Case Study: New Zealand Green Building Council

Written By Karla Farrar

Empowering Designers to Build Healthier Homes: NZGBC’s Homestar Designer Course 

New Zealand has a problem hiding in plain sight: new homes are still overheating, trapping moisture, and creating long-term issues for the people living in them. It’s costly, it’s avoidable, and the solution starts long before a hammer hits a nail.  

That’s why the Construction Growth Foundation (CGF) funded the New Zealand Green Building Council’s Homestar Designer course, a programme created to improve the capability of architects, designers, builders, and engineers to identify these issues at the design stage, when the biggest improvements can be made for the smallest cost.  

Across seven weeks online and a final two-day in-person workshop, participants were trained to model thermal performance, understand moisture behaviour, and apply Homestar principles using the Energy and Carbon Calculator for Homes (ECCHO) tool. In short: designing healthier, more efficient homes long before the concrete trucks roll in. 

What the Project Delivered 

  • 27 participants completed the course: 22 x Architectural Designers New Zealand (ADNZ), 3 x New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB), and 2 x Master Builders. 

  • Strong national spread: from Coromandel to Southland 

  • Hands-on training using ECCHO modelling tools 

  • Accessible delivery: The first course commenced online on 7 October 2025 and ran for seven weeks, concluding in late November. A second course was delivered in-person in late November 2025, delivered as a two-day intensive format held on consecutive days. 

These participants now bring fresh technical capability directly into their organisations, boosting sector resilience, innovation, and professionalism. 

Why This Matters for New Zealand 

When designers and builders learn to model homes properly: 

  • Overheating risks can be identified 

  • Moisture-related issues may be designed out early 

  • Clients are more likely to benefit from healthier, more comfortable, energy-efficient homes 

  • Residential builders can access lower-interest development finance, improving project viability 

  • The sector gains broader capability and shared understanding, rather than pockets of isolated expertise 

This is exactly the kind of practical skills uplift CGF exists to support. 

What Participants Said 

“Thank you for organising this course so well for us. I have been wanting to do this course for two years… With the funding we could access as an ADNZ member, it finally became possible. The learnings have been important in the work we do, and I believe every designer should be doing this as standard practice in future.” 
— Bobby Banerjee, Mercury Architects 


“The Homestar Designer course was fantastic! Our lecturers were amazing, with deep knowledge of ECCHO, the building industry, and how to integrate Homestar principles earlier in the design process. I’m excited to apply these new skills to upcoming projects.” 
— Courtney Todd, Gary Todd Architecture 


Sector-Wide Impact 

The course has already produced 27 more professionals who can confidently design healthier, more comfortable, energy-efficient homes. With moisture and overheating still among the most persistent issues in new builds, this capability is vital. 

And because the knowledge sits within ADNZ, NZCB and Master Builders member companies, the benefit multiplies, not just for individual practitioners, but across residential building firms nationwide. 

CGF is proud to support training that delivers measurable capability uplift and directly improves the homes New Zealanders live in. 

Karla Farrar
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