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BritomartSustainability Report 2019

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Britomart’s parent, Cooper and Company, is serious about sustainability as a business principle. In fact, it is one of our key objectives as an organisation.

We have a sustainability framework that guides all our endeavours, and we find adhering to it forces outcomes that have a greater benefit than just a short-term monetary result.

We are focusing on initiatives that deliver real and meaningful environmental, social and economic results across our businesses and for our assets, and we are measuring our progress in order to hold ourselves to the high standards which we have set.

In 2018, we became the first property company in New Zealand to commit to the newly introduced Green Star Performance tool. This is an innovative system for measuring and managing buildings to make them operate as efficiently as possible. Our objective is to continuously improve upon the buildings’ performance, reduce consumption of electricity, gas and water, and, where suitable, embrace new technologies that can improve tenancy comfort and wellbeing.

The Hotel Britomart, which is currently under construction, is aiming to become New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star-rated hotel. Environmental responsibility is becoming more important to international travellers when searching for accommodation, and we look forward to taking a leading role in this area.

A survey of our Britomart tenants showed promising results, with 81 percent of respondents using public transport for at least some part of their journeys to work.

Social sustainability is also one of our key goals, supported by an arts, culture and urban design programme with a strong focus on inclusion, diversity, and making the widest possible range of people feel welcome in and stimulated by our downtown waterfront neighbourhood.

There is always room for improvement, of course. That’s why we’ve set ourselves rigorous targets to ensure we are delivering better sustainability results each year. We look forward to reporting on how we are meeting these.

Ngā mihi,

MATTHEW COCKRAM

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

COOPER AND COMPANY

Letter from the CEO

Our sustainability vision for Britomart

Britomart is an authentic and living expression of our values of long-term ownership, stewardship, community

building and economic prosperity.

We carefully build places, allowing them to find their own cadence of development, working with what is

there, nurturing and evolving, not forcing.

We believe a focus on good environmental, social and economic outcomes are each self-validating and build

and support each other.

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Our targets for 2019The eight goals we’ve set ourselves and how we’re achieving them

STATUS: Achieved

The Sustainability team has been formed and meets monthly to ensure the company is tracking favourably according to the targets established in the categories that follow.

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STATUS: Achieved

The Green Star Performance (GSP) Tool is managed by the New Zealand Green Building Council and was brought into New Zealand from Australia in November 2017. Britomart Group is New Zealand’s first property company to adopt the Tool as part of a three-year commitment. The first performance year ended in March 2019.

The Green Star Performance Tool has been combined with our normal sustainability practices across the group. The GSP Tool has nine key components. In the absence of New Zealand benchmarks, the tool currently measures results against Australian benchmarks. The process requires the appointment of a third party assessor at the end of each performance year who is required to review our documentation and is able to assess Britomart’s performance during this period.

Once the third party assessor has completed the assessment, this is forwarded to the New Zealand Green Building Council for ratification. The points allocated in the chart at right are used to create a star rating between zero and six stars.

To form and establish our Sustainability team

GREEN STAR PERFORMANCE (GSP) TOOL

CREDIT NAME CRITERIAMAXIMUM POINTS AVAILABLE

Management Measurement of formalised management style, protocol and systems

17 points

Indoor Environment Quality

Measurements and effects on building occupants and their wellbeing

18 points

Energy Measurement of energy / gas consumption, covered by obtaining a NABERSNZ rating

24 points

Transport Modes of transport including a customer survey

7 points

Water Measurement of water consumption

12 points

Materials Procurement and purchasing framework

10 points

Land use & Ecology Operational biodiversity and landscapes

6 points

Emissions Pollutants and control 6 points

Innovation Recognise pioneering initiatives in sustainable design, process and advocacy

10 points

Adopt the Green Star Performance Tool02

THE SUSTAINABILITY TEAM:

Mark Sinclair Technical and Sustainability Director

Tim Ellis Operations Director

Jason Hood Operations Manager

Kelly Parlane Information and Communications Technology Manager

Jeremy Hansen Marketing Manager

Michelle Walls Financial Controller

Vincent Tai Accountant

Sarah Hull Senior Executive, Cooper and Company

Debbie Jones Office Manager and EA to the Chief Executive

STATUS: In progress

The creation of a central dashboard tracking Electricity, Waste, Water and Gas use, as well as tenancy requests made to the Facilities Management Team, has been an enormous undertaking. The system collects multiple data sources from various building systems and translates the data into a straightforward format on a single digital platform. New clarity in utilities consumption has been achieved by using the new dashboard and by fine-tuning, calibrating and tweaking the buildings’ equipment to gain greater efficiency and plant optimisation.

This has resulted in some utilities savings and fewer tenancy complaints, particularly around thermal comfort.

