After nearly two years designing, funding and creating their visions of more sustainable homes, teams in the Sustainable Habitat Challenge are set to hear the judges' verdicts.

Awards will be presented at a dinner ceremony at the Port Chalmers Town Hall, from 7pm on Friday 20 November. The event is part of the SHAC 09 Symposium, being held in Dunedin from 19-21 November, where teams will share their results.

Entries range from a bolt-on plant room suitable for high-rise apartments to a low-cost earth and flax dwelling for rural Maori communities. A high-spec straw bale house posed demanding technical challenges, while others made smart use of conventional building techniques to prove that more sustainable housing is cost-effective and accessible today. Housing New Zealand took the opportunity to explore how state houses might be sustainably upgraded.

Awards will be presented in categories of retrofit and new builds.

The projects were judged by luminaries in the world of sustainable development, including architect Dave Strachan, Beacon Pathway Manager Nick Collins, researchers Maggie Lawton and Nigel Isaacs and broadcaster and Dunedin City Councillor Dave Cull. Judges visited each of the nine projects, located from Rangitoto Island to Dunedin, during a nationwide judging tour this month.

SHAC Coordinator Tim Bishop has nothing but praise for the teams who created entries for the challenge. "It was a big ask. But the Challenge tapped into the real skill and enthusiasm that exists in the community. Teams made use of the opportunity to explore ideas, and came up with interesting, creative and achievable results. We can feel very optimistic about the future of more sustainable housing in New Zealand."

The Challenge was established by Otago Polytechnic and supported by the Ministry for the Environment. It required teams, led by tertiary institutions, to consider issues such as resource efficiency, simplicity and affordability.