By 
The Government’s strange aversion to the word ‘sustainable’ has gone on display again this morning at the Sustainable Build Conference in Wellington.
The Right Honourable Maurice Williamson, Minister of Building and Construction, kicked off his speech to the conference by questioning the very terminology it is based on.
“In my view the word sustainable has become a very overused term and encompasses a range of disparate views of the world,” he said.
This raised eyebrows among delegates I spoke to, many of whom are of the opinion that the term is not being used nearly enough, especially in Government, and that it represents a very succinct and defined worldview, albeit one that may be at odds with the current status quo.
The Minister did however go on to express his support for the conference, and outlined Government action in the area.
He said: “There have been some appalling commercial buildings built. They have been built as cheaply as possible and flicked on to the market.”
The new initiatives include new Solar Hot Water Guidance that provides additional information to local authorities to enable them to assess and approve a wider range of installations than at present. And the Licensed Building Practitioner Scheme, which is being broadened to take in a wider range of qualifications.
“Otherwise the guy who builds your most valuable investment in life may not have any qualification to do so,” he said.
A self-confessed free-market fundamentalist, Williamson joked that in his previous role as transport minister staff worried he would let individuals choose which side of the road they would like to drive on. He stressed a voluntary and incentivising approach to changes in the building sector, arguing that efficiency savings created by innovation would be enough to attract consumers to them.
“I am not going to legislate how much flow you can have in your shower,” he said. “I am not in favour of making anything compulsory.”
Asked about the prospect of banning unflued gas heating, given their well-documented health impacts and tendency to exacerbate damp problems in homes, he said:
“We are not good at doing the tech side of that. We leave that to the experts and whether they tell us that it is a serious issue. I could never make four legs touch the ground at my woodwork class.”
