The Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand (ICANZ) stands ready to support the Jacinta Allan government’s bold plan to build 800,000 homes under an expanded Development Facilitation Program.

CEO of ICANZ Janine Strachan said, “These homes will need to be built to the current NCC standard over the next 10 years, and with Victoria moving to 7 stars on 1 May 2024, insulation will play a key role in the homes building fabric. This means the building of these new homes will achieve greater thermal comfort, reduce heating and cooling loads and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The insulation industry is ready to deliver building materials that can improve thermal performance of homes.”

The Allan Government’s statement on October 3 said, “As part of Victoria’s Housing Statement, the expanded DFP will make sure big decisions are made faster – with the Minister for Planning now the decision maker for significant residential developments that include affordable housing. The Government will streamline the planning process for medium to high density residential developments that meet the set criteria: construction costs worth at least $50 million in Melbourne or $15 million in regional Victoria and delivering at least 10 per cent affordable housing.”

Ms Strachan said members of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) representing manufacturers of building materials that play an integral role in improving the thermal building envelope and providing healthier commercial and residential building stock have made significant investments to support the move to 7-star homes.

“Collectively we have well developed production processes, which stand ready to respond to the expected increased demand for insulation and glazing materials across Australia, Ms Strachan said.

ASBEC’s Low Carbon, High Performance report demonstrates that the National Construction Code (NCC) 2022 energy efficiency standards brings significant improvements to energy performance of people’s new homes. These improvements to the performance of new and existing housing stock is key to achieving State and Federal Governments’ emissions reduction targets, while also contributing to broader national efforts to manage cost of living pressures for households.

It has been over a decade since Australia meaningfully increased the minimum energy efficiency requirements for new homes in the National Construction Code. In that time, we have fallen further behind international standards while the need to reduce emissions has grown even more urgent.

“While we wait for regulations to catch up, Australia’s manufacturers of energy efficient building materials are ready to help build the low-emissions, high performing homes Australia needs,” Ms Strachan said.