Latest news with #BRANZ
Scoop
07-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Future Leaders Build Resilience In 72-hour National Design-athon
Some of New Zealand's brightest students have competed in a 72-hour 'design-athon' event to create resilient housing that can withstand multiple disasters. The BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand) event called ArchEngBuild featured 40 final-year students from across the country in architecture, engineering, construction management, landscape architecture, and sustainable engineering. The students met for the first time at the University of Auckland and were split into ten teams to compete for the $12,000 cash prize. This year's brief was to design a resilient, sustainable and affordable community building concept that safeguards people from hazards like flooding, earthquakes, fire and high winds. It also needed to be adaptable to different family needs and quickly reinstated if disaster struck. The hypothetical site for the development was at the bottom of the Auckland Domain, an area hit hard by the Auckland Anniversary flooding in 2023. Flood-resilience was a strong feature of the winning team's design which included water retention ponds and timber buildings on stilts. However, it was the focus on community that stood out for the judges. The winners developed a housing concept called Rauhītia, which means to gather, shelter and care for collectively. The largely modular design featured a mixture of townhouses, apartments and standalone homes as well as a community facility and childcare centre to encourage multigenerational living and togetherness. The winning students are: Enoch Shi, University of Auckland architecture student Beatrice Hong, Otago Polytechnic, construction management Bella Mercard o - Victoria University of Wellington, sustainable engineering Shivam Bansal University of Auckland, structural engineering The winners were announced by BRANZ Board Chair Nigel Smith at a prizegiving event at the University of Auckland. "This event wasn't just about meeting a brief-it was about reimagining the future of resilience in our built environment. "The competition challenged students to work collaboratively to push the boundaries of what's possible in designing buildings that don't just withstand disaster, but adapt and thrive in the face of New Zealand's unique environmental challenges. "This focus is critical-not for some distant future, but for projects that urgently demand fresh thinking today," said Nigel Smith. Architecture student Enoch Shi contributed the winning result to strong teamwork and a clear focus on community at the core of their concept. "When we started the project, we asked ourselves - what does resilience mean to us? It can mean different things, but for us it really meant creating communities that protect and serve each other. Research shows the communities that are more bonded together are much more prepared in the face of disaster," Enoch said. The judges were impressed by the strong interdisciplinary collaboration under intense time-pressure pressure. "The main theme this year was resilience. It was about building for hazards, but the winning team understood that it is about community at its heart. Their project provided a great base for a diverse population and a healthy community a mixture of housing technologies like medium density and townhouses," said Ferdinand Oswald, Senior Lecturer of Architectural Technology, University of Auckland. Overall, the judges were impressed with all of the students' optimism and creativity in solving some of today's biggest challenges - including resilience, sustainability and affordability in our buildings. These are key focus areas for BRANZ through its independent research and testing to support better buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. "These students are going to change the building industry," said BRANZ Chief Executive Claire Falck. "They are hitting the real world with the right attitude and focus on collaboration and innovation to overcome the significant challenges facing our industry and communities." BRANZ is proud to fund ArchEngBuild, through the Building Research Levy, along with industry sponsorship from: Concrete New Zealand, Metals New Zealand, the Timber Design Society, Southbase, And, new sponsors this year: The Sustainable Steel Council The 2025 judging panel included: Ferdinand Oswald - Senior Lecturer of Architectural Technology at The University of Auckland Craig Hopkins - CEO of Generation Homes Ana Petrovic - Senior Structural Engineer at AECOM Anne Carrington - Senior Associate with Warren & Mahoney Architects, and Andrew Norriss - Landscape Architect Director - HoneStudio
RNZ News
18-06-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
New science lab designed to burn at high temperatures
