Entry received from: Queenstown Lakes District Council
Category: The GHD Award for Environmental Leadership
The first community hall in Aotearoa New Zealand attaining ultra-low energy Passive House standard and certification, Whare Mahana - the Luggate Memorial Centre, was built to replace the existing earthquake-prone Memorial Hall. Opened in December 2022, the new hall was envisioned as a healthy and comfortable focal point for the community heart for years to come, and a benchmark for other Council buildings both regionally and nationally.
Set on 9021m2 of grounds, the 420m2 building boasts a main hall with capacity of 200 and a boardroom for 30 people.
Despite the hot summers and cold winters of Otago, the passive building is at a constant temperature of 20-22 degrees year round. It includes high-performance windows and doors, excellent insulation, an airtight building envelope, no thermal bridges, mechanical ventilation, and design-stage energy modelling.
Dozens of community groups were engaged from the beginning of the process, covering:
- Education/Training
- Arts/Music/Theatre
- Health/Wellbeing
- Recreation and Sport
- Community Support/Advice/Advocacy
- Childcare/Playgroups
- Culture/Heritage
- Community/Business Association
- Environmental/Conservation
- Religion/Faith/Spiritual
- Civil Defence/Emergency Management.
QLDC's ultimate goal was to ensure a replacement building for the Luggate community that would give them a fit-for-purpose space to meet, learn, play, and socialise, enhancing the wellbeing of the community now and into the future.
Thank you to our category sponsor