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An Architectural practice that provides a range of services, under the pillars of Design, Consult, Teach - Architecture that balances budget, beauty and build-ability, alongside health, performance and efficiency.

22/10/2026

An excellent morning with Director Joe Lyth getting his hands dirty on site, at the Whangaparāoa College trade academy Passivhaus retrofit project!

With all of the exterior wall carpentry done, it was time to wrap up the building. The exterior walls are being retrofitted with the Parka Wrap exterior insulation solution. This means the existing weatherboards remain in place, and self-adhesive Extasana Adhero wrap from Pro Clima NZ is applied over them. This wrap forms both the weather resistive barrier and the airtightness layer for the project, so getting the connections to the subfloor airtightness, and planning for the wall to roof junction is key.

To aid the floor to wall connection we specified Extasana wrap behind new boundary joists, which laps under the floor, and up over the bottom plates. This then gets a bead of Orcon sealant along before the wall wrap is applied. At the roof level we've left a lap of wrap loose. Here the existing roofing will be removed, and a new plywood substrate installed over the existing trusses, before the new warm roof building up we've developed with Comfortech Building Performance Solutions® and Pink® Batts® is installed. Ambiance by STÄRKE | uPVC windows and doors joinery is arriving next week, then Parka Wrap clips will be installed to negotiate the uneven walls, with Outright Continuous Insulation Rockwool installed over it all like a warm jacket.

Massive thanks to Pro Clima NZ, Parka Wrap Ltd and Jon Davies for coming on site to support the students with product and teaching. Fantastic work as ever from Nathan Mill from Quality Build Ltd , and great to chat to PlaceMakers who were on site to record some of the progress!

01/09/2026

Time flies when you’re having fun, & that definitely applies here, as we’re already at WEL Architecture’s 2nd birthday!

We started WEL to create a practice focusing on healthy, comfortable, low energy projects; but more than that, we wanted to help bring the industry along with us. In the past 2 years, we have met those goals, and more!

- Over 20 new homes and buildings designed across the motu - 75% aiming for Passivhaus, 1 complete, 6 in construction; & several more in detailed design & Building Consent!
- Almost 100 energy models produced, for our own projects & consulting on other designers work - providing expert insight into how buildings will perform, & how they can be improved for energy, comfort and moisture.
- Homestar Assessor services undertaken for 58 homes, with 20 already receiving a design rating of 6* or more.
- Consulting on over 30 projects - supporting homeowners & designers to make the right decisions, collaborating on details and draughting standards for suppliers, & working with experts on a range of research studies to support industry change.
- 23 blower door tests run, allowing builders to see where they can improve, & designers to see how they can help them!
- 15+ webinars, presentations, guest lectures and workshops to support the wider industry, homeowners, & other designers in how to achieve better buildings.

It’s amazing to look back on the progress that has been made over the past 2 years, but we wouldn’t have achieved this without our amazing clients, collaborators, supporters & suppliers. Thank you to every one of you for being part of this journey.

Due to the continuing growth, we are beginning to look out for a new team member for our North-Auckland base. The chance to work on a wide range of exciting work - new build to renovation, research to reality, technical detailing to dream designs around the motu. Ideal skills would be ArchiCAD experience, knowledge of PHPP, Passivhaus & Homestar, & an understanding of upfront carbon - the right person will have a passion for learning, lifting others up, & for buildings that are kind to people, and to planet. If this sounds like you feel free to reach out for a chat!

14/08/2026

Fantastic news for a Friday! The Building Consent application for our project with Whangaparāoa College has been granted, with massive thanks to Auckland Council and the team for their mahi on this!

This exciting project takes a 1970's Keith Hay Homes building that has been relocated onto the College grounds. Placed upon a temporary works platform we developed with StopDigging Auckland, it will now be retrofitted by the year 13 Trades Academy students to be a home of the future, now.

Alongside the usual skills, the students are learning about building better - why insulation should be continuous, what vapour permeable means, why airtightness is a good thing; and how to incorporate this knowledge into their work as they learn. Massive thanks to Pro Clima NZ for helping with this, along with other specialists!