A new research lab in Porirua has been built to be set on fire, so it can simulate the way a blaze can spread through a multi-storey building. The Building Research Association (BRANZ)'s new $40 million-dollar facility will provide some of the most advanced fire testing capabilities in the Southern Hemisphere. The 2310-square metre warehouse, with a ceiling height of 22.5m, features climate-controlled testing spaces, large-scale furnaces, and an air filtration system to prevent carbon getting into the atmosphere. Inside the new facility. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Fire testing team leader Peter Whiting said the largest furnace - measuring four by four metres - could reach temperatures up to 1200 degrees celsius. The lab's three furnaces provided for two types of tests. "One is called a fire resistance test, and that is where we are looking at a fire barrier between you and the fire," he said. The second was the "reaction-to-fire test", where materials or objects were set on fire inside the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) room, to see how they behaved. An open burn area would allow them test on complete multi-storey structures, with a giant, movable extraction hood able to suck fumes out of the space and then send the air through the "wet scrubber system". "While the gas fuel that we use is going to be clean burning, a lot of the products that we're testing will not be," Whiting said. "And so we need to extract that, and the wet scrubber system is going to take out a lot of that particulate that we see in smoke, so what really gets up the chimney and into the environment is literally steam." The importance of this kind of facility was growing, BRANZ said. Building materials were advancing, housing developments were becoming denser, and the climate was heating up. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Recent catastrophic fires like Loafers Lodge and the Port Hills show the importance of being prepared, said chief executive Claire Falck. The lab has been in the works for more than a decade. "So the old building had been here for about 40 years, and it wasn't able to do the things at-scale that we're able to do now," Falck said. "What this facility provides is also, it's climate controlled, so for example, our facade testing we could only do outside, so Wellington and its weather conditions didn't always provide for the test." The build had cost them a total of $40 million, paid for by the Building Research Levy. That levy is set at 0.1 percent, and is applied to all building consents where the work is valued at more than $20,000. For every $1000 over this threshold, BRANZ receives $1, which it invests into research projects. On the same site are facilities which simulate earthquakes and extreme weather. A structural engineering lab opened in 2023, which meant BRANZ could assess entire building systems for structural performance, weathertightness and durability. Other tests were done on-location around the country, often in highly exposed places, testing for climatic performance in wind and UV. Falck said it was not just New Zealand which would benefit from the research done in the new fire lab. Cross-country collaboration already existed, with international brands able to use BRANZ' facilities to test products against their own fire safety standards. The fire lab was officially opened in front of a crowd on Tuesday by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Shane Reti. It is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
27-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Average Section Price Drops To The Lowest In Nearly 3 Years
Press Release – BRANZ BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends & better calculate expected build delivery & consenting times. Itll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders living conditions … House prices are becoming more affordable, with section prices down 15% ($35,000) from their mid-2022 peak. However, the high cost of building continues to make new builds inaccessible for many, according to the latest data from the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ). These findings have been drawn from BRANZ's new data tool BRANZ Build Insights – the first of its kind to bring together reliable economic insights from across the building sector. The latest quarterly data (January–March 2025) reveals that the average price for a section and new standalone house is down 4.1% to $1,018,000 – $43,000 less than the previous quarter (October–December 2024). However, this remains substantially more expensive (+$201,000) than buying an existing home. A driving factor for this is that house build prices have continued to increase in recent years and at nearly twice the rate of inflation. Latest estimates show that building a basic 200m2 home, which would have cost just over $650,000 in mid- 2022, will now cost $777,000. This is nearly a 20% increase over a time when general inflation rose 12%. Existing property prices have increased slightly over the same period. BRANZ Senior Economist Matt Curtis says: 'We're still experiencing high build costs since the pandemic, from a number of factors, including increased material costs, higher wage costs as well as the general inflation we're seeing across all sectors. 'But this new data is showing us the first signs of improving affordability in the new-build sector and since 2023, the number of building consents issued for standalone homes has been slowly increasing – growing 5% in the year ending March 2025 compared to the year ending March 2024. 