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DEVELOPMENT » Palm Springs - Belvedere Group
April 2016 Business North
Ecostar range targets sustainability Karen Phelps Response has been “phenomenal” to New Zealand’s first 10 Homestar rated home, says Paul Chapman, senior quantity surveyor for The Belvedere Group, which designed and built the home. The showhome, located at 85 Palm Springs Boulevard, Papamoa, opened in August: “We thought it would appeal but we didn’t realise how much and to how many people. We’ve had such a range of people interested from first home buyers to retirees,” says Paul. The Belvedere Group showhome at Papamoa represents the company’s new brand – Ecostar Homes – which offers a range of cost-effective, healthy, sustainable home plans to New Zealanders developed around the Homestar rating system. Launched in 2010 Homestar is an independent system that rates the health, comfort and efficiency of New Zealand homes, on a scale of 1-10. Paul says the aim is to make sustainable homes with lower running costs accessible to all New Zealanders. Each plan in the Ecostar Homes range is rated from 7 Homestar to 10 Homestar and has been developed to minimise waste and maximise passive design, in order to arrive at a cost effective product that is both energy efficient and sustainable. In fact the range is typically priced at about the same price point as comparable products on the market, which do not include these ecofriendly features, says Paul. The company has estimated that the starting point for the Ecostar range, a 7 Homestar Designrated house, will save the average four-person Tauranga family around $1833.59 per year. The 10 Homestar home in the range would save $3198.68 per year. He says that Ecostar Homes specifications exceed the current requirements of the New Zealand Building Code with seven features that come as standard in all Ecostar Homes including slab edge insulation (because BRANZ research suggests that of all heat escaping the floor slab of the building 80% is through the edge of uninsulated concrete slabs) and 140mm wide exterior framing. “Traditional frames are only 90mm. This extra width allows us to install insulation with a higher thermal value without compressing the insulation and reducing its efficiency,” explains Paul.
Belvedere Group’s Ecostar Homes offers a range of cost-effective, healthy, sustainable home plans to New Zealanders developed around the Homestar rating system. “We also include insulation to thermal ratings of R4.0 and R5.0 respectively when the current New Zealand Building Code requires walls to have a thermal rating of just R2.2 and ceilings R3.2.” Other features include a 2550mm stud height to give a greater feeling of space, 860mm wide wheelchair accessible doors, solar hot water system, polished concrete floors to absorb sun and release the heat during the evening and a rainwater recycling system that stores and filters rainwater for reuse flushing toilets and running a washing machine. Homes also include an Aquatrip water system to monitor water usage and detect leaks and an econnecx web based electrical home automation system.
“We thought it would appeal but we didn’t realise how much and to how many people. We’ve had such a range of people interested from first home buyers to retirees.” All the designs also include the key Lifemark design standards to ensure the home is designed and built to be adaptable, accessible, usable, safe and offer lifetime value. Paul says that the Ecostar Homes’ plan range have been specifically designed to be eco friendly from the ground up rather than taking a normal house plan and simply adding eco features.
This, along with bulk buying power, has allowed the company to offer such an attractive price point to the market. The plans can be used to provide a starting point and changes can be made. Alternatively the company can undertake a full design and build for the client. • to page 17
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