#01

chow:hill sustainability quarterly march

2009

ee
updates
out there
projects + people
connections
community
small steps
resources
 chow:hill sustainable
image source: Richard Thomas. www.flickr.com

design guidelines

transformation of our environments in

We take responsibility for leading the
Thanks to all of the

the pursuit of a sustainable future.

Our Design Guideline is being enhanced to include
participants in our a more comprehensive set of design parameters
workshops last year for and tools relating to architecture, interior design,

pdate your great support and

ideas. The name ‘seed‘
‘suggested by Maurice‘
was selected from the
range of ideas
forward. We hope you
put
enjoy this first edition.
urban design and landscape architecture. Amongst
a range of measures we will be utilizing existing
tools such as Green Star and models developed in
the U.S. for Landscape Architecure. We now hope
to have the revised Guideline launched by end of
March this year.

company responsibility +
sustainability reporting (crs)
Chow:Hill’s adoption of a ‘triple bottom line’ mode of reporting is timed to
commence at the end of our 2009-2010 financial year. Over the coming few months
we will be developing the template of our report and have already commenced
collecting the raw data such as energy use, participation in Chow:Hill Community
Days, economic performance, etc., as well as looking at future targets, that would
populate the report to ourselves and our ‘community’.

get sustainable challenge

The Sustainable Business Network coordinates a program
called the ‘Get Sustainable Challenge’ and provides a service
to establish any organisation’s baseline or snapshot of current
sustainable operations, performance and targets, with a view
to providing assistance and mentoring in enhancing overall
company sustainability. Having filed with them last year our
own statement of current performance and intent David,
Bridgit, Stuart and Maurice met with the SBN to discuss and
confirm our responses. We anticipate receiving their written
report shortly.
 sustainable slums

ut there
image source: Ville Miettinen. www.flickr.com

Slums are generally overcrowded, unhealthy and

illustrate gross inequality. However, there is a
growing realisation that they also possess unique
strengths, and may even provide examples of
economic, environmental and socially sustainable
urban development.

In times of growing economic uncertainty, slum

communities may be best equipped to face these
challenges due to their inherent resilience, durability
and adaptability. There is a strong enterprising
spirit within these places, both in the multitude of
'At it's
highest level
sustainability
involves the
mediation
between
ecology and
technology
our future
health in a
changing
climate
In their Climate Change 2007:
Synthesis Report the United
Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) has looked into the
nature of the future impacts
business enterprises and the continual upgrading
and expansion of dwellings. Communities tend to be and relies of climate change across a
wide range of sectors.
tight-knit, where people know their neighbours and on culturally
regularly meet, interact and play on the streets. Slums
are walkable, high-density and mixed-use. Buildings
appropriate In regards to health, they
are mostly constructed from re-used materials that attitudes and project that the impacts will
be both negative:
would otherwise end up in landfills. behaviours.' ‘...increases in malnutrition;
Source: www.canadianarchitect.com
Although the idea of replicating slums in our work increased deaths, diseases
may seem bizarre, there are perhaps some lessons to and injury due to extreme
be learnt from the more promising elements. weather events; increased
burden of diarrhoeal diseases;
Source: Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow. 1 March 2009.
increased frequency of cardio-
Learning From Slums. www.boston.com
respiratory diseases...’

And positive:
‘...fewer deaths from cold
exposure [in temperate areas],
and some mixed effects such
as changes in range and
transmission potential of
malaria in Africa.’

However:
‘Overall it is expected that
benefits will be outweighed
by the negative health effects
of rising temperatures,
especially in developing
countries.’
Source: IPCC. Nov 2007. Climate
Change 2007: Synthesis Report.
www.ipcc.ch
 bopp v1 office building

rojects & people

image: jubilee bush near claudelands

Environmentally sustainable design (ESD) has always been a leading consideration for the team
working on the V1 Office Building at the Bay Of Plenty Polytechnic. All aspects of obtaining a Green
Star rating are being observed and recorded with a view for the building to be retrospectively
assessed with other buildings on the campus in the future. It is anticipated that the building will
definitely acheive a 4 Star rating and possibly 5 Stars.

The qualities that will contribute towards the Green Star rating are the appointment of a Green
Star accredited professional (Connell Wagner), waste management, development of a building
users guide, commissioning (building tuning), high frequency ballasts, electric lighting levels,
iternal noise levels, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde minimisation, CO2 emmissions,
landscape irrigation water efficiency, water meters, thermal insulation and topsoil and fill removal
from site.
Contact Tony Gray for more information.

claudelands
Although no formal rating or accreditation tool currently exists for the Claudelands arena
buildings, the intent is for all buildings to contribute to an equivalent 4 Star rating as defined
by the New Zealand Green Building Council. Principle features are associated with managing
systems, achieving a healthy indoor environment, minimising the use of energy and production of
carbon dioxide, effective utilisation of water resources, sustainable material choices and control
of emissions.