'We're also seeing house sizes getting smaller to adapt to rising costs. The average size of new standalone houses consented in 2024 was 176m2 compared to 184m2 in 2023,' he says. 'Generally, smaller and simpler houses are a good thing – they cost less to build and are also more cost-effective for people to live in, with less energy and maintenance expenses.' Since 2022, the building and construction industry has faced significant challenges, including a decline in new startups and notable increases in business liquidations (up 37% in the year to February 2025 compared to a year earlier). However, the sector's skills pipeline shows a more promising outlook. This has been underscored by a surge in trades training, and carpentry apprenticeships have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. BRANZ CEO, Claire Falck explains how the data from BRANZ Build Insights brings together reliable insights from BRANZ and multiple data sources across the building sector into one trusted tool: 'BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends and better calculate expected build delivery and consenting times. It'll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders' living conditions and the impact of new initiatives across our housing. 'Having all this data in one place means anyone can easily track building system trends and outcomes, which will help support industry best practice, decision-making, and analysis. 'This tool will continue to grow with new reliable data sources being added, allowing a more enriched understanding of the building sector,' says Claire. 'It will also be coupled with regular BRANZ economic reports to give sector-leading updates on the status of the built environment, on a regular basis, for the first time.' Q1 2025 building and construction sector insights: Reduced section prices: The average 500m2 section in the March quarter is $240,000, $35,000 less than in mid-2022. There are however significant regional variations: For instance, the average cost of a 500m² section in Auckland is over $505,000, compared to $65,000 in the West Coast. Reduced overall new build cost: The total average price for a section and new build standalone house is $1,018,000 – $42,000 less than the $1,060,000 in December 2024. Construction costs outstrip inflation: The cost to build a house has increased by nearly 20% since mid-2022, with an average 200sqm house now costing $777,000. Over the same period when general inflation rose 12%. Shift in consents: Building consents for standalone houses have increased slightly, whereas consents for attached dwellings have decreased by 17%. Decline in consent value: The total value of residential building consents has fallen by 13% compared to 2023 after adjusting for inflation. Growth in construction businesses: There are more construction businesses and workers now than ever before, with 81,891 businesses operating in 2024. Increase in construction businesses: There are now more construction businesses than ever before – 81,891 in 2024, outpacing the growth rate of all industries in the last decade. However, construction business liquidations were up 37%, and made up 31% of all business liquidations. Positive long-term outlook: Despite the economic downturn, the long-term outlook remains positive, with more construction businesses being started and fewer ceasing operations compared to other industries. Surge in apprenticeships: Carpentry apprentices have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. Increase in trades training: Participation in trades training has nearly doubled since 2014, with the total number of trainees, apprentices, and tertiary qualification students in construction increasing from 57,000 to 93,000 in 2023. About BRANZ Build Insights BRANZ Build Insights is a new tool created by BRANZ to track building system data. Bringing together reliable insights from across the building sector into one trusted source, BRANZ Build Insights supports industry best practice, decision-making and analysis. BRANZ Build Insights can help you: BRANZ is a trusted, independent expert in building construction. We provide practical research, testing, quality assurance and expertise to support better buildings.
Scoop
27-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Average Section Price Drops To The Lowest In Nearly 3 Years
Press Release – BRANZ BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends & better calculate expected build delivery & consenting times. Itll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders living conditions … House prices are becoming more affordable, with section prices down 15% ($35,000) from their mid-2022 peak. However, the high cost of building continues to make new builds inaccessible for many, according to the latest data from the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ). These findings have been drawn from BRANZ's new data tool BRANZ Build Insights – the first of its kind to bring together reliable economic insights from across the building sector. The latest quarterly data (January–March 2025) reveals that the average price for a section and new standalone house is down 4.1% to $1,018,000 – $43,000 less than the previous quarter (October–December 2024). However, this remains substantially more expensive (+$201,000) than buying an existing home. A driving factor for this is that house build prices have continued to increase in recent years and at nearly twice the rate of inflation. Latest estimates show that building a basic 200m2 home, which would have cost just over $650,000 in mid- 2022, will now cost $777,000. This is nearly a 20% increase over a time when general inflation rose 12%. Existing property prices have increased slightly over the same period. BRANZ Senior Economist Matt Curtis says: 'We're still experiencing high build costs since the pandemic, from a number of factors, including increased material costs, higher wage costs as well as the general inflation we're seeing across all sectors. 