Outright Continuous Insulation // Windsor Substation Project

[Shane Clarke] Kia ora, tēnā tātou katoa. My name is Shane Clark, I'm the General Manager here at Nuralite and welcome to webinar number 36. Today's topic is the award-winning Windsor substation and it's about raising the standard of our built environment. The reason that this webinar may be of importance to you is I think that this project illustrates the fact that any building can be built to a sustainable design and outcome. For me, this really is the story of the little building that could. Typically, that type of building wouldn't be built in this way, so it's far from the norm, so I think it's really exciting. Lucky for you all, I have some other people on the panel with me today. I have Tricia Love, Director at Tricia Love Consultants Limited. Tricia is a Qualified Building Services Engineer, Green Star Accredited Professional, a Living Future Accredited Professional and Homestar Designer. I also have Charissa Snijders, Director at Charissa Architects, who has an absolute passion for regenerative architecture. Charissa is also Living Building Challenge Petal Certified and both panels today have an extensive experience in this field. And in third place, we have Mike Skilton. Mike Skilton is our General Manager here at Outright Continuous Insulation. Mike has experience obviously in the construction industry and last month celebrated his 10-year anniversary with us, so good on you Mike. Welcome to the panellists. So before we start, we're going to jump in and run a bit of a poll, if you'd like to warm up your fingers and contribute. What we want to know in this poll is as a designer, do you think it's possible for all buildings to be built to a sustainable standard? So just take a minute to populate your answer in there. Thanks Jin. So just a quick wrap up, this webinar is set for 30 minutes, towards the end there we'll run a Q&A. We're going to try and squeeze a lot of content into this 30 minutes. However, there's one thing I'd like you to take away from today, is that we believe to raise the standard of our built environment, every building must incorporate sustainable features. That's our takeaway message from today. All right, so first of all, I'd like to have a chat to Trish, tell us about your client's brief and perhaps what their why was. [Tricia Love] All right, good morning everyone and thank you Shane. Yeah, so just kicking off here with our little building with a big heart, this is a 57 square metre electrical switch room. It's not even a substation, it's the switch room next door to a substation in Hastings, Hawke's Bay. And the brief, the client is Unison Networks, they are probably one of the bigger electrical distribution networks in New Zealand. And their vision is really one of leadership. So it came across this project here, how could we do better? And Unison wanted to have a look at that. So maybe if we go to the next slide, you'll be able to see where we ended up. There's an aerial view there of the building and a little snapshot of what the inside looks like. And you'll see that and where we ended up is a quite a significant change from what we see normally around New Zealand. The normal substation and the normal business as usual switch room is a concrete bunker effectively. It's not insulated, it has a tin roof. Quite often there's a subfloor as well and they end up running air conditioning units 24-7, normally two high wall air conditioning units. And so they're actually high energy users. So Unison Networks wanted to look to see what good could look like in this space. So we'll just move to the next slide, please. And we'll just go back to the beginning. In order to get to that end goal, we had to start with a very clear vision and purpose. And so here you see the Unison Networks vision and values. And what we generally tend to do, we're following this program called the Living Building Challenge and the project manager for this particular little switch room Paul Humphries at Unison Networks, he had discovered the Living Building Challenge and its holistic nature. And he kind of hunted out who would be able to help him here. And he saw that the Living Building Challenge aligned with the values, vision and purpose of Unison Networks, that they wanted to create something that was of leadership. It was inspiring. They wanted to potentially look at a building that was zero energy in use. And they wanted to really make a difference in their industry. And so they hunted out Charissa as the architect. And then Charissa sort of brought traditional consultants on board. And this was just as we were heading into COVID, we realized that this was a small project. And we really spent some time to examine what impact could we possibly make through a tiny 57 square meter switch room? So on the left here, we looked at regenerative design principles in conjunction with the Living Building Challenge. And we looked to see basically what role in regenerative design, what role could this very small building play in the community within which it sits? We effectively think of it as an entity. How could it affect the residential community within which it sits in Hastings? It's actually within a residential suburb, it's got a park next to it. So how could it benefit that community? How could it benefit and provide inspiration and leadership within unison networks as an organization? How could it affect change, transformational change? And then also, how could it affect transformational change at a wider pool, maybe within the wider unison customer network, maybe within the wider electrical distribution network? And what we found, and Charissa's going to go into it a little bit later in how we got there, is that we found ourselves pushing the barriers as we went along. We had effectively the benefit of COVID lockdown, we couldn't move ahead very fast. [Shane Clarke] Not many people would say that, would they? [Tricia Love] No, so it actually gave us time, time to really identify a framework, identify the Living Building Challenge. And I think if we can move to the next slide, please, I'll show you that we originally started, if you look