Shop

This bulletin updates and replaces Bulletin 523 Reducing waste from building sites. It focuses on houses and small buildings.

This bulletin guides architects and designers in understanding and specifying windows and doors that comply with the 5th edition of H1/ AS1 and H1/VM1.

We look at practical solutions to reducing a building’s carbon footprint.

Click here to access the presentation slides 

Please note: that access to this webstream will expire after 1 month.

We explore some of the challenges we face in reducing carbon emissions.

Click here to access the presentation slides 

Please note: that access to this webstream will expire after 1 month.

We look at the inter-related topics of compliance and how to calculate carbon footprints.

Click here to access the presentation slides 

Please note: that access to this webstream will expire after 1 month.

We explain why we need to act now to reduce carbon emissions and the role that the building and construction industry plays.

Click here to access the presentation slides

Please note: that access to this webstream will expire after 1 month.

Use LCAPlay to evaluate the potential greenhouse gas emissions (and other environmental impacts) of alternative building options.

This bulletin outlines the BRANZ tools available to architects, designers and engineers to produce houses that have lower carbon footprints.

This bulletin gives guidance around proving compliance with H1 using the 5th edition of H1/AS1 and H1/ VM1.

This is a lighter version of LCAQuick that allows you to sort and format your data correctly but does not contain the functionality to calculate environmental impacts. Once your data is in the correct format, you can copy and paste it into the full version of LCAQuickV3.5, which will then calculate the environmental impacts.

Please ensure that you are using Microsoft Excel from 2016 or later.

LCAQuick is a free tool developed by BRANZ that helps architects, designers and structural engineers make sustainable design decisions. It evaluates the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of a building design. It can be used by anyone with an interest to understand the environmental impacts of buildings across the life cycle.

This is the full working version of LCAQuick, which calculates environmental impacts based on the data you enter. If you wish, you can use LCAQuickV3.5 Data Entry initially to sort and enter your data.

This version of LCAQuick is a 40 MB file, so it is best to use it on a reasonably powerful computer. Due to the size of the file and the numbers of calculations that are performed, it can be slower. Please ensure that you are using Microsoft Excel from 2016 or later.

LCAQuick is a free tool developed by BRANZ that helps architects, designers and structural engineers make sustainable design decisions. It evaluates the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of a building design. It can be used by anyone with an interest to understand the environmental impacts of buildings across the life cycle. 

Provides calculated carbon footprints per square metre for residential roof, wall and floor constructions, obtained from the BRANZ House Insulation Guide (5th edition). 

CO₂NSTRUCT provides embodied carbon and energy values for building materials, including concrete, glass, timber and metals, as well as products such as bathroom and kitchen fittings and lifts.

Embodied carbon is the amount of greenhouse gases, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents, required to produce a material. Embodied energy is the amount of energy consumed to extract, refine, process, transport and fabricate a material or product (including buildings). This is provided as a total and divided into energy from non-renewable and renewable sources.

Provides mean carbon footprint calues for New Zealand case study residential and office buildings.  Includes additional information, such as energy use intensity and top contributing materials from a greenhouse gas perspective.

Earth buildings typically use locally sourced materials that have low toxicity, are minimally processed and have very low embodied energy. 

This bulletin is intended to assist with the putting right that is so important after a flood. It covers health and safety considerations, tips for cleaning up inside and outside, drying out the house and repairs. It does not cover making residential properties resilient to flooding.   (This bulletin updates and replaces Bulletin 455).

This guide provides a suggested best-practice framework to support councils to make decisions about the management of council-owned buildings that are earthquake prone. It provides a five-step approach to support consistent decisions about whether to continue using earthquake-prone buildings or not. The guide was developed in line with international standards for risk management (ISO 31000) and with input from territorial authorities. The suggested process reflects and balances various legislative responsibilities and aims to provide confidence to councils on how to meet their legislative obligations while also minimising disruption to council activities and community services.

Read the full research report

This BRANZ/Edge Environment webinar explores the need to move to a circular economy – one that also addresses climate change and modern-day slavery.

Certain types of wastewater from households (greywater from baths, showers and bathroom basins and sometimes from laundry tubs and washing machines) can be reused for subsurface garden irrigation and flushing toilets.

Rainwater systems can provide water suitable for drinking and food preparation if it is filtered and/or treated adequately and can also be used for garden irrigation, swimming pools, toilet flushing, baths and showers.