Rules and Regulations

RULES AND REGULATIONS 

SHAC 09 Aims and Objectives
 

●To find and suggest better solutions that support practical and sustainable ways of living for New Zealanders right across the country. Innovation and creative thinking are vital to this process.

●To encourage collaboration and working together - across departments within tertiary institutions, between neighbours, between professionals and researchers and local councils. Good collaboration relies on effective communication and the sharing of knowledge broadly.

●To learn from a cycle of thinking and then doing, and then thinking.  There are great opportunities here for students, lecturers, professionals and the community as a whole to benefit from the project.

Registration Requirements 

  1. The Steering Group will select teams to continue with the Sustainable Habitat Challenge. Teams will be invited to continue on the basis of the following criteria:

·         Conformity with entry requirements

·         Fit with purpose of competition

·         Feasibility of proposal plan, including funding plan

·         A regional representation for the overall competition

 

  1. The teams invited to take part will be known as “SHAC 09 Teams” 
  1. Each SHAC participating team (as selected by the Steering Group) who registered by 21 May 2008 will be offered a stipend once an agreed contract has been signed by both parties.  
  1. The SHAC stipend may be used for project management, organisation, design development, and any other operational expenses related to the project.  The funds may not be used for capital expenses, including the purchase of any materials relating to the construction of the Sustainable Habitat Challenge houses.
  1. Teams will have significant involvement by students and staff from tertiary institutions.  We encourage team members to come from tertiary institutions, local council and industry. 

Rights of SHAC 09 Coordinators

  1. SHAC coordinators reserve the right to make amendments to rules and regulations, and criteria. All teams will be notified of any amendments by email and/or phone. All efforts will be made not to disadvantage teams with amendments. 

Requirements for SHAC 09 Coordinators

  1. SHAC 09 will organise the judging of Team Houses, Final Reports, and Communications Campaigns. 
  1. SHAC 09 will organise prizes to be awarded at the SHAC Symposium.
  1. SHAC 09 will coordinate national sponsorships to offer benefits that may be of use to teams.

  2. SHAC 09 will liase with SHAC 09 Teams and Judges to provide clarification on Judging process and parameters.
  1. SHAC 09 will facilitate access to national experts and other teams, for example, with video conferences at some regional centres. 
  1. SHAC 09 will coordinate national publicity about the project and direct media and sponsor attention to each project.

Requirements for SHAC Teams 

  1. Teams will produce a new or retrofitted more sustainable house ready for judging by 1 November 2009. 
  1. Team houses will be fitted out and furnished to illustrate the Team’s vision for more sustainable living.
  1. Teams will produce a report with arguments and simulations that show why their house is an improvement over how we live today.  Reports will include a section pertaining to each SHAC judging category. 
  1. Teams will communicate widely about their vision for more sustainable living, how their house supports this, why the house is desirable, and how the design can be successfully used again.
  1. Teams will have significant tertiary involvement.
  1. Teams will fund the research, design, build and fit out of the sustainable home through their own fundraising efforts.
  1. SHAC 09 Coordinators as organisers, Ministry for the Environment as major funders and the Otago Polytechnic as initiators of SHAC 09 will not be held liable for the funding of a SHAC Team.

  2. To be eligible and considered for final judging and prizes, a SHAC Team will need to submit all required material by set deadlines.
  1. Should any SHAC Team not submit required material by set deadlines, or opt out of the Challenge, they will still be required to participate in the SHAC 09 Symposium in November 2009 (see further details of the SHAC 09 Symposium below). 
  1. Teams will coordinate local publicity about their part in the Sustainable Habitat Challenge 

Intellectual Property

  1. Teams will own the intellectual property in all material, processes, formulae, information and anything which results from the Project, and hereby: 
  1.  
    • grant SHAC 09 and the Ministry of Environment a licence to use materials, and information published by teams or submitted to SHAC in order to promote and report on the project and sustainable building.
  1.  
    • You agree to state in each publication (in any form) which results from the Project that the use and copying of the information for non-profit purposes is welcomed and allowed. 

Liability/Insurance cover

  1. SHAC Teams will be expected to hold any relevant insurance covers related to their project, in particular Public Liability cover. 

Communications with SHAC

  1. SHAC 09 Team communication with SHAC 09 Coordinators will be first via email (tim@SHAC.org.nz) or phone to 0800 SHAC 09, and there after by letter to Tim Bishop, SHAC 09 Coordinator 
  1. Judges will not allowed to be contacted regarding SHAC 09 unless authorised by SHAC 09 coordinators.

Dispute Resolution 

  1. It is expected and hoped that ongoing and open communication between SHAC 09 Coordinators and SHAC 09 Teams will avoid potential disputes. However, in the case of a dispute:
    • The SHAC Team and the Steering Group (or appointee) will negotiate in good faith to resolve all differences and disputes arising between them concerning the competition.
    • If a dispute cannot be resolved within 14 days then either party may initiate mediation to resolve a difference or dispute by giving written notice of that intention to the other party.
    • The mediator shall be agreed on by both parties, but if the parties cannot agree on a mediator within 7 days after the date the mediation has been initiated then the mediator shall be determined by the head of the New Zealand chapter of Lawyers Engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution (LEADR).  Before the mediation begins the parties and the mediator will sign a mediation agreement.
    • If the difference or dispute has not been settled within 20 business days of the appointment of the mediator, or within a period agreed in writing by the parties, then either party may refer the matter to arbitration under the Arbitration Act 1996.

