Most New Zealand (NZ) schools rely on natural ventilation and are often inadequately ventilated in winter. NZ school hours typically span from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are well aligned with optimum solar radiation. Existing classrooms could therefore be heated and ventilated using retrofitted solar energy applications. To investigate the suitability of a commercially available solar air heater (SAH) to improve ventilation, a randomized crossover intervention study was conducted in 12 classrooms from six primary schools in Palmerston North, NZ, during the winter of 2014. Typical performance results showed a mean (standard deviation, SD) SAH outlet air temperature of 29.2 (10.4) degrees C at a mean (SD) velocity of 0.7 (0.3) m & sdot;& scaron;1. During most school periods (64-99%) classrooms maintained required thermal comfort. The concurrent use of the extant heaters was reduced, and carbon dioxide levels were improved, lowering exposure for occupants. This study confirmed that retrofitting SAHs contributed to improved classroom ventilation, increased thermal comfort and reduced energy use. Optimising performance would require design improvements to improve airflow in order to comply with NZ ventilation and indoor air quality requirements for schools.

There is an urgent need to provide evidence that solar air heaters can be effective for heating and ventilating low-rise buildings. Solar air heaters are devices that can convert solar energy into thermal energy for moderate and low-temperature applications such as space heating, preheating, crop drying, and the food industry. However, its efficiency is low due to the low heat transfer coefficient between the absorber and the flowing air, but they are also simple to construct and operate as there is low-risk leakage of heat transfer liquids. The two main types of solar air heaters are flat plate and tube-type. To date, flat plate solar air heaters have received the most attention in the research literature, but evidence of the efficiency gains from using tube-type solar air heaters is growing.The study aims to provide up-to-date information on tube-type solar air heaters, which will help advance the development and uptake of solar air heaters. The research showed that thermal efficiency gains could be achieved by altering the design of the solar air heater including different artificial roughness geometries inside the tubes, integrating solar thermal energy systems, application of coatings or reflectors inside the solar air heaters, or using evacuated tubes and micro heat pipe array systems. This literature study showed that evacuated tubes and micro heat pipe array systems have higher thermal efficiency than other techniques. Based on the detailed discussion of various techniques for improving the thermal efficiency of solar air heaters, a new roughness geometry was proposed.

This paper reflects on the influences and outcomes of He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme over 25 years, and their impact on housing and health policy in Aotearoa and internationally. Working in partnership particularly with Māori and Pasifika communities, we have conducted randomised control trials which have shown the health and broad co-benefits of retrofitted insulation, heating and remediation of home hazards, which have underpinned government policy in the Warm Up NZ-Heat Smart programme and the Healthy Homes Standards for rental housing. These trials have been included as evidence in the WHO Housing and Health Guidelines and led to our designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre on Housing and Wellbeing. We are increasingly explicitly weaving Māori frameworks, values and processes with traditional Western science.

The future of building envelope design lies in smart adaptation. The current literature overlooks the crucial integration of airflow, ventilation and daylighting in adaptive façade design. Moreover, it neglects the occupants’ locations, activities and interior layouts in this context. This study introduces an innovative approach to adaptive building envelope design, aiming to enhance occupants’ comfort through parametric analysis of daylight and airflow. The research combines parametric simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and multiobjective optimisation. The optimisation goal is to improve visual comfort and indoor air quality while maintaining air temperature and velocity within the human comfort range. The study contributes to providing designers with a method for building envelope design that considers visual comfort and airflow, resulting in more interactive building envelopes that are adaptable to environmental conditions for enhanced utility and comfort. Results indicated that the optimised façade configuration and design methodology can achieve a 69% improvement in daylight performance, improving useful daylight illuminance (UDI) while reducing glare risk. Additionally, air changes per hour (ACH) showed a 38% annual improvement. This research signifies a significant step towards more efficient and occupant-centric building envelope design, aligning with the evolving demands of the construction industry and sustainable building practices.