We are also participating in the NABERSNZ star rating system, which measures the energy and gas performance of buildings over 2000 square metres over a 12-month period and compares the performance of the building with similar buildings or premises in New Zealand. NABERSNZ ratings are used as part of the energy assessments on Green Star Performance. An accredited assessor is required to be appointed to complete the NABERSNZ assessment and submit to NZ Green Building Council for ratification. The NZ Green Building Council issues the NABERSNZ certification under licence from Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority.

NABERSNZ STAR RATINGS

0 Star Very poor performance

1 star Poor performance

1.5 star Poor performance

2 star Below average performance

2.5 star Below average performance

3 star Good performance

3.5 star Good performance

4 star Excellent performance

4.5 star Excellence performance

5 star Market leading performance

5.5 star Market leading performance

6 star Aspirational performance

BRITOMART NABERSNZ BUILDING RATINGS – 2017/2018

Britomart Excelsior Stanbeth Company 5.5 star

Britomart East Company 4.5 star

Britomart Australis Nathan Company 4.5 star

Britomart Charter Customs Company 3 star

Britomart Altrans Quay Company 4.5 star

03 Carry out and complete the audit and baseline creation against the Green Star Performance Tool

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STATUS: Achieved

The baseline has been created, and progress reports are now discussed at monthly meetings. Progress is measured against goals in the Green Star Performance Plan. All staff have access to the Sustainability Monitoring Dashboards, to track the performance of buildings in Britomart.

Scope project for database, dashboards, business intelligence, and reporting. Implement and roll out for first evaluation at the end of FY 2019.

The first Green Star Performance assessment takes place at the end of March 2019, which marks the end of Britomart’s first performance year. This assessment is conducted by an independent professional, and then ratified by the Green Building Council. We expect to receive the Green Building Council’s assessment in mid-2019.

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Q&A

How high-performing buildings work better for everyoneBritomart’s sustainability director Mark Sinclair on how to make everyone like work more

Mark Sinclair has worked at Britomart since “pigeons were the main tenants”, as he puts it. An award-winning facilities management expert with qualifications in electrical and air-conditioning engineering, Mark and his team understand how to keep Britomart’s 20 buildings that house over 5000 workers operating well, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

But there’s a lot more to running buildings sustainably than keeping the lights on, the lifts working and the air temperature comfortable. Here, Mark talks about why Britomart recently become the first property company to adopt the New Zealand Green Building Council Green Star Performance Tool – an independent rating system that helps building operators measure and monitor the efficiency and impacts of their buildings, and take practical action to improve them – and how it will help make Britomart a better place to work, shop and eat.

Britomart: You’re the director of Technical and Sustainability for Britomart. What does that involve?Mark Sinclair: As Matthew Cockram, our CEO says, there are three elements to sustainability. There’s environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability, and those have always been part of the Britomart ethos. We’ve constructed several buildings in the precinct to a 4 or 5 Green Star rating [from the New Zealand Green Building Council] – so, putting in double-glazing, insulation, end-of-trip facilities, using sustainable materials and so on.

However, does that actually translate to better, more efficiently operated buildings? That’s where the economic side of sustainability comes in. You spend all this time and money to develop a building, so you want to be sure it’s going to be easy to run, efficient, doesn’t break down, good for the environment and healthy for the people who work in it. So that’s what I spend a lot

of my time doing – fine-tuning to manage the energy, water, waste, gas and so on, on an ongoing basis.

Why did Britomart adopt the new Green Building Council Green Star Performance tool – and what does it mean for the precinct?The Green Star Performance Tool is a way to formalise our sustainability thinking and how we do things. In November 2017, we decided to commit to it for three years. From April 2018 to March 2019 will be the first year of our assessment. What will come out of it is a star rating.

The Green Star Performance requirements actually align quite well with what we were already doing, so we haven’t needed to change our practices too much. But the great thing about the Green Star Performance Tool is that it forced us to bring all our data into one place. We’ve created a dashboard that allows us to see our building data in live time, so we can manage it better. Since we’ve started implementing changes, we’ve made some headway in waste management, which is great. We’ve saved a lot of energy in the East Building by tweaking temperatures at different times of day.

How does fine-tuning buildings result in better outcomes for the people inside them?Wellness and wellbeing is something that’s really coming to the fore. People spend a lot of time at work and if the lights too bright or the air-conditioning is not right, it impacts on their performance. There’s been a lot of studies that show that if you get those things right, you get less absenteeism, better performance and people are generally happier. As property owners and managers, if we build that through, it’s really important. That’s an ongoing journey.

STATUS: In progress

We have commenced construction of The Hotel Britomart, which is targeting a 5 Green Star build certification, and a 5 Green Star performance rating once it is operational. We are also applying a sustainability ethos on everything about The Hotel Britomart’s operations. For more on The Hotel Britomart, see later in this report.

