| 19 DEVELOPMENT Bellbird Developments Warmer, healthier homes Wanaka property developer Vicki Spearing says that building warmer, more energy efficient homes needs to become mainstream. Wanaka property developer Vicki Spearing is passionate about building connected, sustainable, and resilient communities and says that means considering how we build, move, and connect within those communities. “It is also about mental resilience and knowing your neighbours, growing food locally and sharing that with your community,” says Vicki. Director of Bellbird Developments, Vicki has a dream that every new house built will be healthier and warmer for the occupants, and more sympathetic to the environment, reducing greenhouse emissions. In 2019 Vicki bought a small block of land in Wanaka with the intention of creating a special community and incentivising the construction of healthier homes. The development, Greenwood Lane, consists of six lots all which sold before being marketed. “I felt property development could be done better,” says Vicki. “I wanted to show that you don’t need to wipe the slate clean and do grid like development. “You can keep the aesthetics and consider how it is for the residents living there. I covenanted some of the trees to protect them, and because beautiful bellbirds and tuis live there — hence the name Bellbird Developments. I wanted to inspire other developers and people in the community to have conversations around how we build better homes.” Vicki says that building warmer, more energy efficient homes needs to become mainstream — not something that sits at the margin and reserved for just a few. Decarbonisation in building also needs to be accelerated. “As a mother I’m concerned about the environment. This is something I’m doing to make a difference. I don’t have all the answers, but it is a step in the right direction. I’ve put a stake in ground with the Greenwood Lane development, and I’m demonstrating how we can do things differently.” That stake in the ground, is making it compulsory before the house is built, to thermally model the building plans to predict how much energy the house will use, then offering either $10,000 or $20,000, to people whose modelling meets specified standards, and pass an airtightness test on completion of the home. “A large proportion of my profits go back to the people who build better and that’s how I’m trying to drive change. The first house has been built and those people received the top incentive. Vicki says warmer, healthier homes are airtight, better insulated, and mechanically ventilated. All rooms stay the same temper- “I felt property development could be done better. I wanted to show that you don’t need to wipe the slate clean and do grid like development. T T Richard Loader ature – there are no cold rooms–and it’s very quiet, calm, and comfortable to live in. People in New Zealand have a high incidence of asthma because of damp, cold and mouldy homes. The third leading cause of death in New Zealand is respiratory disease and one out of ten admissions to our hospitals are from asthma. “The Asthma Society can show for every dollar spent on reinsulating our homes, five dollars can be saved on hospitalisations. The problem is that New Zealand’s Building Code doesn’t even meet World Health Organisations standards for internal temperatures. The building code is being reviewed, — though not fast enough — but people will soon have to change.” In addition to health benefits, Vicki says warmer healthier homes have a significant impact on energy requirements and power bills. “People who build to a passive standard have very minimal energy costs, generally reduce power bills by 90% compared to a house built to code — sometimes they’re getting money back from their power company.” There are strong environmental reasons to build better. The New Zealand Green Building Council has demonstrated the built environment contributes 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions. When we build a property, we lock in the emissions for the lifetime of that building. “Houses built to code emit seven times more greenhouse gas emissions than required to meet carbon targets, so we urgently need to start transitioning the way we build, from an environmental perspective.” Salmond Architecture, Wanaka Committed to designing high performance buildings that are sustainable over the long term, sympathetic with the landscape and appropriate in their context. Through a creative design process we help our clients to achieve their vision for their new projects. W: E: T: www.salmondarchitecture.co.nz info@salmondarchitecture.co.nz (03) 443 4546 salmond architecture
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