at this slide, we've got a stepping stone. So we started with the unison network vision to be a zero-energy switch room, but also to be leaders in the electrical distribution field. They were also very interested in pushing the bar and making knowledge commonly known. So we did that. And then we, through COVID and the time that we had to create this framework, we decided actually we could do a little bit better. And we kind of said, well, let's try and go for what we call core certification, which is a bit similar to five-star, green-star certification. What we actually ended up with is we were HESL certified and we were the world's first landscape and infrastructure typology building to achieve Petal certification under Living Building Challenge Version 4. So we got Petal certification for net positive energy. We actually ended up generating more power than we consumed in a year. And we're going to go into how we did that in a And then we got place Petal , we got equity Petal and we got beauty Petal , which was quite incredible for an electrical switch room. So, and that's how we do it. And you can see here that we've done it in a very unconventional manner. The brief was that this had to be functional for an electrical switch room. It had to be relocatable, modular. They wanted to be able to move this at the end of its life and reuse it somewhere else. So we had to consider it through all stages of its life. And that's basically where we went. We worked as a collaborative process. We couldn't do it any other way with Living Building Challenge. And we ended up with a very highly efficient, modular, low carbon envelope, which has been, blueprints have been made freely available for anyone else. And it's actually through conferences, it's had a ripple effect greater than we would ever imagined that this very, very small building could actually change an industry or begin to change an industry. It's something we never dreamt of, but it is actually happening. It's made other electrical distribution networks look to their, the way they commonly do things and question why and look to see how they can do things better. [Shane Clarke] No, it's fantastic. It's a great story, you know, and, you know, particularly for this type of building, which would, I guess, typically be a concrete pillbox, if you like. So, I mean, you know, if this building can do it, any building can do it. So, just touched on those blueprints, we're going to chuck the link up in the chat function there. So that'll take you to the Union website, which will give you free access, free source to the details used in the construction. So, I think it's another great aspect of this particular project. And I'm going to throw to Charissa now. Good morning. How are you? [Charissa Snijders] Good morning. Thanks. Good. I'm really good. Yeah. So, just leading on with what Trish is saying, I think the key point that I'd love people to take away from the seminar is that when you're doing something as new and as innovative as this, there are a lot of variables. I mean, this was a level four importance building. So, the fire and the earthquakes had to be taken into account. And the big key thing that we decided during that whole design framework stage was we really wanted to move away from concrete and look at CLT, cross-laminated timber board. And so, to do that, we really had to make sure that the sporting was going to meet these requirements that Innocent had set in terms of safety. And within that, it was how do we achieve it in every other way? We wanted to look at the red list materials, which is part of the living building framework. We wanted to look at how we can reduce waste, and that also looked at energy waste. And I think Trish mentioned that there were two air conditioning units that are usually used in the same size building. We moved away. We wanted to look at the mechanical ventilation system. Now, you need your client to walk with you in all these steps, and you need to really address the risks in undertaking changes like this. So, whilst we were juggling with all the fire testing and ensuring that it was earthquake resistant, we also had to look at thermal modelling. Because a switchgear, you have to have a certain temperature variance that needs to be met, and the humidity within that space has to stay within a certain range as well. And so, I guess all these things were happening at the same time as we kind of juggled this little building, and we had to work out how we were going to do this. So, I guess if we go on. Oh, so this is actually a Trish slide. Do you want to talk to this Trish at all? That's all right. I think we just keep going. Okay, let's move on then to the next slide. So, these, I think as Shane mentioned, these drawings will be available. Be nice to me. Be friendly. But I think it just shows you the basic principles of what this building's about. So, it's elevated off the ground, which was really useful if it's for flooding. But that also allows for easy access and stuff like that with all the cabling and things going into the building. And then, it's just a simple box, a CLT box, all for the wall floors and ceiling. And we basically ended up wrapping it with the outright insulation. And that helped, and with the modelling and the different seasons, we're able to kind of reassure ourselves that it was going to work. And it's been tested over the last year or so, and it has been successful. And so, maybe the next slide shows a closer up version of that. So, that's just a little bit more of a detail going into it. So, we have Trish the panelling on the outside, and then we have the Outright insulation with the building wrap Pro Clima, and then we have the board. And that's, as you can see, it's an external wrapping, so minimal bridging. And yeah, really effective. [Shane Clarke] Insulation on the outside of the structure. Yeah, it's fantastic. [Charissa Snijders] One of the things that we did come across, and because our client was, you know, he was an engineer, and he's had a lot of experience in building and things, and he was really concerned, and I think maybe Mike can talk a bit more about this, but about the Outright