The project includes some innovative retrofit approaches and materials, which wouldn't be possible without support from the suppliers:
- The Parka Wrap exterior insulation wall retrofit approach.
- A new retrofit warm roof system we're developing with Pink® Batts® Comfortech Building Performance Solutions® and BRANZ , incorporating roof ventilation products from DriSpace
- UPVC joinery from Ambiance by STÄRKE on the award winning Parka Wrap window clips
- Wraps & spray on airtightness from Pro Clima NZ
- Balanced MVHR from STIEBEL ELTRON New Zealand
- Hot water heat pump from Fisher & Paykel Appliances
- Construction & management from Nathan Mill from Quality Build Ltd

The project will be aiming for certification from Passive House Institute NZ and a Homestar rating from NZGBC , and we'll be documenting the process along the way, to show how these approaches can be applied to retrofit projects nation wide.

It's been such a pleasure to work on this with the college, and massive kudos to Justin Lintern and Steve McCracken at the college for supporting this program. The students have already shown real passion for the work, and I can't wait to see how we go!

If you'd like to be involved we are still looking for project partners & material donations, so please reach out if you're interested and can help!

06/08/2026

A great trip down to Cambridge this morning, to undertake the pre-line airtightness test at our project with Sustain Studio. The project is using ‘standard’ construction, with a few minor tweaks, to achieve the aims of and 10* performance requirements, alongside the lowest possible carbon footprint. The aim is to show that achieving better performance doesn’t have to mean significant change or cost.

A suspended timber floor on driven timber piles supports two stories of 90mm wall framing. Plywood with taped joints provides bracing & an air barrier on the interior, with Pro Clima NZ Visconn paint on airtightness around the midfloor junction, and a 20mm insulated services cavity on the walls. The roof is a timber skillion buildup with taped plywood to the underside, and a counter battened roof cavity above.

After a brief walk around with the smoke bottle to look for leaks, we placed our bets and ran the depressurisation & pressurisation tests… the bets ranged from 0.55 to 0.45, however the result was a sensation 0.26ach n50!

Most new builds sit around 5-7 air changer per hour, and Passivhaus requires 0.6ach. This project achieved less than half the Passivhaus target with fairly standard construction. The construction is vapour permeable, while the levels of airtightness achieved reduces energy demand through less heat loss (and gain!), increases durability by preventing moisture getting into the construction, and increases comfort through preventing draughts. It may even mean less insulation is required to achieve the Passivhaus energy goals!

This project achieved this amazing result with fairly standard construction, but it was a combination of quality design, detailing and coordination, supporting excellent attention to detail in construction, all backed up with passionate clients (who were taping till late the night before!), that made it possible!

19/07/2026

Pre-Construction Certification Received – The Copse

Late on Friday we received the Pre-Construction certification confirmation through from Sustainable Engineering Ltd. for this new home on a sub-urban section on The Coromandel, minutes from the beach. The design creates a low maintenance, sheltered retreat in the trees, replacing an existing dwelling which has been relocated for reuse.

The project is pre-construction certified to Passivhaus Premium – a certification for which there are currently only 3 others on the Int. Passive House Association (iPHA) database in New Zealand. This means that as well as being extremely comfortable & low energy, it will also generate far more power than it uses, and despite its sub-urban context this project will also be off-grid for power.

The existing dwelling on the site was sold and relocated, however when the client began to organise reconnection, they were hit by an exorbitant reconnection cost from the local power firm which included upgrading the fuses for the street. As they were already had solar PV included in the project, rather than paying more to reconnect to the grid they elected to increase the number of panels, for less cost than reconnecting.

A simple wedge form accommodates 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a spacious kitchen, dining and living space, with an attached garage to store the ocean toys and equipment! Stop Digging NZ ground screws support the Formance (SIPs) Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) envelope with Ambiance by STÄRKE joinery & STIEBEL ELTRON New Zealand ventilation & hot water. Energy modelling throughout helped refine a careful balance of cost and specification, with roof-top solar enabling the project to aim for Passivhaus Premium certification.

The project is almost complete, achieving an incredible mid-build blower door result of 0.16ach n50. The Passivhaus certification process requires a high level of site observation & QA, with paperwork submitted on project completion for third party checking to finalise the certification. This ensures the client gets what they’re paying for – a low energy, comfortable, healthy home.

11/07/2026

A fantastic Friday with Fairfield Construction , trekking out to see the site of a new project overlooking Admiralty Bay. This will provide an off-grid, comfortable, low energy home for the client, who is custodian of over 50 hectares of land which they are maintaining & restoring to native bush. The journey out into the Marlborough Sounds was sensational, but nothing prepared us for the sensational views from the future building site!
Due to the remote nature of the project all products, materials and labour will be either barged or flown to the site. To aid buildability & mitigate costs, the design will prioritise simple construction, with pre-fabrication utilised to minimise work on site, and dematerialisation incorporated to reduce material quantities and the number of trades travellling to site. This will be an exercise in simplicity, however this doesn’t mean that comfort, health and energy efficiency will be forgotten. Due to the off-grid requirement & exposed site, keeping energy demand to a minimum will be key, and as with every WEL project the design will be energy modelled, with Passivhaus performance as the goal.

