Sustainability in Auckland, New Zealand

The visit with Gary Caulfield of Stanley Group on Monday, January 3^rd proved to be extremely informative and educational.   

 Stanley Group has been in business for 87 years and is divided into 4 divisions:

·    Stanley Construction: boasts of only producing 0.5% waste on projects due largely because of bulk purchasing procedures, good designs, and utilizing pre-cut timber

·    Stanley Eco-Build: cladding and green building elements, hasn’t really gathered too much momentum to date largely due to the economy, they are currently working on a Green Modular Classroom.

·    Stanley Joinery: manufactures kitchens, tables, and other case goods

·    Stanley Modular: develops innovative solutions utilizing off site fabricated, fully finished and furnished pods

Stanley conducted a carbon emissions study 2 years ago for approximately $20,000 solely because they felt it was the “right thing to do”.  Stanley is known for providing innovative solutions to unique development issues and projects. It is apparent that Stanley works diligently to minimize their waste and be aware of their impact on the environment by their 0.5% recorded waste statistic and their willingness to understand their footprint.  One obvious disadvantage for Stanley and other New Zealand contractors is the transportation issue.  To reduce emissions it would make the most sense to buy local whenever possible but some items are overpriced and the contractors can get the products a lot cheaper if they purchase overseas.  You just hope that by being proactive and diligent on the controlled sustainable features, it will neutralize this existing transportation anchor.  

Gary touched on one of the major problems with New Zealand’s existing structures: leaky buildings. New Zealand utilizes approximately 99% timber and 1% steel in their developments and the timber used between the years of 1983-2005 was untreated.  This plus the monolithic cladding and temperature extremes inhibited the buildings to move thus causing them to leak.  Gary estimated this to be a $12-20 billion problem just in the residential sector. This problem has resulted in several lawsuits as well as many more to come in the future.  The saddest fact really is that contractors can still purchase and use untreated lumber.

There appears to be some disconnects between the results intended and the actions taken from the New Zealand government regarding sustainable initiatives.  There is a huge deforestation process going on right now in order to provide open land for dairy production.  However, this initiative only allows for more CO2 emissions to be generated by the methane-producing animals.  Sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul type of scenario.

Lastly, Gary provided some excellent insight into New Zealand’s Green Council. The interim council began in 2004 followed by the full council in 2005.  The green rating tool was modeled after Australia’s system. There are 4 areas of focus: Design, As-Built, Existing, In-Use.  The tools for each of these systems cost approximately $100,000 to develop and were funded by industry.  Green Star buildings have not been sold at a premium however, Gary, has seen these building sell faster than other non-Green Star buildings. 

The walk from Stanley Group to Iron Bank took us through the museum, park, University, and the hospital, and finally to its home in the newly redeveloped area of the “red light district”.  This walk allowed us to see a large part of Auckland’s CBD.  To date this redevelopment only consists of approximately 3 of 4 restaurants and the Iron Bank development.  The actual Iron Bank, a $35 million project, is currently unoccupied or leased apart from one restaurant.  The most impressive feature would have to be the parking garage with the automatic car stacker.  We watched the car pull through the glass doors onto the automatic rail system where it ushers the car in to the elevator stacker.  The garage stores approximately 133 cars and cost $18 million to build.  

We met with Sarah Ballantyne with Cooper and Company, the developer and owner of Britomart, as well as Terry Buchanan with Hawkins Construction who is building out the project.  The Britomart East Project development will consist of retail space on the first floor and was originally designed for high-end residential space on the top three floors.  There would have been 14 apartments costing approximately $3 million each.  However, due to the economic climate Cooper and Company decided to adjust the designs for commercial office space.  These designs provide the owner with the flexibility to move back to residential if the market opens up.  The construction costs for the East Project are about $210 million NZ and is about 40,000 square meters (roughly 400,000 sq ft).  

Cooper and Company has fully leased the building to 3 companies: West Pak, Ernst & Young, and Southern Cross.  Southern Cross occupies about 20% and will be the first to occupy by the first of March.  The building received a Green Star 5 rating for design – high-energy efficiency.  Some of the sustainable features incorporated in the design are:

·    High performance glazing to provide excellent insulation

·    High frequency lighting ballasts

·    Low VOC products

·    Utility energy metering

·    Close proximity to public transport, no car parking facilities on site

·    Construction waster recycling and minimization

·    Integrated finish out with tenants

·    Grey water retention, storage and reuse facility – collect rainwater for toilet  flushing

Although not originally intended as a mix use building, this like many development projects we have seen thus far, seem to benefit by the advantage of catering to residential and business customers. With the US housing market’s recent downward trend it would be interesting to determine if the success of recent projects such as Addison Circle (Near Dallas, Texas) has encountered success compared to single use buildings built during the same time period.