CREATING SUSTAINABILITY AND A GREEN GYM AND AQUATIC CENTRE
Our values at NUsport are in alignment with The University of Newcastle Strategic Plan, Looking Ahead – to create sustainability in a reimagined, green campus.
We will develop a long-term financial plan to ensure business sustainability and growth, and provide leadership in the development of ‘new normal’ practices post-pandemic. Our annual corporate plan will align to fulfil business, stakeholder and community needs and aspirations.
PRINCIPLES
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Stakeholder collaboration
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Compliance focus
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Green Facilities
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Sustainable resource management
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Physical and digital transformation
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Technological innovation
STRATEGIES
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Funding and investment priorities based on sound business cases
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Pursue Government and private sector grants for capital and operational projects
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Diversification of business strategy
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Review corporate structure and governance model
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Integration with University Green Campus strategic priority
EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY
Our new premier aquatic centre proudly features a number of sustainability and energy efficiency best practices:
Pool blanket
4 x pool blankets have been installed at NUsport's Aquatic Centre, and will be deployed onto the water outside normal operating hours. The blankets provide three major benefits:
- Reduction of energy consumption
- Retention of pool heat and reduced operating costs – 36% reduction
- Reduction of building corrosion.
LED lighting
Installation of energy efficient LED lighting throughout the Aquatic Centre. This includes LED floodlighting to the main Aquatic Centre that has the following functions:
- Normal operations – training
- Club level - competition
- State level - competition
- Automatic daylight harvesting – when in normal operations mode the lights will automatically increase, dim, or switch off when there is adequate natural lighting.
Building insulation
Installation of double glazing to all fixed window panels at NUsport's Aquatic Centre. This includes a new double-glazed skylight to the central spine of the building that provides natural lighting and passive thermal heating. Installation of energy efficient Low-e glass to all operable window louvres and doors.
Building heating
Installation of a full fresh air, corrosion resistant, low energy air handling system to heat the NUsport's Aquatic Centre.
- Reduction of energy consumption
- Reduced operating costs – 15% reduction
- Full fresh air – reduces corrosion and environmental odours
- Automatic climate control – if external environmental conditions are met (wind, rain and temperature setpoints) the system will shut down and go into natural ventilation mode - louvres will automatically open.
We have installed 1.1 million litre rain water tanks, to collect rainwater to irrigate key sporting fields across Callaghan campus.
The University of Newcastle is committed to the efficient use and management of water. Over the last two years there has been a 7% annual decrease in potable water consumption that was primarily achieved through:
- Smart metering and management of water
- Detecting and repairing water leaks
- Installing water efficient fixtures and fittings
- Using stormwater retention to irrigate sporting fields.
The University of Newcastle is committed to driving this opportunity further by investing in a significant rainwater harvesting project at NUsport Sports & Aquatic Centre to capture rainwater across a combined roof area of 5,620m2 and store it in 2 x 1.1ML tanks.
The stored rainwater will be used in lieu of potable water to irrigate the No.3 sports field. This investment will reduce potable water consumption by approximately 7 million litres per annum - 3% of the University’s total potable water usage.