New Zealand (NZ) primary schools are often inadequately ventilated in winter. The majority of NZ schools do not have mechanical ventilation systems. Surveys conducted prior to COVID-19 pandemic showed that only 30% of teachers were regularly opening windows in winter. Therefore there is a need to study an affordable alternative ventilation method. This research was conducted to investigate the space heating and ventilation performance of a roof-mounted solar air heater (SAH) in NZ primary schools in winter. Field experiments over two winters were carried out in Palmerston North, NZ. A SAH was installed on the sun-facing roof of four schools in winter 2013 and six schools in winter 2014. During the experiment, the air temperature and air velocity were measured inside the classroom at the SAH outlet. Ambient weather conditions were measured by a local climate monitoring station. Across all schools and two winters, when the SAH was operated at 75% of the maximum fan speed, a mean (standard deviation, SD) level of the air temperature difference between the SAH outlet and inlet was 16.6 (10.4) °C, the mean (SD) volumetric flow rate of the outlet air was 34.0 (12.9) m3·h-1, and the mean (SD) level of thermal efficiency was 16 (11)%. Results showed that operating a roof-mounted SAH increased the indoor temperature and was useful to supplement the natural ventilation flow rate. This is the first study to investigate the field performance of a roof-mounted SAH in NZ primary schools. Results of this study provide insights for the use of solar energy without need for energy storage to heat and ventilate the classrooms.

The SARS COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of routine indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring. Recent advances in IAQ sensors and remote logging technologies offer opportunities to use low-cost platforms to monitor indoor air. The sensor's accuracy and stability are critical for reliable monitoring and health protection. Data from our low-cost IAQ platform (SKOMOBO) was validated against a commercial platform for carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity measurements to test the reliability of the low-cost instrument. The traditional statistical method to test the variability between two data sets is the coefficient of determination method. We identified that this traditional method did not detect drifts in measurements, when comparing data from two platforms, in a controlled and uncontrolled environment. In our paper, we propose two complementary methods to detect potential drifts in measurements (a modified Shewhart method and a cumulative sum control chart method). The traditional coefficient of determination method indicated strong consistency (between 0.70 and 0.99) in the measurements between SKOMOBO and the reference platforms for both tested environments. Our more sensitive methods detected 100 % data matching for the controlled environment between the SKOMOBO and the reference platform but detected some drifts for the uncontrolled environment (between 81 % and 100 % data matching). It was expected that the uncontrolled environment would create more drifts in measurements than the controlled environment. Our new statistical methods achieved two important results; namely it advanced the validation process and proved the reliability of our low-cost platform for IAQ monitoring and assurance.

Associations between house characteristics and inspector-assessed subjective indoor dampness (yes/no) and measured floor and ceiling joist timber moisture were measured, using the 2005, 2010 and 2015 New Zealand House Condition Surveys, involving 1572 timber-framed houses. We conducted logistic (dampness) and linear regression (moisture) for each survey separately and mutually adjusted for other house characteristics (ventilation, insulation, subfloor defects, building envelope condition (BEC) defects, tenure, number of occupants), climate zone (latitude), rainfall and outdoor temperature. The odds of subjective damp increased with: more BEC defects (p for trend < 0.001), with adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of 3.9-9.6 (p < 0.001) across surveys for houses with 4 or 5 (of 5) defects, compared with houses with <= 1 defect; more subfloor defects (p for trend < 0.01 for 2010 and 2015 surveys); less ventilation (p for trend < 0.05 for 2010 and 2015 surveys); less insulation (p for trend < 0.05 for 2010); and increased occupancy (aORs 1.2-2.3, for < 5 occupants compared to 1-2, not significant). Dampness was more common in rental houses (aORs 1.6 to 2.2, p < 0.05 in 2015). Floor joist moisture content was higher in houses with more subfloor (1.2%-1.9% increase per defect, p for trend < 0.01) and BEC defects (1.5%-1.8% for houses with 4-5 defects, p < 0.001 for 2005 and 2015 surveys). In conclusion, subfloor and building envelope defects were associated with both inspector-assessed dampness and objectively measured moisture in floor joists. Less insulation, ventilation and higher occupancy were associated with increased subjective dampness but not with measured moisture.

