AUT WO Building awarded 5 star NABERSNZ rating
A focussed programme of improvement driven by AUT’s Sustainability Roadmap.
WO Building on AUT’s city campus has recently been awarded 5 out of 6 stars for the NABERSNZ Energy rating putting it amongst some of the most energy efficient buildings in New Zealand.
The value of NABERSNZ
According to Warren Smith from the AUT Energy Conservation Team, they are aiming for 6 stars now and not just for WO Building.
"It’s not just about saving money, it’s also about reducing our carbon footprint and remaining committed to our sustainability goals and principles."
Sustainability communications makes up a significant proportion of the internal comms at AUT. Successes, new initiatives and updates to our goals and how we’re tracking against them are regularly added to our internal news platform. External wins, awards etc, like the NABERSNZ 5 star rating, are also added to the AUT website and our social media channels.
We’re also future-proofing our new buildings with sustainable design being a key driver during the early phases. Our newest building on the North Campus (due for completion in 2022) will be our most sustainable yet. With an all timber construction and minimal use of steel and concrete it will be close to ‘embedded carbon neutral’.
Key Stats
WO Building currently houses 570 AUT staff including the facilities management team, HR, ICT, student services, communications/marketing and finance teams.
- Rating type: Whole of building
- Building floor space: 8,988m2
- Total energy use: 857,822.06kWh/year
(3,088,159.4MJ/year) - Energy intensity: 95.4kWh/year/m2
(343.6MJ/year/ m2) - Total GHG emissions 169,840.2kgCO2-e
Key Sustainable Features
Since acquisition of the WO Building in 2015, AUT has steadily worked on improving the building to provide a healthier environment. Improvements to energy consumption include:
- Reducing solar heat and air conditioning load by applying Thinsulate film to the building’s north and east facing windows
- LED lighting
- Energy efficient chillers
- HVAC control systems
- BMS to ensure air conditioning supports the occupancy rate of the building and switches off when unoccupied