STATUS: In progress

Our Green Star Build ratings are considered complete once achieved. From there, the focus moves onto the Green Star Performance Tool, which now covers the entire precinct. Our central dashboard tracks utilities use in these buildings and allows us to assess the progress we are making. The first year of our Green Star Performance assessment ends in March 2019. Official Green Star Performance ratings will be released by the Green Building Council in mid-2019.

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Review and evaluate existing Green Star-rated buildings (Westpac Charter and East). What have we got, what does it mean, and are the ratings alive and active?

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Sustainable Development. All new development will seek the appropriate Green Star ratings for design and ‘as built’, with a minimum 5 Star rating a standing objective.

STATUS: In progress

The social elements of our sustainability story are detailed separately later in this report. In economic terms, we have kept detailed analysis of our spend on utilities and the impact that adopting the Green Star Performance Tool has had. We also conducted a survey of our tenants and have detailed these findings later in this report.

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Write up the Social and Economic elements of our sustainability story and establish baselines through discussion and surveys.

STATUS: In progress

We have deepened our collaboration with two of our biggest tenants, Westpac and EY, because of our mutual interest in sustainability initiatives.

We hold regular meetings with members of Westpac’s sustainability team. In 2018, we held an event entitled Community Breakfast in collaboration with them, in which food purveyors, most of them Māori and Pacific businesses with a strong focus on social enterprise, were invited to sell food in a market-style setup in the Atrium on Takutai. You can see more about this later in this report.

08Tenant and user engagement: Build partnerships with tenants active in this area and show the way for those who are not.

We are also collaborating with Westpac and Britomart cafes on the development of a precinct-wide reusable coffee cup scheme.

In 2019 we are working with EY on a display of art by Manurewa High School students, with whom EY have been working for some years. The idea is that the artwork of these students will be displayed and auctioned in Britomart as part of our engagement with the Auckland Art Fair.

We work with the Auckland Food Truck Collective on regular events such as Food Truck Fridays in Takutai Square. These events bring our tenants and visitors together in

Takutai Square to eat together and listen to music, promoting a sense of community. They are also conscious of waste, with each vendor using compostable packaging.

Les Mills and Lululemon have both used Takutai Square for free yoga and exercise classes promoting health and wellness, while the Bikes and Bends team host free meditation sessions in Takutai Square on Tuesdays and Thursdays, promoting a sense of community and sensible work-life balance.

We have also surveyed our tenants’ attitudes towards sustainability, and present these findings in more detail later in this report.

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Britomart Green Star ratingsAt a glance: Green Star and NABERSNZ ratings for all our refurbished buildings

BUILDING NAME Address SQM (approx)

Green Star Design/Built Rating

NABERSNZ Rating Green Star Performance Rating

Britomart Maritime Company

130 Quay Street 835 No rating n/a as under 2000 sqm

Pending

Britomart Charter Customs Company

53 Galway Street 15215 Pending

Britomart Australis Nathan Company

37 Galway Street 5605 No rating Pending

Britomart Bucklands Masonic Company

32-34 Customs St East

1975 Under construction

n/a as under 2000 sqm

Not yet fully refurbished

Britomart Levy Company

20 Customs Street East

654 No rating n/a as under 2000 sqm

Pending

Britomart Excelsior Stanbeth Company

22-26 Customs Street East

3242 No rating Pending

Britomart Altrans Quay Company

104-108 Quay Street 3270 No rating Pending

Britomart Union Fish Company

116-118 Quay Street 880 No rating n/a as under 2000 sqm

Pending

Britomart Northern Steamship Company

122-124 Quay Street 1344 No rating n/a as under 2000 sqm

Pending

The Hotel Britomart 31 Galway Street 4981 Under assessment Building complete mid-2020

Building complete mid-2020

Britomart East Company

59 Tyler Street 35093 Pending

INTERVIEW

How Green Star Buildings are making a differenceAn interview with Green Building Council CEO Andrew Eagles

Recent reports about climate change in the media haven’t made comforting reading. In fact, two recent major reports flat-out state that the world is already experiencing serious effects from climate change, and drastic change is needed if we’re to avoid even worse damage. And although individuals can make changes at a personal level to reduce emissions, corporate responsibility will play

a significant part in reducing New Zealand’s carbon impact.

“As we get closer to a Zero Carbon policy in New Zealand, all the ways we create carbon and waste carbon will need to be captured,” says Andrew Eagles, CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council. Construction and reconstruction of buildings is a big contributor

to carbon pollution, with a report out in May this year showing that buildings may create as much as 20 percent of New Zealand’s overall carbon emissions through their construction and ongoing use. As Andrew puts it: “It’s a really big deal.”

There are 19 buildings in the nine blocks that make up the Britomart precinct – nine have

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already been refurbished to efficient modern standards, five are new buildings and five are yet to be refurbished. Britomart is also building a sixth new building for The Hotel Britomart, due for completion in 2020. The operation of all these buildings is managed by the Britomart company.

