Beca’s work on the University of Auckland’s B201 building has been recognised at the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Awards in London.
The project won:
Project of the Year – Workplace – International
Building Performance Champion award (Supreme Award)
General Manager – Buildings NZ & ASEAN at Beca Brendon Dwyer says the CIBSE Awards recognise buildings that most effectively demonstrate high levels of user satisfaction and comfort while delivering outstanding measured building performance.
“A key part of our submission was data that documented B201 during its first year of operations. This showed the building already achieving 10% better performance than the 2050 UK Net Zero Carbon building standard – which will have resonated strongly with the CIBSE judging panel.
“Recognition as the ‘winner of winners’ at the world’s premier awards for building services engineers is a phenomenal result for one of the University of Auckland’s flagship projects, and proof that we are delivering world-class results for our clients,” Brendon says.
“Responding to the challenge and vision set by the University of Auckland, this is one of New Zealand’s most successful adaptive reuse projects, transforming a large 1970s building that was considered for demolition into a stunning space which has become an anchor for the University’s City Campus,” Brendon says.
“The transformation that has been achieved is clear from the performance data. After 12 months of operation, energy usage was 66 kWh/m2/year and operational carbon emissions at 8.5 kgCO2e/m2/year, within 5% of the design target – closing the gap between design and in-use performance – a major challenge across the building services industry.”
Key Building Services and Environmentally Sustainable Design interventions included:
- A high-performance lightweight façade which was airtightness tested - a new benchmark for a building of this scale in New Zealand
- Extensive energy modelling to right-size the high-performance Building Services design
- A world-first two-stage heat pump that decarbonised heating from three adjacent buildings without replacing their existing on-floor infrastructure
- A naturally ventilated 1,000+ capacity atrium, which has 130kW of solar generation located on the pleated timber roof
B201 also achieved a 6* Green Star rating – the highest scoring project submitted to NZ Green Building Council.
“The redevelopment has transformed an important part of the University’s City Campus, opening up new teaching spaces and cross-campus connections, with the mass timber atrium providing a new landmark, and the impact from a light-touch, high impact seismic upgrade,” says Simon Neale, Chief Property Officer at the University of Auckland.
“This project reflects the University’s vision and ambition to develop our campus in a thoughtful, and impactful way, serving our current and future generation of occupants in an efficient, effective and sustainable way” Simon says.
Beca provided specialists across Building Services, Environmentally Sustainable Design Services, Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Fire Engineering and Seismic Restraint to the project, working alongside project partners Jasmax, Hawkins, Precon and BBD.
“I want to acknowledge the team at the University of Auckland for having the vision and belief to pursue this ambitious retrofit, and setting the challenge to the design team. The easier option would certainly have been to take it down and build something new, but this project shows what is possible when a client is motivated to adapt and reuse. We’re proud to have played our part in bringing that vision to life, alongside our outstanding project partners,” Brendon says.