Insulation requirements in housing and other buildings

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About the consultation

This Government is committed to boosting housing growth by tackling the housing affordability and supply crisis. 

To support the Government's aim, we need to make sure that the Building Code's regulatory settings are working well so there are no barriers to construction activity and new home ownership.

What we are proposing

We are proposing improvements to the Building Code's insulation settings which are covered under a clause called 'H1 Energy Efficiency'.

The improvements are to see if there are ways to allow for more flexibility of building designs to reduce upfront costs and increase energy efficiency.

There are currently 3 methods used to see if a building meets the requirements under the Building Code H1 Energy Efficiency clause, and these are the:

1.  Schedule Method – a ‘one size fits all’ prescriptive table of insulation values.
2. The Calculation Method – a semi-flexible range of insulation values that can be ‘mixed and matched’ to suit the design.
3. Modelling Method – a fully flexible insulation design based on computer simulation of energy efficiency.

How your feedback helps

MBIE wants your feedback to understand whether:

• adjustments to the methods of compliance will reduce upfront costs of buildings and improve cost effectiveness
• any proposed adjustments better balance upfront cost design decisions with long term cost benefits
•  removing the prescriptive Schedule Method would increase design flexibility
• relaxing the requirements in the Calculation and Modelling methods would increase design flexibility and better enable buildings to be optimised
• building framing ratios need to be adapted to better meet insulation specifications
• energy loss effects of the framing in walls needs more consideration when calculating insulation specifications.

MBIE also wants to understand the needs of the building design sector to improve the management of internal moisture and overheating risks in buildings.

Relevant documents

Proposed changes for Acceptable Solutions and Verification Method documents

Supporting reports on insulation requirements