With around 250 tenancies (from Adidias to Zambesi, and nearly every letter in between), there are more than 5000 people working in Britomart every day. That’s a lot of people coming and going, spending a good chunk of their days in the buildings, using power and water, creating waste and responding physically to the light, air and noise inside.

Happy, healthy people perform better at work, take fewer sick days and stay in their jobs longer. As a property management company, Britomart understandably wants people to enjoy working in the precinct (and visitors to the precinct to enjoy their visits too ), so the businesses want to stay in the

precinct long-term. Makes sense, right? Plus, well-constructed, sustainable buildings are obviously also far better for the environment. They create lower carbon emissions and less waste during their construction, and use less power and water, and output less waste on an ongoing basis. That’s why, since 2008, Britomart has been working with the New Zealand Green Building Council to make sure it is building and operating its buildings in the most progressive way possible. Don’t just take Britomart’s word for that – Andrew Eagles, CEO of the NZGBC says, “What Britomart is doing is great for the environment but it’s also really insightful to be doing something that’s better for the people who work there. We’ve seen some real leadership from Britomart in this area.”

The journey to make better buildings started with nine refurbishments. In many cases, knocking down an old building and putting up a brand new one – even where the original buildings are in the kind of pigeon poo-filled

state that most of Britomart’s buildings were when the company started work on them – is less environmentally friendly than restoring them to a high standard of efficiency.

Andrew Eagles again: “Right now, when buildings get knocked down, the huge majority of their materials go to landfill and most of their embodied carbon is wasted. And while it’s really important that we look after our existing buildings from a greenhouse emissions point of view, it’s also really important from a heritage perspective. In Green Star, we reward that. People find restored heritage buildings beautiful visually, and they give a place a sense of history.”

Britomart has had three of these refurbished buildings assessed through the NABERSNZ system (which stands for National Australian Built Environment Rating System, but the NZGBC has developed its own version), which measures the energy performance of buildings that have been operated for a year or

“When buildings get knocked down, the huge majority of their materials go to landfill ... It’s really important that we

look after our existing buildings.”

more. The Australis-Nathan Building received a 4.5 stars ‘Excellent’ rating, while the Excelsior Stanbeth Building received a 5.5 stars ‘Market-leading’ rating.

Britomart has also certified the new Charter (3 stars NABERSNZ rating) and East (4.5 stars NABERSNZ rating) buildings to an NZGBC 4 star and 5 star Green Star ratings respectively. Green Star ratings consider the overall environmental impact of new non-residential buildings, including embodied energy from construction, projected energy and water use, waste management systems, the ‘greenness’ of the materials used, public transport access and how it contributes to the local ecology.

When The Hotel Britomart building is completed, it is targeting a 5 star Green Star rating too, making it the first 5 Green Star-rated hotel in the country. “It’s really exciting that Britomart is applying to Green Star certify the hotel,” says Andrew Eagles. “There’s a boom in hotel-building in New Zealand and

in Auckland and Britomart is leading in Green Star assessment there.”

Most recently, Britomart became the first property company to adopt the NZGBC’s Green Star Performance tool, which helps property management companies measure a wide range of ongoing aspects of a building’s performance, including energy use, water, waste and indoor air quality. This is important, as while buildings are designed and built with performance goals in mind, there can be gaps between the expected performance standards and the real-life performance standards. You can only find and fix those gaps – and improve the performance of the building further – if you’re actively measuring its performance.

The company is ending its first year of Green Star Performance assessments, but won’t have an official report for another few months. In the interim, the measurement process has already highlighted areas where utility use has increased efficiency and waste can be reduced.

So that’s where Britomart is at. Each year, the company will issue a sustainability report to show how and where it is improving (and where it can make further gains). Transforming buildings so that they work for a Net Zero Carbon economy is a slow process – Andrew Eagles points out that for many buildings, it will take more than 20 years of incremental improvements – so the sooner everyone gets started, the better. And in the meantime, every improvement makes things better for the people who work in Britomart’s buildings, as well as the planet.

One last thought from Andrew Eagles. “When we talk about low-carbon, people tend to think of the cost. People think of the environment as something that’s ‘out there’. It’s trees, and polar bears and monkeys. And if they think about it that way, when it comes down to it, they won’t give a shit.

“They’re thinking that they’ve got a lot on their plate. They’ve gotta drop off the kids and earn an income and worry about a pension and sign a deal. The trees are on their own. But when we talk about how it affects people every day, they can understand it and get interested in it. We won’t get to zero carbon unless we tap into that. Britomart has been willing to step up, commit to things properly, be third-party verified, and that’s going to have benefits for the people who work down there, and for the environment.”

“It’s also really insightful to be doing something that’s better for the people

who work there.”

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Our buildings’ performance Our new measurement tools provide new clarity on utility use and waste creation

WATER USAGEOur utilities dashboard shows utilities consumption data on a single terminal, enabling us to access real-time reports. This is a snapshot of utilities use in the past year.

