Doc Whakatipu Area Office

A dated, poorly insulated 1990s building has been transformed into a fully sustainable, eco-friendly new area office for the Department of Conservation in Queenstown.

Not surprisingly, the department needed an office that would reflect its focus on the environment. Insitu Architecture (Janine as Design Manager and Project Manager, Hamish as Architect) was consequently commissioned to transform a tired, poorly insulated 1990s building into a world-class performance building for the department, one that would meet Green Star 5 and government sustainability requirements - the building needed to be fully sustainable, innovative and energy efficient.

Insitu Architecture's design innovations, which lead by Janine van Leeuwen’s design management skills, produced energy cost savings of more than 80% per year, included several NZ firsts.

The retrofit incorporated the first installation of a ground-source heating and cooling system in a commercial building in Australasia. This system utilises 150m-deep probes, with the heating and cooling delivered by underfloor pipes set within a low-weight floating floor layer another first for an Australasia building retrofit. Within a commercial building a warm roof was integrated to reduce dew point condensation within the roof space and provide a warm and comfortable building envelope.

Janine van Leeuwen also acted as the main contractor on this project and delivered the fitout and exterior works within time and budget constraints obtaining significantly discounted products for the client to allow supplier to market and showcase a sustainable building with low carbon footprint materials. Greenstar requirements were met by the design manager and the building is a highly innovative product for the DOC.