Publicity and related materials

  1. Material developed by teams, including images, may be redistributed by SHAC 09 and the Ministry for the Environment in order to promote and report on the Sustainable Habitat Challenge. 
  1. All teams will be required to develop and host a web presence. Reciprocal linking will be set up with www.SHAC.org.nz
  1.  Publicity issued by teams in relation to the competition will include the SHAC 09 logo, which must be used without alteration or embellishment. Registered teams will be provided with a branding guidelines and files. 
  1. Premier Sponsors of SHAC 09 will need to be acknowledged in team publicity
  1. Pictures, videos, and other materials submitted to the SHAC organisers or the SHAC web site may be used to promote the Sustainable Habitat Challenge indefinitely. 

SHAC 09 Criteria

  1. Teams will be required to build a new home, or retrofit an existing one, using sustainable materials and processes on a site determined by the team. 
  1. Teams will need to stipulate in the registration process how the house will be used once finished.
  1. The home will be designed and developed to meet the climate and environmental conditions in the team region.  The home may be suitable for other regions as well. 
  1. The completed house will be rated using EECA’s Home Energy Rating Scheme (HERS).
  1. The completed house will at a minimum satisfy the Beacon’s High Standard of Sustainability™.  See http://www.beaconpathway.co.nz/Portals/5/Poster_HSS.pdf  
  1. The team will compare the performance of their house with a reference house of their choice, and regional or national averages.  Teams must convince the judges that occupants who would have lived in the reference house will prefer the Team’s new design.
  1. There is no limit on size of the house, and type of house. The house will respond to each teams confirmed brief and take into account sustainability in its development and projections. Limiting factors to each team will be their own financial ones, and those of site and time.  
  1. There are no appliance restrictions or requirements, but furniture and appliances installed will need to appropriately reflect the requirements and needs of the use and purpose of home.
  1. The house must be permitted and consented to by the local council.

  2. If the team designs are for multiple-unit housing, at least one unit must be built in time for judging in October 2009 
  1. Innovative and sustainable materials and practices will be expected, and judging categories will reflect this.  Judging categories include:
  1.  
    • Energy,
    • Water,
    • Materials,
    • Waste,
    • Indoor Environmental Quality,
    • Affordable and Suitable for Purpose,
    • Supporting a Sustainable Community and
    • Communications Campaign
  1. Teams will be expected to illustrate their decisions as indicated in the submission process. This documentation will be submitted in a final report and be available to the judges. 
  1. Teams will be expected to communicate their sustainable research, designs and discoveries to their peers, local industry, local community and other teams. Knowledge sharing is key to the success of each team.

Judging Process 

  1. Team outcomes will be judged in several categories. Each category has a number of possible parameters that you may want to consider. Your team will supply a report with reasoned arguments, simulation and modelling results, and other research outputs to convince the judges of the benefits you expect in each category. How you make the trade-offs necessary to realise your vision will be based on how people in your region live – and will want to live – in your affordable, sustainable house and community in five years’ time..
  1. In October 2009, judges will review the house, your communications campaign, the resources you develop for designers and your final report. Your final report will describe the house and show the improvement your design exhibits when compared with your reference case and regional averages. Note that although reference is frequently made to “your house”, solutions are also welcomed for proposals for multi-unit housing proposals. The site shall be included when considering each of the judging categories, for example, site water use and runoff, site contribution to a sustainable community, and others. 
  1. Prizes will be awarded to those teams that excel in a number of judging categories
  1. Judges decision is final. 
  1. Private team communications with judges on the Sustainable Habitat Challenge is forbidden.  We will arrange for a forum (likely electronic), where questions and reply will be made available to all teams.

SPONSORSHIP

  1. SHAC 09 will partner with some national organisations who will offer to provide good or services to all SHAC teams. 
  1. Where your team has taken up SHAC partner products or services, partner logos may be required on publicity material.
  1. SHAC Premier Sponsors logos are required to be shown on team promotional material  

SHAC 09 Reporting 

  1. All teams must submit concept drawings and a report detailing improvements in the design over the reference house and regional or national averages. They need to submit status report 1 and a fundraising progress report by noon on 9th October, 2008
  1. All teams must submit working drawings (as required by the local council), a status report, and a final report of funds for construction. They need to submit status report 2 by noon on 11th December, 2008 
  1. All teams must complete house construction and fitout, and have made demonstrable progress in their communications plan in time for judging by the end of October 2009.
  1. Houses must be complete and available for judging by 1 November 2009
  1. All teams must submit a report on the results of further monitoring of actual resource requirements by December 2010 

SHAC 09 Symposium 

  1. Teams will be required to participate in the SHAC 09 Symposium to be held in November 2009.  Participation will consist of presenting their innovations, their project and the outcomes at a Symposium in November 2009.
  1. At least one representative of each team is required to present their innovations, project and outcomes at a Symposium in November 2009. 
  1. All teams that have been successfully registered for SHAC 09 will be required to participate in the SHAC 09 Symposium.

Violation of rules 

  1. Any violation of these rules and regulations will be reported to the SHAC 09 SHAC 09 Steering Group.
  1. Should SHAC 09 Teams which to report any believed violation of rules, these will need to be brought to the attention of the SHAC 09 Coordinator in writing and will be reported to the SHAC 09 Steering Group. 
  1. Violation of rules may render your team ineligible to be judged or win prizes.