The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is responsible for the Building Regulations. The NZEB performance for new dwellings will be typically equivalent to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of A2. The draft regulations and accompanying technical guidance to implement NZEB are expected to be signed into law shortly. Accordingly the A2 performance requirement is not currently in place. Under the current building regulations a typical dwelling is built to an A3, and based on CSO data 98% of all new buildings are now built to an A3 BER.
With regards to new buildings owned and occupied by Public Authorities, in December 2016 the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government issued a letter to all public service bodies advising them of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requirement for all new buildings owned and occupied by public authorities to achieve NZEB performance after 31st December 2018. The implementation of the NZEB requirement in public buildings is the responsibility of the relevant bodies and I am advised that at this time that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government does not have figures available on the percentage of NZEB in place in the public sector. However it should be noted that all buildings, public and private, which commence construction after 1st January 2019 must be NZEB under Part L of the Building Regulations and the compliance of these buildings is monitored and enforced under Building Control Regulations.
Under the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2014, primary responsibility for compliance of works with the requirements of the Building Regulations, rests with the owners, designers and builders of buildings. Enforcement of the Building Regulations is a matter for the 31 local building control authorities, who have extensive powers of inspection and enforcement under the Acts and who are independent in the use of their statutory powers. This applies to all buildings – including those owned and occupied by public authorities.
