Arbor Green

Arbor Green is a high-performance townhouse development in Rolleston demonstrating that first-home buyer pricing and certified energy performance are not a contradiction, they are a coordination problem with a solvable answer.

By investing in the right building systems from the outset, modelling and verifying performance at every stage, and coordinating every discipline before the first panel is cut, Arbor Green sets a new benchmark for what affordable housing in New Zealand can and should deliver.

Homestar 6 v5

Requires energy modelling against the specific design and mandates mechanical ventilation. The certification also acts as a committed performance target, so design quality isn't eroded when budget pressure arrives.

Airtightness

Arbor Green targets 1 ACH against a building code allowance of 5. Verified through blower door testing, when weak points can still be addressed.

PHPP energy modelling

Passive House (PHPP) modelling of the actual design shows 2-bedroom homes are designed to use around 50% less heating and cooling energy than the building code minimum, and 3-bedroom homes to perform around 35% better than code.

Basis smart switchboards

Every home has a Basis smart switchboard, with RCD shock protection on each circuit, whole-home surge protection and live energy monitoring for every circuit. Through the Basis app, residents can compare their real usage against available power plans, with an average first-year saving of $600 to $700.

Off-site manufacturing coordination

Off-site manufacturing requires the design to be fully resolved before fabrication begins. Pre-manufactured components are far more costly to correct than on-site errors, so thorough pre-build coordination was built into the process from the outset.

Affordability vs high performance

Achieving Homestar V5 within a first-home buyer price point meant prioritising the systems that deliver the greatest performance gain per dollar spent.

SIP construction

Formance SIP panels integrate rigid insulation into the wall and roof structure, removing thermal bridging across the envelope and allowing for exposed raked ceilings without additional cost.

uPVC joinery

Stärke uPVC windows outperform thermally broken aluminium by up to 48% and offer up to 37dB of acoustic reduction. Designing around fixed standard sizes kept costs competitive at scale.

Engineered foundation

Reduced concrete ribs with increased solid poly improve slab insulation performance, without relying on slab-edge insulation which is difficult to execute well and prone to ongoing maintenance issues.

Heat recovery ventilation

A balanced HRV system replaces stale internal air with filtered fresh air while recovering thermal energy, providing good air quality year-round without heat loss.

Cassette mid-floors

Floor sections are prefabricated off-site and craned into position, allowing the structural build to move significantly faster than conventional construction.

Pre-coordinated services

Every conduit and cable path inside the SIP panels was agreed before manufacture, with the supplier, architect, electrician, and site foreman all involved. Services coordination is complete before panels arrive on site.

Parallel construction sequencing

Internal work on one unit runs in parallel with floor cassette installation on the next, keeping crane and crew time productive across the development.

EV-ready infrastructure

EV charging cabling is pre-installed from car park to switchboard in every home. When a buyer is ready to charge, adding the charger is the only remaining step.