26/06/2026

A fulfilling Friday in the WEL office, as after an extremely busy few weeks detailing, coordinating and modelling, we’ve submitted building consent applications for two projects!

First is a new home in a growing subdivision outside Hamilton, working with an aspirational local developer. With an Michael Sly envelope, MAXRaft slab, STIEBEL ELTRON New Zealand ventilation & hot water, and Ambiance by STÄRKE joinery; the project is aiming for both Passivhaus Plus Certification and a Homestar rating from NZGBC

The home will be available for pre-purchase through Lifestyle Living in Hamilton - with a Homestar rating providing discounted mortgage rates, Passivhaus performance levels meaning around 76% lower energy required to keep the home comfortable, plus rooftop solar generating over double the amount of modelled total energy demand to run the building – this will be a seriously healthy, comfortable and low energy home!

Joe Lyth

22/06/2026

It was fantastic for Director Joe Lyth to attend the New Zealand Certified Builders Association Conference recently, spending two days connecting with builders and innovators.

Joe was there to present the IceBox along side Lenny Basham from Basham Building 🔨 . Massive thanks to Julie Roberts and the Mitre 10 team for all the support, and for the chance to share the findings from the experiment. Thanks also to everyone who joined the session and contributed to the discussions - it was amazing to have so many people in the room, field some insightful questions, and hear that the benefits of healthier, higher performance buildings are becoming far more recognised by the wider industry.

It was a great two days full of great presentations and learnings, we especially enjoyed the BRANZ seminar, and watching one of our collaborators Mark from Fairfield Construction on stage with Paul from Twin Solutions Ltd, chatting about better ways of building.

Massive thanks to New Certified Builders for having us, and for their donation of 120 trees to Trees That Count on our behalf to help restore land, remove CO2 and create habitats for native animals. The Ice Box challenge is taking a break for winter, but will be back on the road in the spring around the country!

15/05/2026

A fantastic day heading down to our project - The Copse, aiming for certification, and now aiming to be too (due to extortionate reconnection fees from the local power company!) The flight down and back was perfect thanks to , with sensational views throughout!

The purpose of the visit was the pre-line inspection and blower door airtightness test, before the interior linings go on. Before Christmas we did an envelope only test to test the Formance SIPs and Starke joinery with an amazing result of 0.24ach n50. Since then have done a great job of adjusting and finessing the joinery, but also all of the services penetrations have been made, so there were more holes than before...

The tension was high, but after an initial pressurise to find any holes the result came in........ an incredible 0.16ach n50, and some extremely happy builders!! Tom, Pete and the team have absolutely smashed this out of the park, and their attention to detail and focus on quality can be seen throughout.

The services fitout is going well with the ducted heat pump system almost complete, and the Stiebel Eltron New Zealand ventilation well on the way. Rigid ducting for the heating & cooling provides less noise & more longevity than the usual flexi-duct, with 3D coordination in the design phase mitigating on-site working out to coordinate these with the semi-rigid ventilation ducts come. The project is a perfect example of collaboration, coordination and careful design, with a passionate team all working together to get the outcome the client is hoping for 🙌

SIPs floor, wall and roof
screw pile foundations
engineering
joinery
ventilation
wraps and tapes

29/04/2026

On a recent trip to the UK, Director was invited back to .school.of.art where he undertook his training, to add some New Zealand & Passivhaus insights to second year crits.

The studio 2.5 project explored the addition of community housing & facilities to an existing council site, with consideration and retention of the biodiversity & microclimates currently present on the plot.

The students had produced some lovely responses working with the existing fabric on site, creating new spaces within existing, and all utilising low carbon & natural building methodologies. Wood fibre board, exposed hempcrete & timber frame, geometric forms & and tactile approaches to finishes outside & in. It was interesting to hear how construction is developing in the UK, and great to see such planet conscious design from the group!

Many thanks to Justine Langford for the invitation, and looking forward to seeing the completed work!

Address

274 Tahekeroa Road
Auckland

Telephone

+64210394054

Website

http://www.WELArchitecture.nz/

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