insulation and how it was actually all going to be put together. And so, and we also ended up talking to the builder that was going to be involved as well. And so, there were concerns that we had to address in terms of how was this all going to work. Council also were concerned because this is an alternative solution, and I don't think have ever been done before, particularly for like this switch room. And so, we had to really, we had to give us a second opinion and work with that in terms of how this was, you know, to reassure everybody that this actually wasn't going to fail. So, I think those are the key things. Is there anything I missed out? [Shane Clarke] No, no, that's far from a typical detail for this type of building. So, you definitely had your challenges ahead of you, that's for sure. [Charissa Snijders] Yeah, and even just even putting that little kind of board underneath, I think, just, you can't see my finger, to protect the insulation from either falling down or, you know, insects or animals or whatever trying to tear it apart. So, everything was thought through. I think one of the key things with this is that every design decision that we made as a team was basically fulfilling multiple functions. It had to be accessible and safe from a functional point of view, because this is an electrical substation, it's got high health and safety issues. It had to meet the living building challenge in terms of its compliance requirements for no toxicity, you know, none of the red list chemicals. We had to think about waste from a modular prefabrication point of view, you know. And so, we were thinking about all these different considerations when we made any decision. And I think the speed of how this went up was one of the massive, you know, wonders that it arrived on a flat pack and was up in a day, basically, because we had timber piles ready to go. So, that was awesome. [Shane Clarke] I would have liked that, that's for sure. Yeah, so that's just showing you the instructions. [Charissa Snijders] So, that's some of the detailing and stuff like that, and just showing the outright. Pretty simple, really. It's a box, wrapped. And then, yeah, and then maybe the next slide. Yeah, so again, just showing how it's all put together, and that's the trespa panels. And, you know, again, that was another design waste thing that we really worked on as well, but that's not part of today. So, there's so many aspects to this building. So, next slide. And that's the end product. Wrapped and gorgeous. [Shane Clarke] It's a great outcome. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, no, it was really interesting because it's just such a complete inverse from what you would typically see from this type of building. I mean, everyone's driven past them before. You know, like I said before, these big concrete pillboxes, and it's nice to see something that's very, very different. So, that's fantastic. All right, we're just going to go to Mike Skelton, our outright General Manager. Congratulations on 10 years, Mike. Well done, mate. [Mike Skilton] Oh, thanks. It's gone very quickly. So, there's been a lot of things that have come across our desk that have been really interesting. This particular project is one of those, and I thank them for involving us in this particular project. It potentially sets the framework for future projects and that they can be done. Wrapping the entire building on the outside is a sensible option. It's something that we see is used frequently in North America and in Europe, and it's finding its way into the New Zealand market, and it really lines up with all of the key principles that were considered for this particular project. So, in the product selection, to meet the guidelines for this structure, Rockwall was selected. Rockwall is an international brand, and the reason why it was selected is because it met the criteria of the project. Some of the reasons for that is that it provided excellent thermal efficiency on the outside of the structure. It reduced thermal bridging because you were able to wrap on the outside of the structure so things aren't being inserted in between studs and framework. It was able to provide excellent acoustic performance for the product itself. It has circularity, which was obviously a key part of the product selection. It's able to be recycled, and in fact there's a number of incentives that Rockwall Global is looking at to provide circularity for their products. And of course, one of the other key aspects of the product selection is fire. So, it's non-combustible. The product's made of stone, so therefore it's a natural product in its manufacture, and being non-combustible provides that fire protection that is very essential for all building structures. In choosing Outright, I think why we exist, our why, is because we're looking to provide a knowledge hub to bring together a range of suppliers to help with these processes. One of the key aspects of trying to achieve this, and what you've heard today, is about collaboration. It's not easy when a process is slightly offbeat or slightly different, and people look at it sideways and go, well, how do we achieve this? How do we get compliance? Outright has been created to assist in bringing information together, and we've worked with a number of different material types to help ease that process and assist with the design process to go through the compliance aspects for the councils, etc. So, there's some good reasons that we are putting together a comprehensive website that provides a knowledge hub to assist in this process. [Shane Clarke] No, that's great, Mike. Thanks for touching on the benefits of the product and why it was useful in this particular building. I think, obviously, the fireproof was a bit of a no-brainer, and then from Trisha's point, the red list category was probably very important as well. Again, yeah, great example of the collaboration. All right, we have, where are we? We have six minutes for questions. We've got a few pop up throughout the conversation, so that's fantastic. If you've got any more, feel free to pop them in. Like I said, if we don't get through them all, they'll