APL and Greener Buildings

As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainable building practices, APL has partnered with the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) as a corporate sponsor.

Building more sustainable projects – both commercial and residential – is in the interests of everyone in the building industry – architects and specifiers, developers, builders, suppliers and end-users. NZGBC research indicates the following advantages for high quality buildings:

Comfort: Choosing windows and doors that increase occupant wellbeing is important.

Warmth: Keeping cool temperatures out in colder months, and decreasing solar gain in warmer months assists in year-round warmth and comfort.

Health: Approximately 40% of New Zealand homes are damp or mouldy with a high associated economic cost.

Transparency: Access to outside views for building occupants has been proven to have significant measurable benefits in relation to cognitive function, memory, productivity and, in hospitals, shorter stays.

Daylight Entry: Significant measurable benefits in relation to student performance, worker productivity and retail turnover.

Interior Systems: General productivity increases through appropriate lighting, ventilation and temperature control. Two measuring systems administered by the Green Building Council are the well-known Green Star rating system for commercial projects and the Homestar rating tool that measures the health, warmth and efficiency of houses and apartments. Commercial window systems feature in many projects which have been Green Star-rated. For example, thermallyshielded high-rise glazing systems are part of the APL product portfolio.

The Homestar tool assesses the full and final plans from which the home will be built, and then post-construction certification is carried out to confirm implementation.