Growing demand for eco-buildings under spotlight at summit

The SAHMRI building in Adelaide was inspired by the outside of a pine cone. The building's facade responds to weather like a living organism. Photo / Supplied

The growing demand for eco-buildings in cities will be put under the spotlight at the end of this month.

The Green Property Summit, in Auckland on March 26, aims to educate the New Zealand property industry on all things to do with building sustainably.

This year marks the fifth birthday of the biannual event and is a collaboration between Property Council NZ and the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC).

The chief executive of Property Council NZ, Connal Townsend, said green values were increasingly embedded in the blueprint of how cities were being planned.

"Green building best practice is now well and truly embraced in the market and has a solidified sway," he said.

"To ensure a thriving market, we must understand what it means to build 'green' in practical terms on the ground. There has never been a better time to have a Green Building Summit as districts issue their planning rulebooks."

A focus of this year's event would be on how effectively New Zealand's green buildings were serving the people using them.

Chief executive of NZGBC Alex Cutler said the growing number of "green building stock" in New Zealand made it a good time to "examine how our buildings are working for owners, tenants and the market in general".

International and local speakers scheduled for the one day event include Jeffery Holmes, of design firm Woods Bagot New York, who willtalk about Adelaide's South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) building which opened in November last year.

Officially opened in November last year, the facade of SAHMRI was inspired by the skin of a pine cone and responds to its environment like a living organism. It features 15,000 individual pieces designed to respond to sunlight, heat, glare, and wind.

Other speakers include New York-based technology researcher Daniel Davis will speak on how technology is impacting on the building industry, and Nick Ebbs, of sustainable property investment company Igloo Regeneration, on how investment from the private sector is breathing new life into cities in the United Kingdom.

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