About

Warren and Mahoney is one of New Zealand’s largest national architectural practices. With a 50 year history and offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, Warren and Mahoney has a reputation for delivering consistently high quality work for the most demanding the briefs, budgets and programs. The practice is a multidisciplinary design firm committed to integrated collaborative design offering Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design and Sustainable Design services.

Warren and Mahoney’s design philosophy and practice culture is centred on the making of enduring architecture and sustainable cities.We are committed to constantly driving the development of environmental sustainable design (ESD) in New Zealand.

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Strategy

We have developed a 4-tier strategy for defining and implementing our environmental goals:

1. Our Industry

Warren and Mahoney is committed to using its influence in the New Zealand construction industry to provide leadership in the adoption of ESD. This commitment has lead to the practice being involved in the inception and foundation of numerous industry wide initiatives. The most significant being:

Founding Member of the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC). Principal and Executive Director Graeme Finlay currently holds the position of Deputy Chair.
Consultants on both of New Zealand’s first two 5 star NZGBC Greenstar office buildings.
Piloting of the NZGBC Greenstar office design tool, office as built tool, interior office design tool and education buildings design tool.
Sponsorship of the Habitat for Humanity national student competition.
Regular public speaking throughout New Zealand at conferences on ESD in buildings and architecture.
 

2. Our Buildings

Environmentally Sustainable Design: Over the last 10 years Warren and Mahoney has been one of the few architectural practices in New Zealand to make significant investment into the specialised development of Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) in buildings and architecture.

The hard won experience and intellectual capital over these years has resulted in Warren and Mahoney being one of the few architecture practices in New Zealand able to provide real practical guidance on the successful implementation of ESD in large scale and commercial buildings.

This ability comes through a series of successful (and often award winning) buildings, a unique technical database of information of ESD and an established network of sub-consultants able to provide advice across the myriad of issues which ESD affects.

Our completed ESD-related work spans from office buildings to libraries, industrial buildings, schools, housing and sporting facilities.

More recently our specialisation has naturally extended to providing strategic advice on building procurement and design briefs for organisations interested in the issue of ESD.

Environmental Protocol

Warren and Mahoney established an Environmental Protocol as a foundation for achieving excellence in the field of ESD.

Material Specification:Warren and Mahoney will not knowingly specify timbers from unsustainable sources. Warren and Mahoney will give preference to the use of less environmentally toxic timber preservatives. Warren and Mahoney will only specify paint systems endorsed under the environmental choice labelling scheme in all instances where such paint systems are available and appropriate to the situation.

Waste Management:Warren and Mahoney will require that all buildings are constructed in accordance with a site specific waste management plan to reduce construction waste.
Warren and Mahoney will ensure that buildings are provided with inbuilt waste sorting and collection bins in all kitchens to encourage recycling.
Energy Efficiency:

All new buildings designed by Warren and Mahoney with a construction cost greater than $7 million will be assessed at the design stage by 3D computer energy modelling carried out by an independent firm of engineers.
All new commercial building designed by Warren and Mahoney will be fitted with low energy lighting systems and the lighting engineers for the project will be required to provide details of the installed W/m2 and payback periods for low energy lighting technology.
Water Management:

Warren and Mahoney will specify low water use plumbing fittings to reduce both water use and polluted water leaving the site.
All new commercial buildings designed by Warren and Mahoney will incorporate storm water management systems to reduce storm water leaving the site.

General:All projects will use the Warren and Mahoney ESD working tool to manage the design process.
All Warren and Mahoney buildings will be designed to meet NZGBC 4 GreenStar standard as a minimum were such standards exist.

3. Our Offices

We are committed to walking the talk by improving the way we work in our own offices. As a result Warren and Mahoney is the first architecture practice in New Zealand to be carboNZero certified.

Our carbon footprint was calculated based on emissions generated through electricity, travel, alternative heating and vehicle and taxi use. This information was measured by Landcare Research (New Zealand) and independently verified in an audit - and will continue to be audited each year to ensure we are continuing to honour our commitments.

Our carbon management plan involves monitoring our carbon emissions, lowering them wherever possible and encouraging new and innovative thinking by all staff to help reduce our carbon footprint.

In addition to gaining carboNZero certification, Warren and Mahoney has instigated wider environmental management policies as follows:-

Warren and Mahoney has a comprehensive waste management policy for internal management of waste operating throughout its offices. This policy is constantly being improved year on year as we learn for our experience.
This year Warren and Mahoney has also implemented an internal purchasing policy of preferred environmentally friendly products purchased for office use. This purchasing policy encompasses recycled paper through to cleaning products and office equipment.

4. Our Staff

Warren and Mahoney’s environmental strategy also encompasses an employee engagement program.

The practice’s environmental initiatives are lead by an Environmental Portfolio with representatives from each of our offices. Each office representative is backed up by an enthusiastic team of staff from their office.

This engagement program has resulted in some significant initiatives including:

• A future program of volunteer days to support native planting and regeneration projects.
• Sponsorship of a free showing of ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ in Cathedral square Christchurch.
• Sponsorship of 2008 Earth Hour.
• An ongoing national staff education program.

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