In addition to these environmentally sustainable goals, the project endeavours to maximise the
social benefits to the community, and culturally, the design draws on the historical context of the
site and enriches the value of Claudelands as a focal activity space for the people of Hamilton.
Contact Stuart Mackie for more information.

hopu hopu waikato tainui

administration building
In their 50 year plan for building the capacity of their iwi, hapu and marae, the Waikato Tainui have
stated their mission is ‘Kia tupu, kia hua, kia puaawai - to grow, prosper and sustain’. They aim to
develop a secure sense of identity and cultural integrity; generate opportunities and choices; and
engender different ways of being, knowing and doing with each generation.

In regards to the new Hopu Hopu administration building, the building and landscape have
unique cultural drivers, it is designed to blend the relationship that the Waikato Tainui people
have with ‘The Land’, ‘Their History’ and ‘The River Waikato’. The architecture will forge these
inter-relationships in its form, and in addition, will embrace sustainability with a 4 Star rating
from the New Zealand Green Building Council. Elements such as management, indoor air quality,
energy, transport, water, materials, land use and ecology, emissions and innovation were given
consideration in the design of the building.
Contact Brooke Cholmondeley-Smith for more information.
onnection
lincolne scott
Tabe Voight from Lincolne Scott Ltd recently shared with the Auckland office team their
experience across a range of design projects. Lincolne Scott, who offer a range of ESD services
including full building modeling and analysis, have been involved in Australia’s first 6 Star Green
Star building, CH2 in Melbourne (pictured); Australia’s first 5 Star Green Star As Built building,
The Bond (also in Melbourne); and Hawaii’s first LEED Platinum building. Maurice has visited
the first two of these buildings, and found that the results have been extremely impressive.
For more information visit www.lincolnescott.co.nz
image source: Prawn Crisps. CH2 building. www.flickr.com

innerscape
Innerscape is a New Zealand owned consultancy located in Cambridge specialising in environmentally
sustainable building services design. Two of the directors, Ken McKenzie and Werner Maritz, are New
Zealand Green Building Council Green Star Accredited Professionals and Werner has also recently
completed the Australian Green Star training and exam. Innerscape’s goal is to deliver fully integrated,
optimised, cost effective, energy efficient, aesthetically designed, ‘people friendly’ systems, positively
contributing to the total building environment.

The team in the Tauranga office have been working with Innerscape recently in relation to a major
refurbishment of H Block at the BOPP and they made a joint presentation to the Council on Green
Star, which lead to them joining a Council sub-committee to look at ways to encourage developers to
adopt Green Star principles.
For more information visit www.innerscape.co.nz
 community day was a picnic
For their Chow:Hill Community Day in February, the Tauranga
office wanted to find something that they could all do together and
complete in one day. They approached the Tauranga City Council

ommunit for ideas, and settled on the construction of picnic tables for
McLaren Falls Park.

After arriving at the ranger’s workshop, the team promptly put their
heads together and modified the design of the picnic tables. Their
aim was to construct four tables, and they managed to complete
five. They had a great day, showing off their carpentry skills, doing
physical work, working as a team and making a contribution to the
community.

newmarket primary school

world architecture day
In celebration of World Architecture Day, Christina, Febianca,
Vatra and Francis from the Auckland office decided to share their
passion for design and sustainability with the wider community.
They have been working with Newmarket Primary School to
develop a new ‘friendship place’. The children observed that
if they have a play area that encourages friendships, this
becomes the catalyst for working together and achieving other
improvements to the school environment.

te rau puriri community day

A team of 10 people from the Auckland office headed to one of the
region’s newest parks, Te Rau Puriri, for their Chow:Hill Community
image: students from Newmarket Primary School

Day on the 4th of November last year. The 247 hectare park is at
the South Head of the Kaipara Harbour and was purchased by the
Auckland Regional Council and Rodney District Council in 2006.
Key features of the park include one of the best beaches on the
Kaipara Harbour and the best freshwater lake in the Auckland
region (Lake Ototoa).

The team dug out ragwort weeds from an area of new native
planting in the morning, followed by picking up rubbish from the
beach and a BBQ put on by the Auckland Regional Council Park
Rangers. Highlights of the day included a fawn running / bouncing
along the beach, dead stingrays and some buried tyres that kept
them occupied for quite some time.
 take a walk on the wild side...
image source: Gary Knight. www.flickr.com

...or if you can’t manage that, at least walk as far as the rubbish bin in
the kitchen. In the Auckland office alone we potentially use over 3,500
plastic liners in the waste baskets under our desks each year. If we were

mall step to share one basket between two we’d half the number of bags, if we
shared between four we’d quarter… get the idea?

