ER15 Upgrade or retire? Exploring factors in making decisions for privately owned homes in Tāmaki (May 2016)

This research aimed to improve understanding of options for upgrading or retiring poor building stock at the development or neighbourhood level. Research had identified that many of the privately owned homes in Tāmaki were poorly maintained and provide a low level of performance (cold, damp and expensive to run) for their residents. While some of these private homes were considered to have clear upgrade potential, others were thought to be structurally unsound and have other technical challenges to efficient and effective upgrade and may be candidates for retirement.

It was anticipated that the outputs from three investigations (household level, community level and economic) would be used to develop a straightforward decision-making framework that would provide the ability to look objectively at a dwelling and make a decision as to whether it was worth upgrading the house or if it should be retired.