Media Release
Nationwide Competition to Build a Sustainable Society
Friday 6th June 2008
Nine teams from 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.
The Sustainable Habitat Challenge 09 (SHAC 09) is an Otago Polytechnic initiative. It’s funded by the Ministry for the
Environment’s Sustainable Management Fund to foster communications, collaboration, and innovation in the area of
sustainable design.
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.”
“We want to give today’s and tomorrow’s professionals the chance to work together and explore their ideas about housing
that supports sustainable living”.
“Sustainable living involves reducing the use of costly and scare resources while improving quality of life”.
“We are throwing out preconceptions of what more sustainable housing should be like.”
The SHAC teams are comprised of members from polytechnics and universities throughout the country, and include a diverse
range of backgrounds such as engineering, marketing, architecture and filmmaking. They are supported by private
individuals and businesses interested in contribution to the challenge.
The nine teams are: Unitec Sustainable; Unitec Te Hononga; Team Central Otago Polytechnic; Team Canterbury; Team
Waikato; Zero Plus, University of Auckland School of Architecture and Technische Universitaet Berlin; Whareuku,
University of Auckland School of Engineering; The Plant Room, Victoria University, Massey University and WelTec; and
Dunedin.
The judges for the competition are Robert Vale Victoria University, Nick Collins Beacon Pathway, Maggie Lawton Braidwood
Research and Consulting, Dave Cull television personality and builder and Nigel Isaacs BRANZ.
SHAC building sites are scattered throughout the country from Rangitoto Island to Clyde in Central Otago. The
construction will range from mud brick and straw bale to practical improvements of conventional, affordable designs.
The SHAC teams meet regularly via national video conferencing to exchange ideas and support. They have begun work on
developing their proposals to design and build sustainable housing in their local communities.
SHAC National Coordinator Tim Bishop is thrilled with the number of entries saying it was a reflection of the increased
awareness around issues such as affordability, durability, energy requirements and carbon footprint.
Teams still need assistance from industry innovators. Team contact details are on the SHAC web site.
”These teams represent the best thinkers in the country. But even better than that, they’re not just thinking about the
problems, they’re providing the solutions,” Tim says.
ends