Pushing the boundaries of glasshouse design through ground-breaking innovations and precise performance specifications
Project overview
The Grasslands Glasshouse is a state of the art facility at the AgResearch Science Centre in Palmerston North. The project, completed in 2019, consists of two commercial glasshouses each containing three rooms, plus a header house linking the two glasshouses together.
Our complete project management service involved working with the client to appoint and manage of a consultant team to develop the brief, and all design phases from tender to procurement of a main contractor. We also acted as Engineer to Contract during construction.
Embracing innovation
This highly technical project pushes the boundaries of current glasshouse design. Innovations include a highly reactive heating/cooling and shading strategy that allows scientists to modify the glasshouse spaces to suit different plant growing conditions. Ensuring effective delivery of these innovations meant extra care was needed to appoint a suitably experienced consultant team. We were instrumental in providing guidance during the project briefing and delivery phases, enabling the team to find innovative solutions to deliver this world class facility.
Points of interest
- The glasshouses have an inbuilt shade sail system which is linked to the mechanical supply/extract cooling system. Programmed to respond to varying heat conditions at different times of the day, this moderates the temperatures within the plant growing areas.
- The glasshouses are designated a PC2 contained facility, meaning specialist pollen containment was required.
Award winning
We are extremely proud that this project won a National Category Award and a Gold Award at the 2020 NZ Commercial Project Awards.
