Green architecture – 21 Queen Street building, Auckland, New Zealand

For several years Auckland’s leading businesses have been moving towards the regenerated waterfront area, and careful reuse of existing structure enabled the 21 Queen Street building architects to apply the latest energy saving technology and sustainable materials. AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO) constructed this building to conform the New Zealand Green Building Council’s strict requirements where it achieved a five star design rating.

Designed by Peddle Thorp Architects, the building has six new levels, a double height entrance foyer and public gallery. In redeveloping 21 Queen Street, ANZO was seeking a well-managed project with a lower environmental impact than a new construction. The project team used careful strategic procedural planning of the works, ensured that the environmental impact of the redevelopment was minimized through the recycling of almost all construction waste, the retention of the existing structure, and the use of sustainable materials such as natural stone from environmentally-friendly certified quarries.

Electrical sub-meters are provided for all building uses greater than 100kVa. Lighting power density for 95% of the building’s NLA is 2.0W/m2/100lux. Other features that contribute to the overall environmentally-sustainable design include double glazing, which maximizes the use of natural light.

Dedicated tenant exhaust riser and chilled beam air-conditioning system (HVAC refrigerants with zero ozone depletion potential) ensure abundance of fresh air inside the building and achieve a 150% improvement on New Zealand Building Code requirements for mechanical ventilation. In order to increase productivity and tranquility, the building has great sound insulation and 95% of building’s NLA ambient noise levels are in accordance with recommended design sound levels and reverberation times for building interiors.

In order to conserve water, the building is equipped with water-efficient appliances and fittings, and there are systems which enable the treatment and re-use of grey water for toilet flushing. All major water uses in the building are metered in order to find potential flaws and prevent unneeded waste of water. It also has a space allocated for rain water harvesting tanks.

The building has changing rooms and showers for cyclists and pedestrians, with secure cycle storage for 10% of building staff and visitor cycle parking. Since it is located at the center, the building also has a wide variety of public transport in its close proximity. It also has less than 50% of the maximum local planning allowances for car parking. There is a dedicated storage area for collection, storage, and separation of recyclable office waste.