What is Homestar?

Homestar is a rating tool developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC)

NZGBC like Smart Living Spaces, are passionate advocates for better buildings and happier healthier kiwis. Our values aligns and together we work to create better healthier buildings for everyday New Zealanders.

Homestar is a holistic tool to rate a home’s performance and environmental impact.

What this means for you, is that you have a benchmark rating to demonstrate how much better your home is compared to the minimum standard homes we are all familiar with.  

The team at NZGBC keep up with the latest initiatives in our building, financial and governance sectors. These trends and developments are captured in the process to ensure we are designing for tomorrow and not for today. It allows you to take advantage of initiatives such as lower interest rates for Homestar rated homes as soon as they become available to the market.

The rating system moves from 6 to10. A 10 Homestar project recognises world leading standards for design, construction, and efficiency in operation. A 10 Homestar project is on the same level as a Passive House, an international world standard which many countries are adopting and which Scotland recently moved to make their building code standard. A 6 Homestar rating recognises that a home has been built above the minimum current New Zealand Building Standards.

Why should I choose Homestar?

Firstly it means you are building a home that will continue to comply with future standards, as we are in the midst of major changes to our New Zealand Building Code and other compliance criteria such as Carbon Footprints and Medium Density Design Quality.  

Secondly it gives lenders, such as ANZ, assurance of the quality rating of your build. On offer at the moment is reduce interest rates for mortgages for a Homestar 8 or above. This means your home can be healthier, more comfortable, more efficient, more affordable and more desirable to future occupants or owners.

Lastly, future occupants or buyers of your home will have a benchmark to evaluate your home, similar to the energy rating we have on all our household appliances.

I am a Homestar Designer and Homestar Assessor, which means that I can incorporate the requirements for this system easily into your design process and handle the application process to the NZGBC for certification of your project.

The next step

You can book a complimentary Chat with me, Sharon, Certified Passive House Designer, to talk about your project. 

You can download Your Journey Guide, as visual guide to the Architectural, Homestar and Passive House Journey.