option of having a number of very practical solutions, whether they are fully able, or they have arthritis, or find themselves in a wheelchair at some stage, we can cater for all of those things. “Even for young families, there are no trip hazards with Lifemark,” says Kirsten. Depending on their client’s individual brief, Green Homes New Zealand homes cater to 98% of New Zealand’s population, not only providing for special needs and disabilities, but universally designed to cater for everyone no matter their age, stage, and ability. “It’s beautiful, it’s functional, and it’s a much more forward thinking approach to building and design.” Some of Green Homes New Zealand’s sup- pliers are wholly supportive of the company’s direction towards beautiful, functional design, providing things like toilet roll holders and shower rails which also serve as grab rails. “These are beautiful pieces of hardware which are actually functional. We no longer have to fit something that looks like an insti - tutional bathroom. It’s awesome to be able to provide that.” Today’s rapidly increasing property prices are starting to bring building into line with buying. In the Coromandel town of Pauanui, Green Homes New Zealand has house and land packages on offer which are a great option when compared to the 90s baches on the market there, all needing work done and more money spent. “With us, you can spend the same money and get a beautiful, warm dry home with all low VOC building materials, paints, and adhesives, so you’re not walking into that ‘new car’ smell.” While Green Homes New Zealand deals mostly with clients who are on to their third or fourth home, some clients will express their aspiration for a five-year home to be built on a limited budget with few extras. Others are looking for a home and income option, or for sharing their home with their extended family. “In a two storey home, the downstairs can be designed to incorporate more Lifemark features and make it suitable for elderly rela- tives,” Kirsten says. “Some people want to make their down- stairs an Airbnb, and make it suitable for everyone. I always speak of resale when I talk about Lifemark. If our clients are building investment properties, they open themselves up to that much more of the market when they make it a more universal design.” Specialist manufacturers’ representative SA Plumbing Supply is bringing quality products to New Zealand’s plumbing and marine sectors that show how a little bit of sustainable thinking can improve a home’s design, functionality, and accessibility, without it looking institutional. SA Plumbing Supply provides bathroom products to universal home builder Green Homes New Zealand. Owner Sean Paterson says there is still a general perception that associates universal design with accessibility, and while the two do overlap, accessible designs are done to a minimum building code, and if they’re not downright ugly, they look like they belong in a hospital. Sean has looked into ACC’s general statistics and is proud to report his products have the potential to save not just people from injuring themselves in the bathroom, but also save the taxpayer from the average $35 million per year ACC spent between 2016 and 2018 to ix people who had fallen over in the bathroom. Improving functionality “Falls in the shower, bath, and bathroom can be resolved by doing better design, but no one is going to put something that looks like it’s part of a hospital into their private home.” SA Plumbing Supply stocks universally designed and engineered products that combine aesthetics and accessibility. “You could look into a bathroomwith our products and it doesn’t even look accessible, but it is. We stock award winning ixtures and ittings that are actually load-bearing, and double as support structures, like toilet roll holders and shower rails, and a grab rail that looks like a shelf. I’ve even got a toilet brush unit, the whole brush unit is a column made of concrete, and the brush itself is a hand rail. That one doesn’t even need reinforcing in the wall.” With 30% of New Zealanders identifying as having some form of disability, and only 2% of our housing stock being built to universal design, Sean says there is a massive gap in the housing market which is ignoring 30% of the population. “Everyone is of a di erent age and ability and that’s what 09 524 8639 www.universalbathroomdesign.nz POBox 412, Whangaparaoa, Auckland0932 universal design is about,” he says. Some of SA Plumbing Supply’s suppliers are responding to the new Covid-19 reality with increasing ranges of support rail products with antibacterial coatings which protect surfaces and inhibit the growth of bacteria. Sean is pushing for these to become available in colour as well as the traditional chrome and stainless steel.