05.06.08  Student Filmmaker Profiles SHAC Jane Adcroft, an MSc student in the University of Otago Natural History Filmmaking course, has produced a short video on the Sustainable Habitat Challenge. Broadcast quality tapes are available on request.  See the video >>>

05.06.08  Nine Teams selected for SHAC Challenge

Teams from nine of the country’s leading tertiary institutions have signed up to the challenge of providing a more
sustainable way of life for New Zealand home owners.

SHAC 09 is a nationwide competition, which has teams of tertiary staff and students, industry professionals and local government representatives joining forces to design, and build or renovate to create a sustainable home.

SHAC 09 National Coordinator Tim Bishop says the challenge is aimed at “producing real homes, generating new knowledge and building partnerships between people with the skills and resources to make sustainable living a reality.”

20.05.08  Over 10 applications received for the Sustainable Habitat Challenge Eleven groups of tertiary institution and industry partners have submitted proposasl to the Sustainable Habitat Challenge.  The Steering Committtee meets soon to review the applications.  Proposals have been accepted from  teams that include Unitec, University of Auckland, UCOL, University of Victoria at Wellington, Weltec, Massey Wellington, University of Canterbury, CPIT, Otago Polytech, and the University of Otago.

01.05.08  Video Conference a Success!

Many SHAC Teams gathered for the first time, virtually, using the high-speed KAREN research network. The Canterbury 4th year engineering students where really impressed. "That was my first time in a video conference and it was awesome." said Corke William, team leader for the Christchurch based team.

25.04.08  Wintec Architectural Design students to participate in SHAC

Architectural design students will design and personally build a more sustainable house. Last year the students successfully built a lightweight timber-framed house. This year they aim to make large strides towards supporting more sustainable ways of living.

Rod Yeoman of Wintec is coordinating the SHAC entry.

22.04.08  Weltec working hard to develop SHAC proposal

Weltech is working on a retrofit plan for Wellington area housing, looking at a number of active and passive solar retrofit options.    James Brodie and Baughan Maybury are coordinating their SHAC team.

11.04.08  Unitec has site ready for SHAC Entry At Unitec, the team is working on a proposal for a sustainable house and grounds to be used as a demonstration home at the end of the challenge. The home will include a high R-value wallboard system, thermal storage, rainwater collection, and several active solar technologies.
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10.04.08  Auckland School of Architecture planning SHAC entry Paola Leardi and Uwe Rieger are collaborating with overseas designers to create a PassivHaus inspired design for New Zealand. They plan to introduce a number of design ideas into New Zealand building practices.

08.04.08  Otago Polytech Starts up SHAC Team

The Otago Polytech is working on designs for a Central Otago modern batch with active and passive solar design features.  The nearby river will be harnessed to provide some run-of-river hydropower. 

02.04.08  Victoria Architects are moving ahead Postgrad students at the University of Victoria School of Architecture where the first to express interest in forming a SHAC Team.  SHAC spoke with them by telephone to hear about their designs.   > read more