A Sustainable Construction Approach
Butterfly Creek was an early leader in embracing the principles of recycling and adaptive re-use – “construction with a conscience”.
The original design of Butterfly Creek was heavily driven by the desire to incorporate high levels of recycled materials which were to be sourced from the mothballed Papakura military base as well as the refurbishment of the Beehive in Wellington. This adaptive re-use approach resulted in the salvage of large volumes native timbers (including some very rare species eg mangeao) that are now showcased in the exposed trusses, beams, doors, walls, trims and ceilings at Butterfly Creek as well as various large glazed panels and corrugated iron sheeting.
This system of construction is highly labour-intensive and it proved to be a very costly process to carefully dismantle and retrieve the materials and then to prepare and integrate them into the new construction.
