The purpose of this study was to complete a literature review of the economic assessment of the costs, benefits and methods for the construction of houses that are designed and built to standards that exceed the minimum requirements as defined by the Building Code. The scope included international and local assessments, academic and grey literature and industry material such as facts sheets.

Key findings

Many studies focused on energy savings as the sole benefit. Few studies assessed the environmental benefits from the energy savings despite the methodology being well established in the environmental economics literature. Health benefits were rarely considered, except in the more recent studies. Water-saving benefits were explored by a few studies for specific interventions. Construction waste and the embodied carbon in construction materials were explored by a few studies.