Janurary 5th, 2011

The day started off with a very pleasant ferry ride from Waiheke Island back over to Auckland. Once we arrived in Auckland we rented vans and headed off for the town of Rotorua. In Rotorua we ran in to the same holiday issues that we had run in to previous days but we were able to set up an appointment at the city’s aquatic center.

The aquatic center was not constructed as a full sustainable building but they did utilize the incredible amount of underground heat, provided by the areas large geo-thermal base, to heat the facilities water. The facilities employees had also taken steps to make the actions of the center more sustainable. The steps included the use of an on-site recycling program, the planting of an on-site vegetable garden and the tracking of water usage and turnover for the facility. The center representative that we met with told us that these things were all done at the urging of the employees themselves and that she felt the whole town of Rotorua was really getting on board with the “sustainable lifestyle”. This visit showed our group that with a little thought and effort that sustainability can be practiced even if your building wasn’t built as a sustainable structure. There are many actions that can be taken by building occupants to reduce waste and be more environmentally friendly.

Following our site visit we grabbed a quick lunch and then a group of us guys hopped on a sea plane for a scenic flight over the area. It was an incredible flight that gave us a look at the area’s largest volcano, exotic geo-thermal pools, multitude of incredible lakes and vast amount of beautiful farm and forest land. It was my favorite part of my trip thus far and probably one of my favorite vacation moments of all time.

It was another great day spent in New Zealand and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to come on this trip!

January 4th, 2011

Waiheke Island Day! This is one of the days on the trip that I was looking forward to most. We tried to catch the 8:00 am ferry to the island but because of the holiday schedule it didn’t leave until 9:00 am so we rode over to Devenport for breakfast. Following breakfast we hopped back on the ferry and cruised on to Waiheke Island. When we got to the island we rented scooters to cruise around the island. We had tried to set up site visits for our time on the island for the past few weeks but because of the holiday we were unable to get anything set up and had to settle for just scootering around the island.

After dropping our bags off at our hotel we set off to see the island. The areas of New Zealand that I had seen up to this point were amazing but this island was above and beyond anything I had seen. Everything was incredibly gorgeous and the scooters were a blast to ride around once we got comfortable with riding on the opposite side of the road.

While we weren’t able to visit any sustainable sites on our visit we did get some education on sustainability on the island from the owner of our hotel. He told us that virtually every building on the island was on a septic system and collected their rainwater. He also explained the rainwater system that was being used at the place we were staying and a number of other sustainable practices that they use including the home growth of some of their food and the use of all environmentally friendly cleaning products. It was a very informative discussion that gave our group a good first hand look at how some New Zealand natives are living sustainably and reducing their impact on their beautiful surrounding environment.

We were also able to discuss some sustainability issues during dinner. Loretta Burns posed the question of how to get the community involved in sustainable efforts and I think it is a question that everyone involved with sustainable work needs to consider. Loretta works with at-risk kids in an economically depressed part of Ft. Worth and was asking for advice on how to get people to start living sustainable when they are currently just trying to survive. There were quite a few opinions given on the topic but in the end I think we all agreed that there is no simple answer to this question and that low income areas are probably some of the hardest places to get people to live more sustainably. Each area and arena that you try to bring sustainable practices in to is going to be different and will have its own set of unique challenges. I think the big keys to getting a sustainable program started are the act of starting it and then educating the people involved. Regardless of how much activity you start with it can start to snowball if the people get involved and see that living sustainable doesn’t involve a huge amount of effort. This growth can be even greater if the people involved are educated on the effect of living sustainable and how they can do their part. That being said, I think that trying to incorporate sustainability is a mostly uphill battle that takes a lot of time and effort from the coordinator or leader to be successful, especially in the early stages.

All in all is was a fantastic day that was made even better by the first hand encounter with sustainable living in the very place that we were staying.

Janurary 3rd, 2011 - "First Day of Study Abroad Program"

We started our day with breakfast at the Sky City hotel. It was our first full group meeting and signaled the start of the study abroad. During the breakfast we discussed our trip schedule and received some additional reading assignments that were related to sustainable practices in this part of the world.

Following breakfast we met with Gary Caufield, who is the General Manager of The Stanley Group’s Auckland office. The Stanley Group is a construction company that has been around for 87 years and operates throughout the country. They have five different divisions of their company, including the Auckland Construction Group, Stanley Eco-Build, Stanley Construction group, Stanley Joinery and Stanley Modular. Gary was an extremely knowledgeable individual and serves on the New Zealand Green Building Council along with his position running Stanley’s Auckland office. During our time with Gary he spoke about multiple topics, including some details on Stanley’s operations, the formation and current state of New Zealand’s green building system and specifics of New Zealand’s green market.

Stanley’s current work load included a 14 story modular housing structure for the University of Auckland, which could be seen out of the meeting room window, and a large amount of “leaky building” rehab projects. The modular building process was very interesting to me but was somewhat foreign as well. It seems to be a good practice that I can see catching on in the states in the very near future. Gary told us that “leaky buildings” were a huge problem in the Auckland area for buildings built between 1985 and 2005. They were a result of exterior cladding being installed in a shotty fashion over untreated timber framing, which causes some serious mold and framing deterioration problems. The New Zealand government has paid serious money out on “leaky building” lawsuits and are currently rolling out a remediation package to address the problem. They are also rolling out a contractor licensing system to ensure that the nation’s builders are competent in proper construction practices.

