The construction industry is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions, with buildings and their construction accounting for as much as 20% of New Zealand's emissions. Operational carbon emissions from buildings have been a focus, but we must also address embodied carbon emissions from construction materials and processes, often overlooked but equally impactful.

1. Government Requirements and
Green Star for Buildings
Richard Forbes
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2. Central Gov.
Sustainable
Building
Drivers
Climate Change
Response (Zero
Carbon Act)
Carbon Neutral
Government
Programme
MBIE Building
For Climate
Change (BfCC)
Government
Procurement
Rules and
Guidelines
Emissions
Reduction/
National
Adaptation
Plans
Government policies and direction relating to Carbon Emissions
• Develop targets and commit to national
emissions budgets
• Develop and implement policies for
climate change adaptation and
mitigation
• Energy targets
• Water targets
• Embodied carbon targets and
reporting
• Climate adaptation
• Occupant health and
wellbeing
• Aims to reduce building-
related emissions to
near zero by 2050.
• Reduce embodied and
operational carbon
• Rules to support sustainable and
inclusive procurement through the
promotion of good practice
planning, supplier procurement and
contracting.
• Green Star 5 star (Gov. owned)
• NABERSNZ certification
• Carbon emissions – targets, measuring
and reporting. Offsets to achieve
neutrality by 2025
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11seca

3. 2023 /
2024
• CNGP – all new govt buildings
• Green Star Buildings- Upfront carbon
- 10% reduction 4&5 star,
- 15% 6 star
• XRB Reporting mandatory
2025 -
2029
2025
• BfCC carbon reporting required
• Energy performance ratings
• CNGP carbon neutral
2026 – 2029
• BfCC carbon caps introduced
• Green Star – carbon targets lowered
2030
• BfCC final carbon caps for
operational and embodied
emissions
2050
• All new buildings are net zero
carbon
Governing Carbon Landscape in NZ
Imminent
Impending In view
In view
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11seca

4. Sustainability Tools: New Zealand context
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11seca

5. Oct 2022
v1.0 retired
April 2022
v1.1 launch
GS Buildings
consultation
GS Buildings
final review
GS Buildings
launch v1.1 retired
Green Star Landscape
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•greenstar
GREEN STAR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CATEGORIES
Management Indoor
Environment
Quality
Energy Transport Water Materials land use
and ecology
Emissions Innovation
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Responsible
Recognises activities that ensure the building is
designed, procured, built and handed over in a
responsible manner.
Healthy
Promotes actions and solutions that improve the
physical and mental health of occupants.
Resilient
Encourages solutions that address the capacity
of the building to bounce back from short-term
shocks and long-term stresses
Positive
Encourages a positive contribution to key
environmental issues of carbon, water and the
impact of materials.
Places
Supports the creation of safe, enjoyable,
integrated and comfortable places.
People
Encourages solutions that address the social
health of the community.
Nature
Encourages active connections between people
and nature and rewards creating biodiverse
green spaces in cities.
Leadership
Recognises projects that set a strategic direction,
build a vision for industry or enhance the
industry's capacity to innovate.
11seca

6. Current Gov. policy directly impacting office tenancies since 2021;
• NABERSNZ 5 Star Base Building (New build)
• NABERSNZ 4 Star Base Building (Existing build)
NABERSNZ – energy efficiency rating of office buildings
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,------
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1 STAR 2 STARS 3 STARS 4 STARS 5 STARS 6 STARS
Poor Below Average Average , Good Excellent Mark t Leading
______ .; , ______.;
11seca

7. Process
Understand what’s important to clients
and to us
Choose the correct framework that
addresses your values and needs
Report on performance of sustainability
measures implemented
Technical
Engage with relevant stakeholders to
consider their specific needs
Deliver a sustainable building that
measures against success criteria
Energy / Carbon / Water
(passive design, energy metering and
monitoring, embodied carbon, low GWP,
potable water, rainwater harvesting,)
Resilience
(highlight risks from model climate scenarios,
transport, materials)
Occupant Comfort
(Air Quality, lighting, noise, thermal)
Green Star 6 *: 90 Devonport Road
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11seca

