PMG Funds building water efficiency with Watersmart
Leading New Zealand commercial property fund manager, PMG Funds, has engaged Watersmart to support its drive to improve and reduce the company’s water footprint.
After meeting up at the FMANZ Conference last year, PMG, which has long been a vocal leader on the planetary and commercial benefits of lifting sustainability in property, asked Watersmart to assess its commercial, industrial, office, and retail properties across five sites. They include one in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington, plus two in Christchurch.
The first step in any water footprint programme involves measuring water use
Following a series of site visits, we installed baseline water measurement devices in their industrial site at Seaview Road in Wellington. This involves installing and monitoring water meters, which will enable us to compile a report on the building with a view undertaking rainwater harvesting either for potable or non-potable usage.
PMG has two requirements for water metering: first, to create water usage summaries and individual reports for tenant billing purposes. Secondly, they will be used to create dashboards to help PMG manage water efficiency and create alarms, notifications and reports to better understand and reduce water usage.
PMG have also asked Watersmart to look at a series of sites to see if we can harvest rainwater for potable and/or non-potable applications. So far we have found that the Ford Building in Wellington and PMG’s mew Mahuhu site in Auckland could be suitable.
PMG is interested in adopting the NABERS rating as a baseline of understanding to improve water usage for their sites, says Watersmart’s Roger Adlam. “We have identified a site in Auckland and one in Christchurch to begin this process. Feedback from PMG has been that the banking sector would provide low interest finance on solutions that prove savings measured via the accepted international NABERS Rating.”
First sites to be assessed for NABERS Water
As EECA and the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) are beginning the process of bringing NABERS Water to New Zealand, two PMG sites will become the first sites to be assessed in NZ.
