– New Zealand’s first passive house in Glendowie is for sale, boasting low power bills.
– The four-bedroom home maintains a constant 20 degrees and has sparked significant buyer interest.
– The vendor built it to combat cold, damp homes, achieving awards for its sustainable design.
New Zealand’s first passive house is on the market for sale for the first time since it was built 13 years ago.
The four-bedroom home at 15 Kesteven Avenue, in Auckland’s Glendowie, boasts one of the country’s lowest power bills thanks to the energy-efficient systems that run through it.
It was the first home in Australasia to adopt the Passivhaus (Passive House) standard, which has brought about buildings with little or no heating requirements.
The Passive House standards keep the home warm and dry at minimum cost. Photo / Supplied
The heat recovery ventilation system, left, uses as much power as a 60-watt light bulb. Photo / Supplied
Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Jonathan Viljoen said the house had already sparked a lot of buyer excitement. “They can feel the atmosphere as soon as they walk in. The temperature is 20 degrees, winter or summer. It’s not something you come across every day,” he said.
“I have had one buyer saying, ‘This is perfect.’”
For those unaware of the world of Passive homes, Viljoen called on Joe Lyth, chairman of the Passive House Institute of New Zealand, to explain the benefits to buyers. “The airtight building envelope means no drafts, there is less moisture risk, there is no mould. The house is less dusty because of the continuous ventilation, as all the fresh air is filtered,” Lyth says in the listing video on OneRoof.
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Viljoen said the expectation was a sale price over the RV of $3.575m, adding that buyers recognised the value of the house’s unique features. “We are setting a benchmark. Buyer feedback is over the CV,” he said.
The vendor, an engineer from Canada, told OneRoof he had found New Zealand homes to be cold and damp, so he decided to build something better from scratch.
However, creating a home to Passive House standards wasn’t an easy task. Luckily, he was able to get help from one of the few Kiwis who knew about the building techniques, Queenstown building science engineer Denise Martin. She assisted with the calculations needed to ensure the house met the strict global standards. He also had help from Auckland Council’s then head of design, Ludo Campbell-Reid, who walked planners through the consents.
While they look beautiful, the German double- and triple-glazed windows keep temperatures inside even. Photo / Supplied
The house is packed with luxury finishes and features. Photo / Supplied
“There were no materials in New Zealand, there was no knowledge in New Zealand,” the vendor said. “At that point [in 2011], the council was very worried about leaky buildings. Someone in council said to me, ‘Our air is different from the air in Europe, so it won’t work here.’
“Ludo was doing a lot of innovative work here, and he helped get people to listen. He had other people from the university backing up the data.”
Before submitting final plans for building approval, Philip estimated he had dozens of meetings with council officers over the space of six months. “It was like, ‘No, we don’t do those here.’ They were just doing their job. People were nervous. No one was rude, but they got sick of seeing me,” he said.
“Then once we built it, other people used our building consents as a basis for their applications, so it became easier.”
Builder Chris Foley was key to the project’s success, the vendor said.
“He’s become a dear friend. He did not think I was too crazy. He did not fully know what he was getting involved with, but he did this when everything we did was brand new.
Foley reported that the house won the overall house award at the 2015 South Pacific Passive House Awards and the single-family home category at the 2014 International Passive House Awards.
While buyers can easily see the appeal of many of the finishes – the German windows, the fireplace, the bamboo floors – the beauty of the property was its ability to provide low-cost, sustainable living.
“Our utility bill is less than $60 a month, and that’s because we charge two electric cars and run a dryer. We collect our own water to run the laundry and toilet.
“We chose to build at a very high standard. We budgeted so we could do this. Building this today would cost a whole lot more,” he said.
The vendor told OneRoof he and his partner were selling up for something smaller, but no less special. “Once you’ve lived in this environment, you’re not going to buy an ordinary house.”
He added: “The house is so comfortable. Our kids run around every winter in shorts and T-shirts. They hated going to sleepovers because it was too cold and too hot.”
– 15 Kesteven Avenue, Glendowie, Auckland, goes to auction on September 24