26 February 2007

New Eco-Friendly DOC Building Opens Today

The Department of Conservation's new head office building sets a new standard for sustainability in the public service and New Zealand as a whole. The building – located in a former Wellington movie theatre – is the first fully refurbished equivalent 5 star ecologically-sustainable office building in the country.

The Minister of Conservation, who opened the building this afternoon, was full of praise for the innovative environmentally friendly features of the building.

“Just two weeks ago, the Prime Minister announced her intentions for a move towards a sustainable public service,” said Mr Carter.

“The new Conservation House shows that the Department of Conservation is already ahead of the game, with a new home for head office staff that will dramatically reduce waste, and increase energy efficiency, ultimately reducing the overhead cost.”

Conservation House is one of the first refurbished sustainable office buildings in New Zealand. It began as an old theatre complex and went through a process of major internal structural demolition over the last two years.

What has resulted, after two years work in design, engineering and construction is a building that greatly reduces energy consumption and waste, which contribute to the Government’s carbon neutral initiative. The sustainable features include double cladding windows, and a large atrium that runs through the entire building, allowing in more natural light, and airflow.

Air flow and temperature are maintained through an innovative “chilled-beam” system, where water is driven through beams, which heat or cool the surrounding air and aided by the open plan structure, help pump air throughout the building. DOC General Manager, Grant Baker is very excited about the features.

“The chilled beam and atrium act as the heart and lungs of the building,” Mr Baker said.

“In almost every corner, you can find an aspect of the sustainable nature of this innovative workplace. The floor on the stairwell is produced from recycled car tires, and the sound proof eco-panels in the meeting rooms are made from recycled milk bottle tops.”

Some of the other spin-offs of the design include placing the stairs at a central and visible location, to encourage staff members to take the stairs instead of the lifts, and a rooftop cafeteria style tea-room, with an outdoor garden, complete with a wide variety of native plants. Rainwater is collected from the rooftop, and used again, for flushing toilets, saving DOC’s use of city water by 60%. In the near future, a small windmill will be installed on the rooftop to supply power to the café area.

Most of the lightbulbs are energy-efficient, and it is difficult to find a lightswitch in the whole building, as the majority of lights are sensor driven, meaning that unused meeting rooms or other areas are not wasting power. There are no rubbish bins for staff, and instead any waste must be sorted according to its category.

“The Department of Conservation is practising what they preach and taking sustainability, a major part of conservation, to a whole new level.” Said Mr Carter

ENDS

Background Notes:

Key features of the building are:

- Natural ventilation providing clean fresh air throughout the floors achieved through double glazing

- automatic opening windows

- chilled beam air conditioning system

- Natural light optimised by the installation of two atriums and large perimeter windows

- allowing natural light to penetrate deeply into the floor plates

- Uses 40% less power than a conventional building through managed light control with light level sensors and movement sensors

- Uses 60% less water

- recycled water from the roof for toilets, sinks, dishwashers

- heat pump water system for hot water

- use of low-flow fittings and fixtures for the toilets and taps

- Recycling on all floors and at the desk for paper, organics, plastic, metal etc.

- Wind generator supplementing the lighting on the roof

- Sustainable approach to construction and fit out through waste minimisation during construction

- demolition and construction waste recycled

- use of Materials with low emissions of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde

- reduction of internal air pollutants

- use of Environmental Choice NZ products

- Onterra carpet tiles for easy replacement of individual tiles

- Open plan layout for all which increases efficiency for any future changes

- Open Plan layout which will result in greater staff co-operation between working units

- Excellent staff facilities

- Café/conference centre on the roof with outdoor roof area for staff

- New technology being used with smart boards, teleconferencing, telephone and printer/copier systems.

Recycling and waste system:

- Personal bins removed, replaced with small desk top containers –staff now take responsibility for their own rubbish and recycle items appropriately.

- In 2006, DOC’s head office audited 5 days worth of rubbish, they generated approximately 430kg of waste, which all went to the landfill. The results showed that 212.86 kg (about ½) could have been recycled. Incredibly, DOC were actually doing well in terms of office based organisations.

- Our relocation drastically cut the amount of storage (mostly paper) from 3.94km to .75km!

DOC sees this building as the start of its journey into carbon neutrality. DOC intends to apply the knowledge and features in this building and use it in other DOC offices around the country.

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