We are analysing the spike in water usage in East building. Several leaks occurred in the building which have now been rectified.

-41.3%

-13.8%

-5.9%

27.7%

-10.0% -14.2%

-23.3% 2.4%

10.3% -

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Maritime AustralisNathan Charter East ExcelsiorStanbeth AltransQuay NorthernSteam UnionFish Levy

kL

WaterUsage2017vs2018

2017 2018

GAS USAGEDivergent data requires greater analysis.

The large variations in the data above require close analysis which is now being conducted.

-47.5%

-11.9%

-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

Charter East

kWh

GasUsage2017vs2018

2017 2018

ELECTRICITY USAGESix of the nine buildings in our portfolio showed a decrease in electricity consumption. We are working with the tenants in all buildings to save more electricity.

Increased consumption in Australis Nathan may be a result of more after-hours trading at two tenancies. We are analysing this data more fully.In Union Fish, the increase in electricity consumption is the result of one of the tenancies being closed for a new fitout during 2017.

-0.6%

4.8%

-6.8%

-2.4%

7.5% -6.6% -21.5%

14.5% -7.7%

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

Maritime AustralisNathan Charter East ExcelsiorStanbeth AltransQuay NorthernSteam UnionFish Levy

kWh

ElectricityUsage2017vs2018

2017 2018

WASTE VOLUMEOur utilities dashboard shows waste output by volume and type in each of Britomart’s buildings. This graph shows a month-by-month snapshot of waste output across the entire precinct.

Volume by Month and Year and Waste Type

Electricity Usage 2017 vs 2018

Water Usage 2017 vs 2018

Gas Usage 2017 vs 2018

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The Hotel Britomart The 5 Green Star building is under way, with 5 Green Star performance targets in place for when it opens

“The Hotel Britomart will be right at the heart of Auckland’s public

transport network.”

Sustainable tourism is here to stay (if you’ll excuse the pun). In late 2017 the Tourism Industry Aotearoa launched the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment, which aims to see every tourism business in NZ committed to sustainability by 2025. And almost 90 percent of respondents to a recent global travel report by booking.com said they want to travel sustainably.

The Hotel Britomart will be well-placed to appeal to those travellers, with a goal of being New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star built hotel. In practical terms, that means it’ll be well-insulated, double-glazed, use LED lighting and low-flow water systems, efficient air control and heating, non-toxic and environmentally friendly construction and fit-out materials, and optimal site orientation. It will include natural landscaping and has been designed tby Cheshire Architects to fit visually with the heritage buildings that surround it.

Once the hotel is operating, it’ll be monitored through the Green Building Council’s Green Star Performance Tool, which will give it a star rating based on its ongoing management, energy, gas and water use, indoor environment quality, ecology management, pollution output (or lack thereof) and transport access, after the first year. This gives guests reassurance that the hotel they’re staying in not only launched with strong sustainable ideals, but remains true to them.

But sustainable travel is about more than the impact on the natural environment. In keeping with a three-pronged approach to sustainability, The Hotel Britomart has sustainability goals in the social and economic spheres too.

Being placed at the centre of Auckland’s public transport grid makes it extremely accessible, and we’re planning to add to this with public bike storage facilities. Instead of a hotel lobby that cuts off public access, The Hotel Britomart will feature public access laneways through retail and hospitality areas on the ground floor of the building.

Britomart runs a strong programme of social good and community events, which guests will be kept up-to-date with via an adapted version of our weekly Nine Blocks e-newsletter.

In the economic context, the hotel has been designed to work with the existing hospitality, retail, salon and health businesses at Britomart rather than containing its own in-house

facilities. This incentivises guests to get out of the door and visit local businesses, strengthening the economic value of those tenancies.

Its construction and management under the Green Star Building and Performance Tool are also expected to result in long-term economic sustainability through lower energy, gas and water usage, and therefore lower operating costs.

Q&A

Creating New Zealand’s first Green Star HotelDevelopment director Campbell Williamson on the sustainability goals of The Hotel Britomart

Everyone loves to explore, but the sustainability of conventional travel (or lack thereof) has increasingly come under the spotlight. In a major international survey in 2017, booking.com reported that 87percent of travellers want to travel in a more sustainable way, with more than two-thirds (and rising) intending to stay in eco-friendly accommodation for future trips.

Sustainability is one of the key design drivers for The Hotel Britomart, which is expected to be New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star-rated hotel when it opens in mid-2020. Campbell Williamson is Development Director for Britomart, and is keeping a firm hand on the construction process as the hotel gradually rises to its eventual 11-storey height. We talked to him about how sustainability is being built into The Hotel Britomart from the ground up.