The protection of heritage buildings is essential because they signpost the narration of a community's past into the future. Investment in the protection of heritage buildings through incentives in the form of government grants provides a lifeline for the future preservation of built heritage, which can boost an urban area's local economy. This study sought to evaluate the distribution of heritage buildings in New Zealand, examine the allocation of significant government funding sources for protecting the heritage buildings, and explore the implications of this allocation on future built heritage protection efforts in New Zealand's provincial regions. An analysis of existing relevant documents revealed that while the per capita distribution of heritage buildings was highest in New Zealand's provincial regions, major urban centres received the highest share of government funding. Findings from key informant interviews identified three major themes as implications of the current incentive allocation on built heritage protection efforts in New Zealand's provincial regions: (i) disproportionately low allocation of government grants to provincial regions; (ii) lack of sophistication among property investors in provincial regions; and (iii) "emergency solution" mindset of government funding regulators. These findings imply that though government heritage grant systems are the most extensive non-regulatory incentives for the protection of built heritage in New Zealand, the provincial regions currently struggling with so many underutilised and derelict historical buildings may not be able to keep up with their preservation efforts if they continue to receive a lesser proportion of the available grant. As a recommendation, the central government can assist by directing more discretionary grants to provincial regions to encourage future efforts towards protecting their heritage buildings.

This study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber layer, a perforated aluminium back plate and an aluminium frame. The ambient inlet air of this SAH is heated as it passes through the perforated back plate and over the felt absorber layer. The heated air is blown out through the outlet. Studies of SAHs with a similar design to this SAH were not found in the literature. The experiment was carried out at Massey University, Auckland campus, NZ (36.7° S, 174.7° E). The global horizontal solar irradiance, the ambient temperature and the wind speed were recorded using an on-site weather station. Temperature and velocity of the air at the outlet were measured using a hot wire anemometer. During the experiment, the air mass flow rate was between 0.022 ± 0.001 kg/s and 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. Results showed that when the SAH was operated at the airflow between 0.0054 kg/s and 0.0058 kg/s, the inlet air temperature and the wind speed (between 0 and 6.0 m/s) did not impact the temperature difference between the outlet air and the inlet air. The thermal efficiency of the SAH increased from 34 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, to 47 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, to 71 ± 4% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. The maximum thermal efficiency of 75% was obtained at the airflow of 0.057 kg/s. The effective efficiency of the SAH was 32 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, 42 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, and 46 ± 11% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s.

This paper focuses on sustainable transportation of prefab products from factories to construction sites by ship. Since the transportation cost for all the prefab products of a construction site is mainly dependent on the number of cargo holds used on ships, a loading plan for prefab products that minimizes the number of holds required is highly desirable. This paper is therefore devoted to the development of an optimal loading plan that decides which prefab products are loaded into each cargo hold and how to pack these prefab products into the holds so that as few holds as possible are used. We formulate the problem as a large-scale integer optimization model whose objective function is to minimize the total number of cargo holds used and whose constraints represent the cargo hold capacity limits. We develop a heuristic to solve the problem and obtain a high-quality solution. We have tested the model and algorithm on a case study that includes 20 prefab products. We find that different cargo holds carry prefab products that have quite different densities. Moreover, the orientations of many prefab products are different from their default orientations. The results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and algorithm.

