Carparks downsized in green buildings

Carparks in new office blocks have been marked narrow and designed for small cars, rainwater is used to flush toilets and some high-rise structures have been recycled and given a new life.

These are environmental features in the first seven new office blocks assessed under the Green Building Council's green star rating system.

The Deloitte Centre at 80 Queen St, owned by Brookfield Multiplex, has slimmed-down carparks which won't fit SUVs but are specifically designed for small cars.

Council chief executive Jane Henley said the carparks needed special planning permission.

The country's most eco-friendly office block is the double-glazed refurbished tower at 21 Queen St. Motorbike-riding developer and owner Rob Lang said he was extremely proud to have the country's "greenest high-rise".

High levels of fresh air, daylight and recycling and not a single carpark are features of this block.

Wade Jennings, the Peddle Thorp architect who designed the refurbishment, said the block's top floor on level 17 had been fitted out as a show floor displaying plants and mainly New Zealand-made eco-friendly furniture and window fittings.

"It's there to show tenants what they can use to achieve a Green Building Council five-star internal fit-out rating," Jennings said.

Less tenant sick leave and a healthier internal environment were some of the features aimed for in the design, he said.

"The result and look of the building were driven by what we were trying to achieve in terms of the internal environment," he said.

Jennings said he was not surprised the block got 65 green star points, the highest in New Zealand.

"We had the opportunity to represent the existing site improvements as a new building and we were able to target that high wellbeing quotient for the inside. The building was empty when it was purchased and with this fresh start we were free to design to a high-quality building.

"The clean canvas we inherited allowed us to undertake extensive works and to be unconstrained with our ideas and design," Jennings said.

Quay Park One between Britomart and Vector Arena was one of the first five-star green buildings to be completed in Auckland and was developed for the BNZ.

Almost all the steel used for its construction had a recycled content greater than 50 per cent. Rainwater is used for flushing toilets and cycle racks and showers are provided. The building also has dedicated carparks for small vehicles.

Tenants in the Club Tower in Christchurch enjoy big views and that won the developers credits. About 85 per cent of the office space has uninterrupted external vistas, cutting artificial light use.

A good level of daylight is reached at about 65 per cent of the office space. Low water use, a quarter of the parks for small cars and rainwater for toilet flushing are other features.

Auckland's seven-level Quay Plaza, leased to GE as its head office in New Zealand, has high levels of fresh air flowing through the building, low-usage water fittings and solar-controlled double glazing. It was developed by Mansons TCLM, who did not initially seek green star certification.

"Quite late in construction Mansons opted to rate the building using the green star tool," the Green Building Council noted.

Hamilton's Kakariki House, developed by Wise Trust, is a "recycled" former retail building which now provides offices for about 100 staff at 293 Grey St. More than 90 per cent of the existing structure was used and a quarter of the parks are for small vehicles.

Auckland's Telecom Tower at 92 Albert St won credits for using an existing building's superstructure. Almost the whole shell was refitted, which greatly minimised the amount of energy used compared with putting up a new building.