TwentyTwo has recently renewed its commitment as a member of the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC). And since World Green Building Week is all set for 21-27 September, we’re marking the occasion with a series of three blogs over three weeks to highlight NZGBC’s role in working to improve the quality and sustainability of NZ properties, as well as our involvement over the years.
Here in Part 1, we introduce NZGBC and outline TwentyTwo’s early connections with the Council through to our renewed commitment today.
Part 2 takes an historical approach focusing on NZGBC’s story and our experience of tenant/end user perspectives over the years.
The final Part 3 looks at the future of NZGBC and what it offers organisations. We’ll look at the roles of NABERSNZ – a scheme that measures and rates the energy performance of NZ’s office buildings – and the Performance Leasing Guide, recently launched to encourage tenants and landlords to join forces to create better performing and more energy efficient buildings.
The NZGBC was established in July 2005 and became a member of the World Green Building Council in 2006 – making it only the sixth GBC in the world at the time and signaling the beginning of the end for ‘greenwash’ in NZ.
A not-for-profit, industry organisation, NZGBC strives to create healthier, more resilient cities and communities by improving the quality and sustainability of NZ’s homes, schools and workplaces. It does this by:
- Promoting the benefits of sustainable buildings by creating a common language and demonstrating the value
- Assisting the property and construction sector to acquire the skills and knowledge to be able to deliver a sustainable built environment
- Motivating and rewarding the sustainable development and operation of buildings across New Zealand
At TwentyTwo, we’re proud to have played a small role in the evolution of green buildings and sustainability in NZ in a number of ways. First, former Director Peter Dow was instrumental in establishing the NZGBC and was also the Establishment Chair in 2005/2006. Our Wellington office was also home to NZGBC at the outset and, as a company, we helped with the establishment effort through gifting Peter’s time, as well as donating the support of a part-time administrator during the initial 12 months before Jane Henley, the inaugural CE, was appointed.
Since then, and as part of our roles on various projects, we have encouraged our clients to think about sustainability. The most notable project was Meridian Energy's new Wellington office at 33 Customhouse Quay completed in 2007. Around 2005, we were engaged to help Meridian consider its Wellington office requirements and, as part of the engagement process, we identified a link between Meridian's brand (about sustainable energy) and sustainable buildings.
We also identified that Wellington Waterfront was planning on building a new ‘sustainable’ building on the waterfront. This led Meridian to fully embracing the green building concept and committing to a new green building – the first 5-Star Green Star Office Building in NZ and a landmark that has become synonymous with sustainability.
In light of the now tangible efficiencies and performance improvements available to our clients through green building practices, TwentyTwo has renewed its commitment to NZGBC through our membership.
NZGBC will be celebrating World Green Building Week with events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Find out more about these events.