all come out in the transcript. They get sent to everybody. So, the first question I've got here is for Mike. Do you have any rockwool in stock? [Mike Skilton] Good question. The rockwool produce hundreds, if not thousands of SKUs across their product range. The Outright Business is the largest stockist of rockwool in New Zealand, and we have quite a wide range of materials that are quite suitable for facades. If we don't have something or there's something a bit outside of the norm, we can certainly access products, and we have stock availability in the North Island and in the South Island as well. [Shane Clarke] Okay, cool. Thanks, Mike. Another one here maybe for you, Trish, is what are some of the features that make this building sustainable? From the photos I saw of the solar panels, for example, what are some of the other features of it that we can call it sustainable? Sorry. [Tricia Love] Yeah, our first thing was to be zero energy. So, we know that we're looking at carbon all the time now. We as an industry, it's at the forefront, and it's going to come into all our legislation. So, we wanted to reduce not only embodied carbon by going to the CLT timber, but we also wanted to reduce operational carbon, which we know over the lifespan of a project is still one of the key criteria. So, basically, the onsite renewable energy is something that substations are starting to have a look at, and then high thermal performing envelope. We're collecting all our rainwater and using it for irrigation of the landscaping around it. We actually, with Resilio Studio, undertook, there was quite a lot of research done on what we call the reference habitat. So, we actually put a lot of effort into the area around the building and not just the building itself. So, we wanted to regenerate the ecology as much as we could within a postage stamp size of site. Red list, of course, is something people may not be aware of, which is under the building challenge. It's eliminating the worst in class toxic chemicals out of our building products, and they're globally known to be the worst in class chemical groups that affect human and environmental health. So, we actually eliminated, we didn't use PVC, and that was one key thing was for an electrical distribution network, we switched from PVC sheath cabling to low smoke zero halogen cabling. And when you think if we were to do that as the whole of the electrical network in New Zealand, it would completely shift the dial on the price point of these products. So, a lot of what we do in these projects, no matter how big they are, is about shifting the dial, advocating, and that's what Living Building Challenge is about, advocating for better building practices, for more healthy building practices. And Rockwall is an example of that as well, that it's a product that performed thermally, performed fire, performed from a waterproofing, and it performed from a red list, so it ticked many boxes. So, yeah, a lot. This building's got every aspect in terms of sustainability. I mean, in terms of waste management, it was 99% diverted from landfills. So, you know, and that was all absolutely researched. [Mike Skilton] But just another point on that that I missed was it will not propagate mould growth as well, because it won't allow mould to attach itself or germinate through the product, which is really important, you know, from the life cycle of a building. Also, vermin control as well. They don't like chewing on stone. So, no rats. [Tricia Love] Yeah, we definitely looked at that, and that was definitely a big plus. Absolutely. [Shane Clarke] Got another question here from Carolyn. She starts with a compliment. They really love this building. Thanks, Trish and Charissa. So, that was nice. There is a follow up question on there. Is there an opportunity to do remediation on existing buildings like this? [Tricia Love] Yeah, we've actually done some subsequent work for another EDB, looking at potentially how we could, how could we retrofit? How many substations and switch rooms have we got in New Zealand that are all built like a concrete bunker? And they're all powering through electricity to keep within this temperature band? And what would good look like? We keep using that phrase, what would good look like if we were to potentially, you know, mediate and retrofit, externally insulate all these concrete substations and switch rooms to make them more thermally efficient and reduce our operational carbon? Wouldn't that be a good thing? [Shane Clarke] Amazing. I've got a quick design question here. Why did we go for CLT slabs as opposed to stick frame construction? [Charissa Snijders] I think it was well it was because I don't think the stick frame would have actually been able to achieve what we were setting out to achieve and the structure of it and the fire resistance as well so you know we had to all of it really. [Tricia Love] There was a lot went into the fire, in terms you have to make sure these buildings are safe from explosions through the roof and that kind of thing so it's category four building doesn't it category four earthquake and also speed of construction many different fact modular and it was had to be relocatable I think there was the other one as well. [Shane Clarke] I'd like to thank my panellists for their time and thank you all for watching for your time it's been fantastic to see you, thanks for your contributions hopefully we've sort of outlined um some of the features of Sustainable Building I've touched on some of the specific features of this particular building inverse to what would typically be built with and I'd just like to wrap up by reiterating our key point and Charissa has kind of given me some more detail on it which I think is quite good so bear with me we; that in order to raise the standard of our built environment we need to transform the process of how we design and build to enable a more holistic approach to incorporate transformal sustainability. Thanks again for your time like I said this is the story of the little building that could. I think it's been fantastic, thanks again for your time and we'll see you on the next one, thanks very much folks.