Why was it important to Britomart to have a strong commitment to sustainability in The Hotel Britomart? Sustainability has always been part of the Britomart ethos, from when we first gladly took on the responsibility for preserving and restoring such an important collection of Auckland’s heritage buildings. It’s become a key consideration in everything that we do. And with regard to a hotel, travellers increasingly want to stay where there is a demonstrated commitment to sustainability beyond asking the guests to reuse their towels. Although it’s probably even simpler than that; building sustainably has a much lower immediate and ongoing environmental impact and Earth needs that from us.

How is the construction process being managed to minimise the environmental impact? At foundation level, environmental impact management involves careful removal and disposal of soils from hydrocarbon

contamination over the century of the property use before we started. We’re working right next to a heritage building, which we’re renovating for office space at the same time, and preserving as much as possible. It’s full of beautiful old native timbers and brickwork. During our new construction works we are working very closely with our designers and contractors to use environmentally friendly building materials and construction methodologies to minimise waste to

landfill, including detailed management of construction material waste that is sorted for what can be recycled.

What are the key ‘green’ factors that contribute towards a high Green-Star rating for the hotel? Well, the big factors are the energy use and quality of the indoor environment which are managed through efficient air control systems and energy metering, insulation, double-

“We are [using] environmentally friendly building materials and construction methodologies to minimise waste.”

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glazing, building orientation and window placement, LED lighting, low or zero-emission materials for the interiors and so on. Water performance is also important, so we have low-flow water systems. How the building integrates with the existing environment is also a factor, so we are blending it with the existing heritage buildings through the use of a brick exterior, and with the neighbourhood through an open, laneway-style lobby area. Natural landscaping and planting also feature strongly in the design.

Is transport access a factor that’s considered for a Green Star rating? Yes, it is. Being able to access good public transport is a big part of making travel more sustainable in general. The Hotel Britomart will be right at the heart of Auckland’s public transport network. Besides the train, bus, ferry and ride-share access, we’ll also be providing bikes for guests’ use. As part of that, we’re building in bike storage, which will potentially also be able to be accessed by members of the public as an end-of-trip facility.

How about rooms and facilities? Where’s the sustainability there?In terms of room size, we’ve taken an ‘everything you need, nothing you don’t’ approach. Sure, the rooms are not large but they are designed to feel spacious and restful, with natural products and colour themes and access that flows easily through a fairly compact footprint. Also, a decision we made early on was to not overdo the dedication of space within the hotel to extensive facilities like in-house restaurants, an oversized lobby, a large gym, and so on. Every facility a guest could want will be right at the front door of the hotel within the Britomart precinct, and our guests will be able to use them in the same way they would expect to use in-house facilities. So if they want to order breakfast in their room from Amano, or do a circuit at Les Mills, or simply enjoy the sunshine in the bean bags on the lawn of Takutai Square, we already have it all. Taking this approach has allowed us to dedicate as much space as possible in the building to rooms, which is a really efficient way of using space.

“We’re working right next to a heritage building ... and preserving

as much as possible.”

In July 2018, we surveyed our Britomart community to assess their attitudes to a variety of issues and approaches in our precinct. This survey establishes a baseline from which we can track our progress in terms of encouraging public transport use and building community.

The survey was conducted by research company Buzz Channel. 476 occupants of Britomart buildings completed the survey.

OUR KEY FINDINGS:

Our communitySurveying Britomart’s tenants to find out what matters to them

TRANSPORT

40% of respondents use a car for at least part of their journey to work

——

39% catch the bus for at least part of their journey to work

——

34% catch the train for at least part of their journey to work

——

28% walk for at least part of their journey to work

——

79% of respondents said the best thing about working in Britomart was its proximity to public transport

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE COMMUNITY

85% of respondents say their company encourages sustainable practices

——

33% of occupants say their company sets sustainable targets——

41% of occupants say their company manages their recycling and waste

——

18% of occupants say their company encourages sustainable commuting

——

49% of respondents were aware of Green Star ratings, while 51% were not

5% of Britomart occupants cycle to work, indicating an

opportunity for Britomart to increase this proportion (and

take advantage of its proximity to the Beach Road and Quay

Street cycle paths) by providing end-of-trip facilities and more

bicycle parking in the precinct. Indeed, 30% of respondents

felt there wasn’t sufficient bicycle parking in the Britomart

area. A third of respondents said they were very interested in

the creation of an end of trip cycling facility.

THE RESPONSE

Britomart is developing deeper partnerships with its largest tenants –

you can read more about this in our social sustainability section. In addition to this, we

have launched the new monthly e-newsletter, Britomart Green, for members of the Britomart

community and interested visitors, to talk about the sustainable initiatives of ourselves and our tenants. This stories are also amplified through

our regular weekly newsletter, Nine Blocks, which reaches a database of 27,000,

and through our social media channels.

