Other Resources

There are a number of design guides available to help architects and specifiers to incorporate sustainability principles into their designs.

Ministry for the Environment

The Ministry for the Environment’s urban design publications include an Urban Design Protocol, case studies, and best practice urban design guidelines.

Standards NZ

SNZ HB 44:2001 Subdivision for People and the Environment is a book that uses the concepts of eco-villages and co-housing to provide guidelines for alternative design and use of technologies in land development and subdivision in New Zealand.

BRANZ publications

BRANZ’s Easy Guide to Eco-Building (PDF, 2.34MB) is a free booklet providing information on important green building issues including: efficient energy use, efficient water use, reducing construction waste, materials selection, and landscaping.

BRANZ Bulletin 446 – Sustainable Construction provides an overview of sustainable construction techniques and introduces ways for building businesses to become more sustainable.

Local authority guidelines

Some local authorities provide guidelines for designers wishing to incorporate sustainability into their design.

The Auckland Regional Council’s Low Impact Design Manual gives information about sustainable site design and development from a stormwater management context, mainly for residential land development in the Auckland area.

Waitakere City Council has several publications aimed at assisting with sustainable design. They are:

• Sustainable Home Guidelines – which include information about energy, water, materials, safety, waste and other eco-building issues
• Developers’ Design Guide – which includes good practice guidelines for residential subdivision and medium-density housing
• Better Building Code – which has been  developed for the council’s own building programme to enable construction of public buildings to a higher standard than code-minimums with sustainability as a focus.  It provides standard clauses for tendering and briefing documents for the design and construction of public buildings which could equally be used for other commercial construction.

North Shore City Council has several publications in their Housing and Urban Design Guidelines series, including:

• Good Solutions Guide for Heritage Buildings
• Good Solutions Guide for Mixed Use Development in Town Centres
• Good Solutions Guide for Intensive Residential Developments
• What to look for when buying a terraced house or apartment    

Christchurch City Council’s 10 Urban Design Guides include a Sustainable Building Guide.