Monday - January 3rd 2011

Mondey - Gary Caulfield – Stanley Group – Today we net with Gary Caulfield with Stanley Group and learned about Stanley Group who operates essentially, 4 distinct business lines. Stanley Joinery, Stanley construction, Equibuild and Stanley Modular. They are know as a “clever builder” that applies ‘out of the box’ thinking to solve their clients’ problems. Gary also was one of the founders of the New Zealand Green Building Council and spent considerably time evaluating other countries’ green building standards and policies and in 2005 helped to fashion the New Zealand Green Star system. The most memorable observation from this visit for me was that it is SO difficult to build in NZ that I think it may be crippling to their economy.

Iron Bank – In the afternoon we visited a new 6 star rated building on

K street

called Ironbank. This building was built complete spec and finished in 2009. The developer was a wealthy family trust in Auckland. They completed it at a cost of $38mm right as the economy slowed, so the building still does not have a ground floor ratail anchor tenant, and the top thee floors remain completely vacant. $15mm alone was spent on excavating and installing a 45 bay automated underground parking garage that uses machines to move vehicles from the rear entrance to parking bays under the building. It’s a very innovative design that allows a great deal more density on what would normally be a very constrained site with limited ability to park. I think from a sustainability perspective it accomplished several things, it prevented the removal of more existing buildings thus preserving resources, it reduced the building footprint and the amount of surface level concrete necessary for parking.