Buildings have a long life and, while much of the building’s secondary fabric can be changed and up-graded, there are basic aspects such as location/orientation, thermal mass, underslab or encapsulated thermal & acoustic insulation, etc., which cannot be later changed or only with much difficulty and expense. If proper forward-thinking exploration and consideration is given to evidence-based alternatives and options at the Preliminary and Developed Design stages then long-term economic value can be maintained and enhanced for the Home.
With the exponential rise in climate-change outdoor temperatures (albeit in small parts of a degree per decade) the ‘thermal bones’ of our housing already need a similar resilience as that for the structure. If ease of future adaption is given serious consideration at the design stage then the inevitable future thermal alterations that will arise will be more efficient and effective as well as being less costly. Already a lack of forward and holistic thinking has resulted in considerable interior over-heating of the new medium-density multi-unit housing developments being built to cater for the densification of suburbs. It is reported that for the past year over 50% of new residential consents nationwide were for dwellings of this type. Even newly-built standalone homes are overheating in summer.
I write of this need for adaption to the densification of our residential urban landscape in my EBOSS blog post of July 2026: ‘ Medium Density Housing Needs Cleverer Design ’.
Buildings are static objects which are very difficult to alter without varying degrees of demolition. Society is still at the stage where it is considered better to knock-down and build anew rather than apply some intelligent thought before construction begins as to how the ‘old’ can later be incorporated into the ‘future new’. Felling a mature tree to accommodate the standard layout for multi-unit housing on a former standalone site is a classic example whereby a little intelligent thought could have made the retained tree an asset.
Are we to have ‘Energy Slums’ in the future?