The green building movement started in New Zealand during the early 2000’s and was pushed by a company known as Beacon Pathway. The New Zealand green building rating system is based on the Australian Green Star rating system and uses a 4, 5 or 6 star rating scale. Gary stated that the system is still a fairly new concept for the New Zealand markets and that there have only been 20 – 30 certified buildings constructed to date. He also said that most developers are developing green buildings because of the economic incentives and that green building is currently slowing down because of the economy. I asked if businesses were currently pursuing operations and maintenance certifications and Gary said that there was some tracking going on but that the rating system was not prepared to qualify currently operating buildings yet.

Following out meeting with Gary we visited the Parnell neighborhood for lunch and a look at the “Geyser Building” , which is a sustainable office tower that is currently under construction. Following lunch we walked over to a 6-star green mixec-use building known as “Ironbank.” The leasing office for the property was closed but a restaurant owner on the first floor gave us access to the building through his space. The building was valued at around $40 million nzd and has a very cool glass and metal look with retail on the first floor and office space on the upper floors. It included many sustainable features, including a car stacking system which the restaurant owner was nice enough to give us a demonstration of.

Overall it was a very informative and enjoyable day. Our visit with Gary Caufield provided us with a wealth of knowledge on how green building works in New Zealand. It also provided the construction professionals in our group with a very in depth look at the modular building system that is used regularly in New Zealand and Australia. The “Ironbank” visit was also very interesting but would have been much better if we were able to meet with a building executive.

Days 1 - 3 in New Zealand and the "SHAC" Sustainable Habitat Challenge

We have been in New Zealand for 3 days now and the trip has been amazing so far. The plane ride was very very long and I didn't get any sleep on it, as I had hoped, but I was able to get a nice nap during the afternoon and rally for a nice night out in the Viaduct Harbor section of Auckland on new years eve.

On the second day of the trip we headed about 2 hours north of Auckland to visit some of Dr. Forgey's former students that are teaching at the University of Auckland. We met them at their vacation home, which is located at the base of a volcano, and enjoyed a nice lunch with their family. Following lunch we headed a little further north and visited the "Bay of Whales" which was an incredibly pretty place.

Day three brought a early wake up call from Dr. Forgey but it was definitely worth getting out of bed. We started out the day with breakfast in Mission beach which included breezes from the ocean and a view of a huge volcano rising out of the water. Following breakfast we took the ferry over to the Davenport neighborhood and scaled "Mount Victoria". Following this, we came back over to central Auckland and visited Dominion Park, the University of Auckland and the Auckland Museum. It has been a great day and I am looking forward to the arrival of the remainder of our group in Auckland.

We will be starting the study abroad portion of our trip tomorrow and I am looking forward to meeting with some of the local real estate professionals to get their take of some of the real estate and sustainability issues that we have been seeing around town.



The "SHAC" challenge is a sustainable housing competition that brought teams from across New Zealand together to build sustainable houses in a variety of locations and fashions across the country. The teams included architecture, engineering real estate students and they were matched up with industry mentors to provide them with guidance during their projects. The teams were given less than two years to design, fund and create their project.

Various construction methods and sustainability strategies were used by the different teams. The main themes of the houses included a home that was built out of dirt / brush combined with cement, a relocatable home, a bolt on garden room that can be attached to a high-rise apartment, a new home using normal purchasable products that are fully sustainable, a sustainable batch or vacation home, a modular home that can be constructed as individual rooms that can be connected, a retrofitted New Zealand housing authority home, and a home constructed of re-claimed timber and natural products. One team also created a number of sustainable products that could be used in and around the home.

The competition was a great success and all of the parties involved stated that they were extremely happy with the results. The outcome provided a significant amount of new ideas for sustainable housing in New Zealand and it also provided some new energy efficient homes at discounted prices for some lucky families. It also created a buzz for sustainable / energy efficient housing all across New Zealand. The competition is going to continue in 2011 and is sure to bring even more innovation and momentum to the sustainable housing movement in New Zealand.

Sustainable Locations & Businesses

Here are (5) sustainable locations / businesses for us to consider visiting on our trip.

1) http://thetrustsstadium.co.nz/ - largest indoor sports stadium in New Zealand (about 15 miles outside Auckland) that was constructed with innovative and environmentally friendly design features.

2) http://www.verocentre.co.nz/ - tallest office building in Auckland....was designed and constructed as a sustainable building.

3) http://www.lite-house.co.nz/ - sustainable architecture firm that has a show home on Waiheke island that is open for view by appointment.

4) http://inhabitat.com/30-the-bond-sydneys-greenest-building/ - Sydney's Greenest Building

5) http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/development/urbanrenewalprojects/greensquare/ - Major urban renewal project in south Sydney