KEY POINTS:
An historic Sydney building has set a new benchmark in Australia for environmental sustainability.
Rob Lang, chief executive of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, told New Zealanders last week how his organisation had won Australia's first five-star green rating for the design of a heritage building renovation.
He addressed the green building summit in Auckland last week, a joint initiative of the Property Council and the Green Building Council of New Zealand. About 400 people paid $600 each to attend the event in Takapuna.
Four New Zealand buildings have a green-star rating, either for design or completed work. The new Deloitte/BNZ tower under construction at 80 Queen St, Quay Park One by Mansons TCLM near the old railway station and the renovation of Telecom Tower at 92 Albert St are the Auckland buildings with the tick. Meridian Energy's building on Wellington's waterfront also has a green rating.
Case studies were presented at the summit on Telecom Tower and Quay Park One. Lang told the conference how the state authority's building at 88 George St - with views of Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge - had won the accolade from Australia's Green Building Council.
Two inter-connected warehouses make up the property: 88 George St built in 1886 and 86 George St, built in 1912.
The buildings and the area have a New South Wales historical rating for aesthetic and historical value.
Lang, speaking through a video-conference link, said the building's upgrade embraced many environmental elements. Unusual aspects of the project included installing systems to extract water from the harbour and use it in the building's air conditioning system. The office block's windows also open, reducing the need for cooling and allowing the harbour breeze to ventilate offices. This resulted in what Lang called a tremendous quality of indoor air.
Unsightly and noisy chiller units could be dispensed with at the top of the building and instead the top floor became a BBQ area, Lang said.
He described the building's features as an adaptive re-use of existing resources. Walls are made of thick masonry which helps in stabilising temperatures. Because the building is old, it has only 11 parking spaces for cars, so tenants are encouraged to use bikes. Showers and locker areas have been installed, as well as cycle storage areas.
Lang told how the authority set out to make the building Australia's most sustainable heritage-listed structure. In December, 88 George St became the first state heritage-listed building to get a five-star Australian excellence rating for office design, setting a new benchmark for heritage refurbishments in both the government and private sectors.
The authority said large external windows on most facades allowed tenants to get maximum daylight and reduce lighting bills. More than 60 per cent of office space has an external view and no point on any floor is more than 12 metres from a window.
The use of insulation reduces internal noise levels and improves the tenants' comfort. Low volatile organic compound paints, adhesives and sealants and products with low or no formaldehyde were used in the renovation to reduce internal air pollutants and eliminate sick building syndrome, the authority said.
"Polished timber and natural flooring in common areas promotes occupant wellbeing and health. Air exhaust risers into every tenancy floor help eliminate indoor air pollutants created by activities like photocopying and printing.
"Timber used during construction and installed in the building - such as plywood for concrete forming, doors and feature timber work - is either recycled or comes from sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Polyvinyl chloride alternatives have been used to replace 60 per cent of the PVC that would normally be installed in such a building," the authority said.
Andrea Steffensen, director of McS Group of Auckland, has won the first four-star green award for a refurbishment with Telecom Tower on Albert St.
In her address to the summit, she encouraged developers to consider the environment when they were building or refurbishing and said tenants were prepared to pay more for building which had green star certification.
Just 5 per cent of New Zealand's buildings were new at any one time, she said, so the property sector needed to move towards making existing buildings more efficient and sustainable.
LIVING BY THEIR WORD
* Developers went green last week at a green building summit held in Auckland.
* Conference bags were recycled billboards.
* Conference pens were recycled paper.
* Resene gave out timber-clad USB sticks.
