We built with a group builder 14 years ago and to this day still love the aspect of the house, the amount of sun it gets and also our fantastic neighbours.  There were certain things that were not so readily available 14 years ago or were not understood like they are now, things like insulation levels, ventilation or embodied carbon.  We feel we did a great job with what we had at the time, but now know we can do better with our learnings since then.

One term in 2024, one of our daughters only attended half the days at school due to illness. She just wasn't getting a break. We think this was due to having had covid a few weeks earlier and her immune system was suppressed. We kept wondering though, is her south facing room contributing to her not being able to bounce back from this?

We were becoming more conscious of our own carbon footprint and were understanding more about conventional building, building waste, operational carbon and embodied carbon.  Not ones to shy away from a challenge or hard work, we decided to sell up and put into action what we believed was they way we should be building.

With David's love of numbers, he completed a Passive House Planning Package course to build, plan and model all project plans. Nicky completed a Homestar Designer course to understand the measures involved in achieving high ratings in New Zealand's sustainable homes rating tool.

Then we set about finding a financially obtainable section in Cambridge, that was facing North with rear access if possible. Not an easy task it would seem.