8. Implementing Carbon Reduction Initiatives
Through Design
Kishan Seger
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9. What is carbon in buildings?
Refrigerant
leakages
“Life cycle carbon” is the carbon
emissions from all stages of the
building life.
These stages are split into
building life cycle “modules”
(official term defined in EN 15978
and EN 15804).
Assessment scope / boundaries
can vary and make a significant
difference to the results - %
improvements, levers for
change.
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C3 Waste
processing for
reuse, recovery,
or recycling
C2 Transport to
disposal faclllty
B5 Refurbishment
B4 Replacement
-
Reuse
Recovery
Recycling
Potential
Al Raw material
extraction and A2 Transport to
manufacturing
plant
supply
Building Life Cycle,
Cradle to Cradle,
including benefits and
loads beyond the
system boundary
A3 Manufacturing
and fabrication
A4 Transport to
project site
AS Construction
and installation
process
11seca

10. What is carbon in buildings?
(Source: MBIE, 2021)
The approximate proportion of those emissions over
time is shown in the graph below, split between
“Operational” and “Embodied” carbon.
Life Cycle Carbon
Operational Embodied
“Embodied” carbon emissions are from
the production, maintenance,
replacement and disposal of materials
and products.
“Operational” carbon emissions are
those emissions from using the building,
e.g. heating, lighting, cooling.
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Largely from foundations,
structure and envelope {FSE)
10 20
Replacement
& Maintenance
Operational
30
Use stage {years)
Building life cycle
40
■ ■
• Operational carbon
• Embodied carbon
so 60
►
11seca

11. Embodied Emissions (Office)
Structures
Cladding
Architectural fit-out
Services
Operational Emissions (Office)
Lighting Heating
Cooling Ventilation
Plug ins Water heating
Other
Where is carbon in buildings?
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■
■ ■
■
■
■
■ ■ ■
■
11seca

12. Carbon reduction through design
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Any use or reliance by any person contrary to the above, to which Beca has not
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PRE- CONCEPT
Build Less
10,ooom•
- Reduced oor areas
- Reduced facade
- Simplified layouts
- T imber enabled
- Establish Carbon Brief
- Set embodied and
operationa carbon
argets
- Establish carbon
chalenge
- Run carbon innova,ion
workshops
- Energy Analysis
- Carbon Analysis
- Carbon Brier
- Carbon -arg ets
Comparative LCA for
options
- Carbon performance
- CarboNZero Rating Gap
Assessment
CONCEPT
Build Clever
1100 kgC02fm•
T imber structure
Passive design
High performance facade
Establish carbo'J opps
register
Prioritise carbon focus
areas and trade-offs
across whole or life
T imber structure options
assessment
Faca e ana lysis
Concept level LCA
Low carbon .systems brief
and opps assessment
arrative on "lowest
carbon" option and
decision making process
for CE approval
PRELIM/DEVELOPED
Bu ild Efficiently
e
800 'kgC02/m'
l
DETAILED/
CONSTRUCTION
Waste Less
l
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OPERATION
Use Well
l
0
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Low energ,y HVAC
systems
Heat pump heating - Prefabr cation
Elec r1c steam generation - Modular design
Onsite Renewables - Waste recycling
Assess rurther
opportumties
- HVAC system
assessment
- Refrigerants
Energy analysis
- Renewables studies
- Prelim and Developed
Design LCA report
On.site renewables
assessments
- Offset pathways
- Procurement/ Supply
Cham assessments
- Construction
methodology
- Building Consent LCA
- As built LCA
- Waste reporting
- Design Lessons Learnt
- Construction Lessons
Learnt
- Building opt1m1sat1on and
tuning,
- Behavioural carbon (EV
charg ng, bike storage,
WFH)
- Esta lish buildmg
analytics platform
- Quarterly reviews ol
performance and tuning
outcomes
- Annual s mmaries
of performance and
opportunities for
improvements
- Bui lding performance
dashboaro
- Tuning report
- Occupant satisfaction
su rvey
- Asset sHategy
DEMOLITION/REBIRTH
Use Again
l
:350 kgC0 2/m'
- Flexibility
- Durability
- Demountabil ty
- Adaptive Re-Use
- Building lifo expectancy
assessmen·
- De-constructability
assessment
- Prod uct circularity
assessment
Se1sm1c Assessment
- Low Damage Design
- Re-Use strategy
11seca

