Department of Conservation Offices

This building won the Govt3 Sustainable Buildings Award in 2008 and has been labelled as one of New Zealand's most environmentally friendly buildings in the country.

Environment Minister David Benson-Pope said that “This building is the first office building in New Zealand to use chilled beams in place of a traditional air conditioning system, to reduce energy consumption. This is one of the most efficient air conditioning types in the world." A full article on the awards can be found at the Beehive website.

Dave Fullbrook worked on this building providing Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) advice and Paul James was the lead building services engineer for the design.

As a company we are passionate in achieving the best performance in buildings and we are currently optimising and reviewing the buildings performance, with Multiplex who own and operate the building.

For more information on the award click here...

Conservation House's environmentally friendly features include:

• the first use of active chilled beam technology in an office building in Australasia
• rainwater collection that supplies a water feature and toilets
• a double layer glass façade to allow natural airflow and air-conditioning
• a fully addressable lighting system that uses occupancy detection and daylight harvesting
• a heat pump water system
• sustainable internal fittings, such as carpet tiles to easily replace small areas of carpet
• PVC-free fittings, including roller blinds and linoleum
• materials containing low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and formaldehyde.

Waste minimisation measures during construction saw demolition and construction waste sorted on site and then collected by appropriate agencies for recycling.