This report reviews the original plans and permits for 1000 privately owned apartment buildings to ascertain why combustible cladding was used for external walls. The report reveals widespread misapplication of Victoria’s regulatory requirements for external wall cladding by the key professionals responsible for the design and permitting of buildings.

The Victorian Healthy Homes Program was a randomised controlled trial designed to measure the impact of an energy efficiency and thermal comfort home upgrade on temperature, energy use, health and quality of life. It found that a modest home upgrade improved indoor warmth, health and gas use.

Energy consumption in the building sector is significant as people are spending a considerable amount of time indoors. The share of the residential sector’s energy consumption is around 11% of the total energy consumed in Australia to fulfil household energy requirements. The largest share of that energy consumption is used to maintain indoor thermal comfort.

The study investigates relationships of winter indoor relative humidity and R-value of building envelope of the Auckland houses.

This is the final report of the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program, which found that the program was poorly planned and poorly implemented.