The area around the Hingaia Peninsula School used to be lush South Auckland pasture. Now it’s prime residential property, but that hasn’t stopped the school from becoming New Zealand’s first Green Star Built certified school.
Top of the class in building green    

Set on 4.4 hectares, this new school opened its doors in February 2012. With a start-up roll of 46 foundation pupils, the school has been designed in stages and will eventually cater to 520 students.  

It has been rated 5 Green Star Certified by the New Zealand Green Building Council (which is an achievement in itself), while the design and layout of the school are further proof of the forward-thinking approach that was adopted. Rather than traditional classrooms, Hingaia has what are called multifunctional studios, created to provide ‘collaborative, creative and agile learning spaces.’

Each studio is approximately 290m² with five ‘nooks’ surrounding a central teaching space. With three teachers to each studio, the spaces cater for a variety of different learning styles to suit the needs of each child.

Providing shelter for those moving between the various studios was an issue. The solution was in a timber construction low-slope roof that was crowned with COLORSTEEL® ENDURA®. The rooflines rise and fall along the perimeter of the building and allow natural light to spill into the studios and adjoining areas, while the high roof line also enhances the sense of space.

The Green Star ‘suite’ of grading tools was applied in three stages that paralleled the key phases of the building lifecycle – design, build and performance.

The purpose of the rating is to assess the environmental impact that is a direct consequence of a building’s site selection, design, construction, and maintenance. Points are credited within each of the categories based on the building’s environmental merits. Points are then weighted and an overall score is calculated, determining the project’s Green Star rating.

New Zealand Steel’s commitment to sustainability and its own Environmental Management System also helped the school to make the ‘green’ grade in its own certification process.

Material: Colorsteel Endura® in Ironsand
Profile: ST900
Supplier: Steel & Tube
Architect: Brewer Davidson Architecture
Roofer: Project Roofing Hamilton