Shirley Boys and Avonside Girls School KNX Automation Project
With approximately 1000 KNX devices across the site, and 18,000m of KNX cable this must be approaching one of the largest KNX installations in New Zealand. Our automation team won Design Project of the Year for this installation at the KNX National Awards.
The ultimate school campus
A state-of-the-art design has been created for the rebuild of Avonside Girls’ High School and Shirley Boys’ High School at QEII Park in Christchurch. In a New Zealand first, the two schools operate as separate entities from the same campus. The teaching remains separate but they share several facilities and some administration staff
Among the facilities are:
- a Performing Arts Centre with a 750-seat theatre and a second smaller 200-seat theatre
- a cultural space
- four full-sized sports fields with a 400-metre running track
- three full-sized indoor gymnasiums – two of which can be joined to host events.
- a café and fully-equipped commercial teaching kitchen
The schools also benefit from being located next to the new QEII Sport and Recreation Centre and in close proximity to the Travis Wetlands Heritage Park.
KNX installation
With less than 1 year from the initial KNX design to the final handover, our Automation Team worked to a very tight timeline in order to carry out such a large installation.
The 2 schools have been merged together into one building but are still kept independent from one another, so having an intelligent building is a must to assist with minimising potentially spiralling energy costs.
All lighting is KNX controlled; common areas on time schedules with sensor or push-button override, outside lighting on time schedules with different brightness for different times of the day, learning spaces have push-button switch on with sensors to keep the lights on, corridors and stairwells with sensor operation. To enhance their energy savings, daylight harvesting is implemented in learning spaces, so the lighting will ramp up or down based on ambient light to provide a constant lighting level in the rooms.
When learning spaces are occupied, adjacent corridor spaces remain dimly lit after presence timeout to ensure no one gets left in the dark at any point. All presence detection information is fed back to a central HVAC system via BACnet so the climate control only runs when the building is occupied, and only in the areas required to provide further savings.
Image credits: STACY SQUIRES + DAVID WALKER / STUFF