FMI House
FMI House
Project
Residential
Client
FMI Building Solutions
Value
$600k
Consultants
Architect /
Alan Poor Architects
For some time, building systems supplier FMI has been pushing the home-building industry to get more ambitious about developing solutions to ensure New Zealand meets its emissions targets. After designing and modelling its own zero energy home, in 2023 the company took theory into the real world and built a small test house in collaboration with Haydn & Rollett, a longstanding partner who was willing to take up the challenge.
Given the project’s experimental nature, it was never going to be simple. Right at the outset, Haydn & Rollett’s team had to drive 100 surefoot piles through the carpark site to create a platform for construction. The timber framing of the subfloor, walls and roof trusses was straightforward, but everything thereafter was new territory. In fact, some of the materials involved, notably a rigid air barrier system and
triple glazed joinery, haven’t been tested or approved in New Zealand, which made it tricky to navigate compliance with the local authority. In addition, there was a set of novel requirements, including the need to have all services in their final position before the walls could be filled with insulating spray foam. The one easy feature: FMI supplied the aluminium cladding, window joinery, internal walls and trims, making the procurement process a breeze.
With compliance still to be achieved the test house is effectively a work in progress, but FMI and Haydn & Rollett now have a clearer sense of the challenges – and opportunities – that will be involved in creating the next generation of sustainable New Zealand housing.