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Our regular Street Kai on Takutai and Food Truck Friday events attract a wide range of people to Takutai Square to enjoy street eats from food truck vendors, sharing their meals at communal tables or on beanbags on our grassed area.——The Touch Compass dance company put on inclusive performances for International Day of Persons With Disabilities and the Mistranslation Laboratory engaged visitors in choreographed “experiments” as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival. ——Our streetside ProjectSpace Gallery showcased the works of New Zealand artists, including John Pule, Dick Frizzell, Sara Hughes and Darren George.——

Social sustainabilityBuilding community at the heart of downtown waterfront Auckland

Sitting atop Auckland’s downtown transport hub, Britomart is a crossroads for the

city. We’re committed to using our public spaces to engage the wider community

with activities, events and projects that bring people together, promote diverse

perspectives and support organisations working for environmental and social good.

Here’s what we’ve done in the last year.

The Community Eats event in November invited seven food providers, many of them Maori and Pacific businesses with a social enterprise focus, to Britomart to give them the opportunity of engagement with larger numbers of consumers in this part of town. We collaborated with Westpac on this event as part of their effort to promote diversity in the procurement chain.

Our Works on Paper project turns The Hotel Britomart construction hoardings along Customs St East into an ongoing public art series, featuring posters by Māori and Pacific artists, including (so far) Tracey Tawhiao, Tyrone Ohia, Jermaine Dean and Janet Lilo.

Our Christmas artwork, Te Waiora, by Charlotte Graham, flooded Takutai Square with 1200 droplet artworks symbolising the waters that connect us all, and was welcomed with a hula performance by Aruna Po-Ching.——

We supported youth performances in Takutai Square from the Hereworth School Boys’ Choir, Newton Central School Kapa Haka Group, and young singer-songwriters in the Strange Summer Streets series. ——We launched the Good Citizen series of public talks and podcasts, speaking to indigenous urbanist Jade Kake, urban designer Henry Crothers, and Westpac’s head of Māori, Iwi, Inclusion and Diversity Fonteyn Moses-Te Kani. ——We supported Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori by helping our hospitality outlets distribute instruction cards showing how to order kawhe (coffee) in Te Reo. ——We provided a venue for charity collections and awareness campaigns for (among others) the Westpac Helicopter appeal, the Returned Services Association, the Cancer Society, Everybody Eats, the SPCA, the NZ Aids Foundation, the Pink Star Walk, Rangihoua Wetlands restoration and Eat My Lunch.——The Rugby For Life Lunch was held in Takutai Square, supporting youth rugby as a source of strong social cohesion in Northland communities.

We also use our weekly Britomart Nine Blocks newsletter to promote and amplify sustainability and social good initiatives by our tenants, including:

• Mexico removing all plastic straws

• Commercial composting bins available in the precinct

• Westpac’s free Money Week seminars and composting workshops

• Huffer’s People Presence collection supporting mental health

• Adidas’ ‘ocean plastic’ Parley Runners and their associated launch art project

• Karen Walker’s reusable coffee cups

• Free yoga classes, run clubs and gym classes from Lululemon, Adidas and Les Mills

• M.A.C’s packaging recycling programme

• Public and environmentally friendly transport options including e-scooters, City Hop, cycle lanes and Ola ride-sharing

In February, Chinese New Zealander James K Lowe’s commissioned lightbox artwork The Noble Ones celebrated Lunar New Year in Takutai Square, and offered free postcards of Lowe’s works (with text in Chinese and English) to visitors to the square.

The weekly Britomart La Cigale Farmers Market brings fresh local produce and small-scale artisan food vendors into the heart of the country’s most urban district.

We played host to events during the New Zealand Festival of Architecture, including walking tours and transforming street carparks into miniature parks for World Park(ing) Day.

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Q&A

Creating community through artCharlotte Graham talks about the social and environmental objectives of her temporary artwork, Te Waiora, which flooded Britomart with watercolour droplets

Where did you grow up? I was born in Perth. My father John was a rugby player and played for Western Australia. Both my parents are Māori – my father is Pare Hauraki/Pare Waikato and my mother June is Pare Waikato. We moved back to New Zealand six months after I was born. I have two older sisters.

Were any other members of your family creative? We all have it! My aunty is artist Emily Karaka, my uncle is Mikaara Kirkwood, Te Rongo Kirkwood is one of my cousins, another cousin Reuben Kirkwood is a master carver for Te Kawerau a Maki. My sister is an artist and a painter, my other sister is a weaver. My grandmother, Rose Isobel Simons, was a designer, a tailor, who lived on the Manukau Harbour at Whatakapuka marae. I get my inspiration from her. A lot of my shows have a reference to her. She used to tell us all her stories. Her mother was Pākehā, descended from the poet Shelley, and her father was Patara Haimona, one of the Waikato Tainui chiefs.

I grew up around her feet, so I guess she was always making. She was always industrious in her making and had an ‘I can do it’ attitude. She built a home without knowing how to build a home. She learnt how to do everything. She instilled into us that we could do anything we wanted. That’s what creatives are able to do. We build visual narratives. That’s what inspired me.