This paper identifies the parameters for a performance-based framework to prioritise underutilised historical buildings for adaptive reuse interventions, while discussing its effectiveness towards promoting sustainable and resilient urban areas in New Zealand. A narrative review of extant literature is done to justify the need for the performance-based framework and build a list of relevant parameters that elucidates all or part of a typical decision-making process regarding the selection of historical buildings for adaptive reuse in New Zealand. Five main priority aspects with significant evaluation criteria that have been identified from this study are economic sustainability, built-heritage preservation, socio-cultural aspects, building usability, and regulatory aspects. This paper's originality pertains to the development of parameters for a performance-based framework that offers a basis for relevant adaptive reuse stakeholders to prioritise underutilised historical buildings while balancing their diverse objectives. Accordingly, the performance-based framework has been validated to justify the relevance of its applicability to the different outlined parameters, towards prioritising underutilised historical buildings for adaptive reuse in New Zealand.

In an adaptive reuse decision-making setting, there is usually an occurrence of conflicting beliefs, opinions, interests, and resources among relevant stakeholders. Knowing who these stakeholders are and why, through a collaborative approach, will allow stakeholders with diverse interests regarding adaptive reuse to come together and participate either directly or indirectly in any stage of the decision-making process. This paper examines the usefulness of collaborative rationality among stakeholders involved in an adaptive reuse decision-making process. The specific objectives include: to characterise the stakeholders involved in an adaptive reuse decision-making process; and; investigate how their collaborative rationality can be effectively integrated into the adaptive reuse decision-making process. After a review of existing literature, four typical categories of stakeholders involved in an adaptive reuse decision-making process were identified: i) investors; ii) producers; iii) regulators; and iv) users. Also, the effectiveness of collaboration among the diverse stakeholders of an adaptive reuse decision-making process was validated using a focus group workshop to incorporate transparency, common goal, ideal speech, and consistency into the process. These findings imply that the active collaboration among characterised adaptive reuse stakeholders is important to mitigate the risk of manipulation of an adaptive reuse decision-making process, and, for policy makers to understand better the expectations and needs of the public, thereby, enhancing consents for optimal adaptive reuse decisions.

This paper describes two city centre regeneration strategies by reviewing existing literature and carrying out case study analysis to examine the approaches to City Centre Regeneration (CCR) pursued by two provincial areas in New Zealand. Findings from the exploratory case study analysis of the two examined cities revealed different approaches to CCR: (i) Invercargill - 'demolition for redevelopment'; and (ii) Whanganui - 'heritage preservation for regeneration'. Whereas the earthquake-prone building legislation has created logical arguments that have put earthquake-prone historical buildings in the spotlight for demolition in areas with weaker attachment to place, the same legislation has been used as a catalyst to provide opportunities for the seismic upgrade and preservation of the earthquake-prone historical buildings in areas with a stronger attachment to place. These discoveries imply that the actions (or inactions) of councils shape the way their communities perceive the value of the historical buildings in their city centres. Also, the decreasing retention and increasing demolitions trends of heritage buildings in New Zealand's provincial city centres as a result of the earthquake-prone building legislation, have now triggered discussions that have contributed to the recent regulatory and financial incentives initiated by the central government to address the unintended consequences of the legislation on the vitality of provincial areas.

This study assessed associations between house characteristics and mold and musty odor, using data from three consecutive (2005, 2010, and 2015) New Zealand House Condition Surveys, involving a total of 1616 timber-framed houses. Mold, musty odor, and house characteristics were assessed by independent building inspectors. We used multivariate logistic regression analyses mutually adjusted for other house characteristics for each survey separately. Positive and independent associations were found with tenure, ventilation, insulation, and envelope condition for both mold in living and bedrooms and musty odor. In particular, we found significant dose-response associations with envelope condition, ventilation, and insulation. Odds of mold increased 2.4-15.9 times (across surveys) in houses with the worst building envelope condition (BEC; p < 0.05-0.001 for trend); optimal ventilation reduced the risk of mold by 60% and the risk of musty odor by 70%-90% (p < 0.01 for trend). Other factors associated with mold and musty odor included: tenure, with an approximate doubling of odds of mold across surveys; and insulation with consistent dose-response patterns in all outcomes and surveys tested (p < 0.05 for trend in two surveys with mold and one survey for odor). In conclusion, this study showed the importance of BEC, ventilation, and insulation to avoiding harmful damp-related exposures.