'But this new data is showing us the first signs of improving affordability in the new-build sector and since 2023, the number of building consents issued for standalone homes has been slowly increasing – growing 5% in the year ending March 2025 compared to the year ending March 2024. 'We're also seeing house sizes getting smaller to adapt to rising costs. The average size of new standalone houses consented in 2024 was 176m2 compared to 184m2 in 2023,' he says. 'Generally, smaller and simpler houses are a good thing – they cost less to build and are also more cost-effective for people to live in, with less energy and maintenance expenses.' Since 2022, the building and construction industry has faced significant challenges, including a decline in new startups and notable increases in business liquidations (up 37% in the year to February 2025 compared to a year earlier). However, the sector's skills pipeline shows a more promising outlook. This has been underscored by a surge in trades training, and carpentry apprenticeships have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. BRANZ CEO, Claire Falck explains how the data from BRANZ Build Insights brings together reliable insights from BRANZ and multiple data sources across the building sector into one trusted tool: 'BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends and better calculate expected build delivery and consenting times. It'll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders' living conditions and the impact of new initiatives across our housing. 'Having all this data in one place means anyone can easily track building system trends and outcomes, which will help support industry best practice, decision-making, and analysis. 'This tool will continue to grow with new reliable data sources being added, allowing a more enriched understanding of the building sector,' says Claire. 'It will also be coupled with regular BRANZ economic reports to give sector-leading updates on the status of the built environment, on a regular basis, for the first time.' Q1 2025 building and construction sector insights: Reduced section prices: The average 500m2 section in the March quarter is $240,000, $35,000 less than in mid-2022. There are however significant regional variations: For instance, the average cost of a 500m² section in Auckland is over $505,000, compared to $65,000 in the West Coast. Reduced overall new build cost: The total average price for a section and new build standalone house is $1,018,000 – $42,000 less than the $1,060,000 in December 2024. Construction costs outstrip inflation: The cost to build a house has increased by nearly 20% since mid-2022, with an average 200sqm house now costing $777,000. Over the same period when general inflation rose 12%. Shift in consents: Building consents for standalone houses have increased slightly, whereas consents for attached dwellings have decreased by 17%. Decline in consent value: The total value of residential building consents has fallen by 13% compared to 2023 after adjusting for inflation. Growth in construction businesses: There are more construction businesses and workers now than ever before, with 81,891 businesses operating in 2024. Increase in construction businesses: There are now more construction businesses than ever before – 81,891 in 2024, outpacing the growth rate of all industries in the last decade. However, construction business liquidations were up 37%, and made up 31% of all business liquidations. Positive long-term outlook: Despite the economic downturn, the long-term outlook remains positive, with more construction businesses being started and fewer ceasing operations compared to other industries. Surge in apprenticeships: Carpentry apprentices have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. Increase in trades training: Participation in trades training has nearly doubled since 2014, with the total number of trainees, apprentices, and tertiary qualification students in construction increasing from 57,000 to 93,000 in 2023. About BRANZ Build Insights BRANZ Build Insights is a new tool created by BRANZ to track building system data. Bringing together reliable insights from across the building sector into one trusted source, BRANZ Build Insights supports industry best practice, decision-making and analysis. BRANZ Build Insights can help you: BRANZ is a trusted, independent expert in building construction. We provide practical research, testing, quality assurance and expertise to support better buildings.