13. Sustainable Design Principles
Design for
Value for
Money
Design for
safety and
security
Design for
local history
Design for
Future
Expansion
Design for
local supply
chain
Design for
accessibility
Design for
clean water
Design for
water
reduction
Design for
Modular
Design for
Prefab
Design for
Timber
Structure
Designing for
Green Spaces
Design for
Resource
Efficiency
Design for
Environmental
Systems
Design for
People
Design for
health and
safety
Design for
reconciliation
Design for
circularity
Design for
natural
systems
Design for
future digital
IoT
Design for low
carbon
Design for
user
experience
Design for
self-service
Design for iwi
integration
Design for
education
Design for
user
satisfaction
Design for
community
Design for
wellbeing
Design for
public
transport
Design for
access
Design for
solar
Design for
community
engagement
Sustainable
Design
Principles
Design for
Low Carbon
Design for
People
Design for
Kaitiakitanga
Design for
Simplicity
Design for
Cost
Effectiveness
Carbon reduction through design
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11seca

14. Carbon reduction through design
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Lowest
Carbon
Option
Exceeds Budget &
Programme
Lowest Carbon
Carbon
Middle
Ground
Considered
Carbon
Meets Programme
lilBeca

15. • Electrify fleets by allowing for new electrical charging points
• Permeable footpaths and reuse of recycled aggregate for basecourse
• Reduce heating and cooling demand by adopting a fabric first approach (maximise
performance of materials used in building fabric)
• VRF mechanical ventilation and low carbon refrigerants
• Solar shading devices to reduce glare and solar gains
• Naturally ventilate spaces where available
• Rainwater harvesting where practical/feasible
• Low embodied carbon materials.
• Use of Engineered Timber
• Use of Low Strength (25 MPa) Concrete for the Foundations
• Setting and Embodied Carbon Limit for the Supply of Concrete
Project Carbon Reduction Initiatives
Example reduction initiatives
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11seca

16. Carbon Emissions - Concrete
Concrete composition
Water
Cement
Sand
Aggregate
Cement
Aggregate
Steel
Steel
Concrete emissions
- Reduce
strength
- SCM
replacement
- Produce with
fewer
emissions
- Specify low-
GWP
- Use post-
tensioned slab
- Use fibre
reinforcement
- D&B slab
designers
- Specify low-
GWP
Max = 374
Min = 221
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11seca

17. Carbon Emissions – Floor Finishes
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Carpet - NZ Vinyl Linoleum Sealed concrete
Kg
CO2e
/
m2
A1-A3 per m2
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-
■
11seca

18. Carbon Emissions – Envelope
0
50
100
150
200
250
Steel LR on steel
framing
(uninsulated,
unlined)
Steel LR on
timber framed
(insulated and
lined)
Precast wall 150
thk
Steel facing on
CLT
Aluminium framed
curtain wall
Timber cladding
on timber framing
(insulated/lined)
Kg
CO2e
/
m2
A1-A3 per m2
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19. Case Studies – Office Buildings
39% Compared to
reference
352 kg CO2e / m2
(A1-A5)
Building A – Building Re-Use
49% Compared to
reference
345 kg CO2e / m2
(A1-A5)
Building B – Mass Timber
0% Compared to
reference
921 kg CO2e / m2
(A1-A5)
Building C – New Build
Carbon
breakdown kg
CO2e / m2 (A1-
A5)
Carbon
breakdown kg
CO2e / m2 (A1-
C4)
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given its prior written consent, is at that person's own risk.
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