Building beyond minimum requirements (literature review)

Our research aims are to summarise the known costs and benefits of building beyond minimum in New Zealand and overseas. LIA 2020 TEXT FOLLOWS: NZ Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) completed a literature review of the economic assessment of the costs, benefits and methods for the construction of houses designed and built to standards that exceed the minimum Building Code requirements. This literature review identified and summarised international and domestic evidence of the benefits and costs of building beyond the minimum and their relevance to New Zealand. Knowledge gained in the review identified several possible options that contributed to the aim of the programme. These options included establishing guidelines for the assessment of costs and benefits in construction and greater assessment of the non-market costs and benefits, including environmental and health impacts. It also advocated the use of multi-disciplinary teams that include economists as experts in the assessment of market and non-market costs and benefits.