Scoop
27-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Average Section Price Drops To The Lowest In Nearly 3 Years
House prices are becoming more affordable, with section prices down 15% ($35,000) from their mid-2022 peak. However, the high cost of building continues to make new builds inaccessible for many, according to the latest data from the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ). These findings have been drawn from BRANZ's new data tool BRANZ Build Insights – the first of its kind to bring together reliable economic insights from across the building sector. The latest quarterly data (January–March 2025) reveals that the average price for a section and new standalone house is down 4.1% to $1,018,000 - $43,000 less than the previous quarter (October–December 2024). However, this remains substantially more expensive (+$201,000) than buying an existing home. A driving factor for this is that house build prices have continued to increase in recent years and at nearly twice the rate of inflation. Latest estimates show that building a basic 200m2 home, which would have cost just over $650,000 in mid- 2022, will now cost $777,000. This is nearly a 20% increase over a time when general inflation rose 12%. Existing property prices have increased slightly over the same period. BRANZ Senior Economist Matt Curtis says: 'We're still experiencing high build costs since the pandemic, from a number of factors, including increased material costs, higher wage costs as well as the general inflation we're seeing across all sectors. 'But this new data is showing us the first signs of improving affordability in the new-build sector and since 2023, the number of building consents issued for standalone homes has been slowly increasing – growing 5% in the year ending March 2025 compared to the year ending March 2024. 'We're also seeing house sizes getting smaller to adapt to rising costs. The average size of new standalone houses consented in 2024 was 176m2 compared to 184m2 in 2023,' he says. 'Generally, smaller and simpler houses are a good thing – they cost less to build and are also more cost-effective for people to live in, with less energy and maintenance expenses.' Since 2022, the building and construction industry has faced significant challenges, including a decline in new startups and notable increases in business liquidations (up 37% in the year to February 2025 compared to a year earlier). However, the sector's skills pipeline shows a more promising outlook. This has been underscored by a surge in trades training, and carpentry apprenticeships have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. BRANZ CEO, Claire Falck explains how the data from BRANZ Build Insights brings together reliable insights from BRANZ and multiple data sources across the building sector into one trusted tool: 'BRANZ Build Insights features data that can help the sector forecast construction demand, track workforce trends and better calculate expected build delivery and consenting times. It'll also help us understand changes in New Zealanders' living conditions and the impact of new initiatives across our housing. 'Having all this data in one place means anyone can easily track building system trends and outcomes, which will help support industry best practice, decision-making, and analysis. 'This tool will continue to grow with new reliable data sources being added, allowing a more enriched understanding of the building sector,' says Claire. 'It will also be coupled with regular BRANZ economic reports to give sector-leading updates on the status of the built environment, on a regular basis, for the first time.' Q1 2025 building and construction sector insights: Reduced section prices: The average 500m2 section in the March quarter is $240,000, $35,000 less than in mid-2022. There are however significant regional variations: For instance, the average cost of a 500m² section in Auckland is over $505,000, compared to $65,000 in the West Coast. Reduced overall new build cost: The total average price for a section and new build standalone house is $1,018,000 - $42,000 less than the $1,060,000 in December 2024. Construction costs outstrip inflation: The cost to build a house has increased by nearly 20% since mid-2022, with an average 200sqm house now costing $777,000. Over the same period when general inflation rose 12%. Shift in consents: Building consents for standalone houses have increased slightly, whereas consents for attached dwellings have decreased by 17%. Decline in consent value: The total value of residential building consents has fallen by 13% compared to 2023 after adjusting for inflation. Growth in construction businesses: There are more construction businesses and workers now than ever before, with 81,891 businesses operating in 2024. Increase in construction businesses: There are now more construction businesses than ever before - 81,891 in 2024, outpacing the growth rate of all industries in the last decade. However, construction business liquidations were up 37%, and made up 31% of all business liquidations. Positive long-term outlook: Despite the economic downturn, the long-term outlook remains positive, with more construction businesses being started and fewer ceasing operations compared to other industries. Surge in apprenticeships: Carpentry apprentices have more than doubled in the past decade, with 21,165 apprentices in 2023 compared to 9,280 in 2014. Increase in trades training: Participation in trades training has nearly doubled since 2014, with the total number of trainees, apprentices, and tertiary qualification students in construction increasing from 57,000 to 93,000 in 2023. About BRANZ Build Insights BRANZ Build Insights is a new tool created by BRANZ to track building system data. Bringing together reliable insights from across the building sector into one trusted source, BRANZ Build Insights supports industry best practice, decision-making and analysis. BRANZ Build Insights can help you: About the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) BRANZ is a trusted, independent expert in building construction. We provide practical research, testing, quality assurance and expertise to support better buildings.
