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Victoria University to construct one of the world's most sustainable buildings

14:26, Dec 12 2021
The university is aiming for the Living Pā, to be based on Kelburn Parade, to be one of the most environmentally sustainable in the world.
Te Herenga Waka Victoria University/Supplied
The university is aiming for the Living Pā, to be based on Kelburn Parade, to be one of the most environmentally sustainable in the world.

Victoria University of Wellington is aiming to create one of the world’s most environmentally sustainable buildings.

Once complete, students will be able to wander around the leafy, wooden, three-storey Living Pā complex and watch monitors showing its energy and water consumption – a building “living” in real time.

Panels of glass will connect it to the university’s wharenui, Te Tumu Herenga Waka​, which has stood on Kelburn Parade for the past 35 years.

This week, the university committed $45 million to the building, but a lot of work lies ahead for the ambitious project.

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The Living Pā will be made mostly of timber, which will store and capture carbon. As a living building, it must be carbon neutral.
Te Herenga Waka Victoria University/Supplied
The Living Pā will be made mostly of timber, which will store and capture carbon. As a living building, it must be carbon neutral.

As part of the Living Building Challenge, it will be judged against the highest sustainability rating in the world.

That means it must generate all its own energy, use its own water systems, be entirely carbon-neutral and use non-toxic materials.

It also must prove, a year after completion, that it’s as sustainable as it claims – and will be checked by an auditor to officially certify it.

Deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) Rawinia Higgins was inspired by the first living building in the Bay of Plenty, Tūhoe’s headquarters Te Kura Whare, which “lifted up the community”.
Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff
Deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) Rawinia Higgins was inspired by the first living building in the Bay of Plenty, Tūhoe’s headquarters Te Kura Whare, which “lifted up the community”.

Only 30 other buildings in the world meet the grade, including Tūhoe’s Te Kura Whare, in Tāneatua, Bay of Plenty.

A hub for students will be based on the ground floor, the second floor will have seminar and lecture rooms, and the top floor will situate the Māori studies and sustainability offices. Part of the aim is to centre the marae at the heart of the university.

Architect Ewan Brown, from Tennent Brown architects, says: “This building will become the educator in itself, it will teach the students, the staff, but it’s also going to broadcast to the city: you can do this.”
Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff
Architect Ewan Brown, from Tennent Brown architects, says: “This building will become the educator in itself, it will teach the students, the staff, but it’s also going to broadcast to the city: you can do this.”

Deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) professor Rawinia Higgins​ (Tūhoe) has spearheaded the project.

She was inspired by New Zealand’s first living building, Te Kura Whare​, which stands in her tribal homeland.

“I saw how it lifted up the community, not just my own people, but the broader community, it became a destination: people would come, and they'd want to learn.”

An ‘aspirational’, ‘difficult’ challenge

Architect Ewan Brown said designing the Living Pā was both “invigorating” and “very, very difficult”.

“The concept is that a building should be like a flower: a flower is rooted in its place, it collects the sun for energy, collects all the water it needs, deals with waste on its own site, it’s completely independent, and non-toxic.”

Living Pā project manager Lincoln North, left, deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) Rawinia Higgins, and architect Ewan Brown.
Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff
Living Pā project manager Lincoln North, left, deputy vice-chancellor (Māori) Rawinia Higgins, and architect Ewan Brown.

The sustainability standards are measured in seven “petals”: energy, water, materials (the difficult three, Brown said), place, equity, beauty, and health and happiness.

The location of the Living Pā in a hilly, congested, urban area, made the challenge even greater.

“A normal building, they just plug into the grid, use the power they need, or they plug into the water feed, and they use the water from the city infrastructure.”

Te Kura Whare, the Ngāi Tūhoe headquarters in Tāneatua, Bay of Plenty, is the only Living Building in New Zealand
supplied
Te Kura Whare, the Ngāi Tūhoe headquarters in Tāneatua, Bay of Plenty, is the only Living Building in New Zealand

The roof will be covered in photovoltaic solar panels, to harness the sun.

The roof will also collect water, and a complex system including tanks in the basement, vacuum-powered toilets, planters to evaporate excess water, and a membrane bioreactor, will deliver the water system.

Brown is particularly passionate about ensuring the building is carbon neutral.

Buildings make up about 39 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, he said, 28 per cent through construction and buildings’ life cycles, and 11 per cent through water and power use once it is complete.

Most of it will be constructed from timber, using little concrete and steel. That means it will capture and store carbon, reducing its carbon count by 110 per cent.

The university will then need to buy carbon credits to offset the rest of the carbon emissionsonce built.

None of the materials used can be toxic, and 90 per cent of building waste on site must be salvaged and recycled.

LT McGuinness is doing the construction and building is expected to begin in April 2022.

Brown believes the project will prove it is possible to build to the highest environmental standards.

“This building will become the educator in itself – it will teach the students, the staff, but it’s also going to broadcast to the city, you can do this.”