So did you think you were going to be an artist when you were young? My primer one teacher said I was going to be an artist. I don’t remember drawing, I just remember being in the art room. At high school I did the most arts subjects you could do. There was no room for anything else. I went to Mount Roskill Grammar – we were living in Waikowhai by this stage. “My constant over the years of making

works is that they are around land and people, whakapapa, indigeneity.”

But you didn’t go to art school after you finished high school, did you? After high school, I started a Bachelor of Social Work. It’s working with people. But I quickly decided I didn’t like it. I decided I would go to art school so I started at Unitec, then the first Māori degree came out, the four-year Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts at Massey University with Robert Jahnke, Shane Cotton and Kura Te Waru Rewiri. It was awesome. We were the first year. What I learnt was how to build visual narratives through concept. I very rarely work intuitively – often it’s built up around this whole narrative as a body that has bones and flesh and layers.

It’s never easy to make a career as an artist – did you try to do that when you graduated? I trained as a teacher and taught at a Māori boarding school, St Stephens. I did exhibitions at the same time. When my eldest son, Te Kahu Whataarangi, was born, I’d just done a show called ‘Trouble in Paradise’, a series of paintings based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. But I felt I wasn’t making substantial work until the foreshore and seabed issue put a fire in my belly. I decided to walk with my paintbrush.

You mean it took political action to help you find an artistic purpose? I think that’s what makes me do my art. That’s what activates my desires to put forward

my ideas. It allows us to speak, to educate, to transform, to change; art can offer up a different viewpoint. My constant over the years of making works is that they are around land and people, whakapapa, indigeneity. It’s us looking back, honouring the past, moving forward, and acknowledging all of that. The future is around connection to our environment and to each other.

How did you come up with the concept for this work at Britomart? I was thinking of what Christmas means to people, and I thought immediately of the idea of connection with whānau and friends. That’s the powerful part of the celebration. And to express that connectivity, I thought of using water, the element that connects us all. Everyone that lives here has come across the water to reach Aotearoa. We’re also connected by our love of our harbours and streams, how they sustain us and how we need to take care of them. Water has the power to cleanse and purify us too, and that seemed like an appropriate sentiment for the end of the year. And I also thought of this place, Britomart, and how we’re on reclaimed land, and how the waters of the Waitematā used to flow across this space. It made immediate sense to me to use the ground through this space as my canvas. So I created a series of watercolour paintings of water droplets, in various shades of blue and green and magenta, and with a variety

of Māori patterning referencing the natural world. It all happened quite organically. We had those droplets printed as 1200 decals that flooded the precinct.

How have people been reacting to the work? It’s been incredibly gratifying. I spent three days installing the work with a wonderful team of students, and the reactions to it really struck me. People were stopping to ask what was going on, and then would seek me out to explain more of the work to them. I was pleased with how the change in the environment with the addition of the work made them think differently and want to know more.

You paint, you do installations, you’ve worked in video art too. I get bored really easily. That’s why the works change over the years. Installations, painting, video and sound. I jump. The link is the concepts but the jump is my way out of boredom, through material and concept.

There’s also a strong environmental theme running through your work. My last solo show was ‘Waikawa’, a show on tribal lands and the acidification of our seas from dairy farming. In the beginning my artworks were a lot about land and politics and then they went into politics and healing. In the last five years I’ve been actively working with The Kauri Project, which is raising awareness and education around kauri dieback. To me as an artist, I don’t want to make a pretty flower painting – I want to make a work that compels somebody to make a difference, to speak more, to talk more.

“To me as an artist, I want to make a work that compels somebody to make a

difference, to speak more.”

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Future plansImprovements we’re targeting in 2019-2020

• We will track usage of water, gas and electricity, and production of waste against data from our baseline established in this report, and target a 10 percent year-on-year reduction in utility usage and waste creation.

• We will introduce monthly reporting of dashboard data at our sustainability and executive meetings, and quarterly updates at board meetings. We will also establish a half-year reporting process to ensure we are tracking to target.

• We will use the dashboard to respond quickly to any utility or waste irregularities, and conduct regular maintenance of plant

equipment to ensure optimal performance of the systems that run our buildings.

• We will bring all buildings in the precinct onto the dashboard to allow for precinct-wide real-time monitoring.

• We will automate water meter readings to allow for faster response times to irregularities.

• We will continue to explore ways to establish improved monitoring systems for water, gas, electricity and waste for the buildings across our portfolio. The smaller buildings (less than 2000 square metres in size) that are not part of the Green Star Performance and NABERSNZ

measurements will be measured in a similar method to the NABERSNZ ratings tool.

• We will measure and report on progress on our latest Green Star Build, The Hotel Britomart.

• As a Britomart tenant in our own building, we will closely examine and report on our own sustainability practices at 130 Quay Street.

• We will deepen our collaborations on sustainability initiatives with members of the Britomart community, including Westpac and EY, our largest tenants.