So, collect up those surplus bins, benefit from the increased legroom
under your desk, get in that essential micropause as you walk to your
shared bin in the corner of the office and enjoy the feel-good factor of
reducing plastic bag use.
reduce
reuse
recycle
(Also check out: www.connectedmedia.org.nz for their ‘The Outlook for
Someday’ sustainability film challenge for young people – one of last Some tips for reducing, reusing
year’s winners took up this theme.) and recycling:
• Discourage junk mail delivery.
• Buy fresh and local produce
rather than canned, frozen or
processed food to save on
packaging material.
'We will eliminate the need for raw • Start a compost heap or worm
farm with kitchen scraps,
material and banish all waste.' garden clippings and non-
source: Bruce Mau . (2003). Massive Change. Insitute Without Boundaries. glossy paper.
• Reuse plastic bags or use
fabric shopping bags.
• Recycle as much as you can of
items that can not be reused.

recycling savings • Have a garage sale or list on

TradeMe for items that you no
longer need, but may be of use
A study in Australia showed that by recycling an average of 3.6kgs a
to others.
week that would otherwise have left the house as rubbish to a landfill, a
household saved each week: • Start baking to reduce
packaging waste. It will taste
• Over three kilograms of green-house gases such as carbon dioxide
better too!
and methane, that would otherwise have contributed to global
warming. • Buy recycled paper products.
Source: www.sustainablehouseholds.co.nz
• Enough electricity to run a 20 watt low-energy fluorescent light-bulb
for 144 hours.
• Air pollution saved equivalent to emissions from a net 4.5km of car
travel (that’s after taking into account the fuel burned to transport the
recovered materials).
• Over ninety litres of water, enough to wash five sinks-full of dishes.
• Reduced public costs of managing landfills, and helped to support
employment in the materials recovery industries.
Source: Ecorecycle Victoria, Melbourne. www.ecorecycle.vic.gov.au
 products tech talk
Chow:Hill have specified carpet for the
Cradle-to-cradle
Southern Cross Hospital that has passed
A phrase that refers to a
one of the highest-rated environmental To input, comment or
esource product’s environmental
assessments - Environmental Choice New
Zealand. The Kiwi eco-label has been classed
debate please contact the footprint from the point of
as one of the world’s most robust.
editorial team... Bridgit, extraction of raw materials
Maurice, Susan. (cradle), through processing,
manufacturing, and use.
The carpet for the Southern Cross Hospital
Ideally, sustainable products
was Irvine International’s Nexterra Carpet
would be designed so that
Tiles. The synthetic fibre is extruded
reuse and recycling could take
on the manufacturer’s premises and
place at each stage, resulting in
contains a minimum of 25% post-industrial
recycled content (waste produced during books zero waste going to landfills.
manufacturing) and the tiles contain 85%
Anne Whiston Spirn. (1984). The Cradle-to-gate
post-consumer recycled content (waste that
Granite Garden: Urban Nature and A phrase that refers to a
has been rescued from reaching landfill).
Human Design. New York. Basic product’s environmental
For more information visit www.irvine international.com
Books. footprint from raw material
This is a book about nature in cities and acquisition (the cradle)
what the city could be like if designed through final manufacturing
in concert with natural processes, (the factory gate).
rather than in ignorance of them or in

l o g y outright opposition. Carbon footprint

The total amount of carbon

h no Fred A. Stitt. (1999). The Ecological dioxide and other greenhouse

t e c ec Design Handbook: Strategies for gases emitted over the life cycle

olo Architecture, Landscape Architecture, of a product or service, through

gy Interior Design and Planning. McGraw-

Hill Professional.
A one-of-a-kind collection of ‘green’
writings - from seminal figures such as
Paolo Soleri and Buckminster Fuller,
vehicle emissions, electricity
use, and fuel consumption.
The bigger the footprint, the
greater the contribution to
climate change.

culture to unsung pioneers of alternative

materials and experimental methods,
to experts around the world. A grand
overview of ecological design in
architecure and planning.
websites
Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L.
New Zealand Green Building Council Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. (2007).
www.nzgbc.org.nz Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of
Food Life. Harper Collins.
The Susatainable Sites Initiative The authors’ journey away from the
www.sustainablesites.org industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in
which they vow to buy only food raised
Canadian Architect in their own neighborhood, grow it
www.canadianarchitect.com themselves, or learn to live without it.
Embodied energy
The total energy that a product
may be said to “contain,”
including all energy used
in growing, extracting, and
manufacturing the product
and the energy used to
transport it to the point of use.
The embodied energy of a
structure or system includes
the embodied energy of its
components plus the energy
used in construction.
Source: www.sustainablesites.org