Fire is a major hazard in built environments. Fires in buildings cause fatalities, serious injuries and tremendous damage. Most fires can be extinguished in the early stages of the fire’s development, with the right equipment and correct use of the equipment. However, as there can be as little as a few minutes between a fire starting and very dire consequences, rapid and correct responses are critical. Implementing effective training solutions is necessary to enable members of the public, who are not experts in fire safety, to use a fire extinguisher correctly. This can assist to build resilience to fires. In recent decades, virtual reality (VR) has aroused the fire safety community’s attention, as a smart, safe and effective training method compared to the traditional methods of lectures, non-interactive videos, and brochures. VR has been used for training for fire emergency preparedness and to collect data about evacuee decision-making, but VR has rarely been applied to a fully immersive training experience about fire extinguishers operation steps. Fire extinguisher operation steps are Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep. Each step is critical to quickly extinguish a fire. This paper compares fire extinguisher training using a VR simulation with a non-interactive training video and evaluates the trainees learning of a fire extinguisher’s basic operation steps, in terms of knowledge acquisition, retention of information and change of self-efficacy. The results showed that the VR trainees scored better than video trainees, in terms of knowledge acquisition, even if the same trend was observed for long term retention of information. It was also observed that VR training provided a higher increment of self-efficacy right after the training. The VR group participants had maintained the same level of self-efficacy even 3–4 weeks after the training, while the video group had shown a significant drop of self-efficacy.

Purpose Existing research has highlighted the need for influential leaders to respond to the evolving social, economic and environmental constraints on the construction industry. Studies on leadership in other sectors have shown that influential leaders tend to demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence. Little or no research examining relationships between leadership style and emotional intelligence has been conducted specific to construction project managers. This study aims to identify the prevalent leadership style adopted by construction project managers and investigate potential correlations between leadership style and emotional intelligence. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire including a mix of open and closed questions was adopted to address the research objectives. The group studied comprised project managers currently working in the construction industry in New Zealand and the UK. Findings The research found that transformational leadership style is prevalent among project managers examined in this study. Significant positive relationships were found between project managers’ emotional intelligence and their likelihood of adopting a transformational leadership style. Originality/value The research results provide the construction industry with a benchmark against which individuals with high emotional intelligence, and so most suited to the challenges of the project management role, can be identified and trained. Recommendations including suitable methods for identifying, recruiting and training project managers, as well as secondment and mentoring options, were suggested for improving leadership capabilities in the construction industry.

Health problems and respiratory diseases are associated with indoor air particulate matter (PM) mass. This is specially a concern in schools as children spend most of their time indoors. Understanding factors that affect PM mass such as occupant activities, ventilation and the infiltrating outdoor environment are important to safeguard occupant health. We investigated the air quality inside and outside two low decile primary school classrooms (children ages 7-9) over a three-week period during the southern hemisphere winter season in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Both classrooms were heated with wall mounted inverter heat pumps and in addition one classroom roof was fitted with a solar air heated ventilation unit (treatment). Particulate matter was continuously sampled and monitored to identify particles less than 10 mu m in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) both outside and inside both classrooms to compare their indoor air quality. Significantly higher PM10 concentrations occurred within both classrooms during school hours (0845-1500), but the ventilated treatment classroom had PM10 concentrations on average 66% lower than those measured in the unventilated control classroom. Elemental composition and source apportionment of hourly samples showed that outdoor sources of PM10 infiltrated indoors, with similar contributions in both classrooms to those measured outdoors. However, the increased PM10 in the classrooms was predominantly from crustal sources, thought to be soil tracked in from outside on children's footwear and re-suspended during activities within the classrooms. Our results indicate that ventilation plays an important role in the quality of indoor air of classrooms and will contribute to the wellbeing of the students. In addition, there is a need to improve dust exposure mitigation strategies (carpet cleaning regime, dust reducing carpet) in classrooms fitted with carpets.