Buildings
and major projects - South Christchurch Library, Service Centre and Learning
Centre
Summary
The South Christchurch Library Service Centre and Learning Centre is the first public facility built by Christchurch City Council to incorporate sustainable design features at the brief stage. The project was completed in August 2003.
Key drivers
As outlined above, council passed a resolution in 1996 that an energy efficient and sustainability assessment must be carried out for all new projects.
Additionally, consultation of the communities of South Christchurch told the council that sustainable, environmentally friendly design was paramount to the people using the building.
Council was also keen to develop the building as an iconic environmental building in order to test what was possible in terms of future building. Council sees this type of innovation as part of their leadership role.
Project detail
A Natural Step training workshop was given to the South
Christchurch Library project group in the early stages of project development.
The project group
identified the opportunity to incorporate sustainability principles into
the briefing and tender stage for the building.
The tender for the design work requested that the design team demonstrate their understanding of sustainable design and the practical application of these philosophies.
The design team was chosen and through the early stages of building design council worked closely with the team to consider many ecologically sustainable design elements.
Outcomes of project
A summary of the sustainable features that have been incorporated includes:
- Building alignment on the site to make use of natural features such as deciduous trees for shade in summer.
- Rainwater is collected from the roof and directed into a moat water feature surrounding the building.
- Passive ventilation as opposed to mechanical air conditioning was made possible by using the moat to cool air entering the building through low-level windows, and a computer controlled temperature management system that can open and close windows as necessary.
- Energy from the Christchurch water supplies efficient power for heat pumps that supply heating and cooling.
- Enhanced use of natural light & energy saving fittings such as double glazing and woolen insulation in the walls and ceilings.
- Stormwater management systems such as landscaped drainage swales and rain-gardens to collect, purify and filter rainwater run off from the carparks and roads.
- Water usage is expected to be reduced through the use of rainwater for toilet flushing, waterless urinals, dual flush toilets, timer controlled taps and low flow shower heads.
- Environmentally preferable acrylic paint was used, and only where paint was required.
- Sustainably sourced timber with minimal timber treatment.
- Low formaldehyde woodboard products.
- CFC free materials.
- Recyclable carpet.
- Recycled component in cement.
The existing building was carefully demolished to enable materials such as rimu sarking, windows and doors to be salvaged and rubble to be removed for reuse as hardfill. Construction waste was managed through a site-specific management plan developed in consultation with Council's Target Zero team.
Council is expected to save $16,000 per year in energy costs due to the energy efficiency measures implemented. The building itself, in less that a year of operation, has been awarded five architectural awards. Council believes that the success of the South Christchurch Library sets a benchmark for future council buildings enabling leverage to achieve similar outcomes with future buildings.
Key challenges
Council found that once the project was properly scoped and sustainable measures incorporated, the initial capital cost of project had increased. Despite the additional cost being largely due to the incorporation of measures that would result in significant long-term operational savings, it needed to be adequately justified to convince council of the extra expenditure.
