Science Centre

The second new structure is the eagerly anticipated Science Centre. The $7.4 million Centre replaces the light, timber-framed, 30-year-old buildings currently in use and provides modern laboratories, seminar and lecture spaces, and academic offices. For the first time the working environment will match the high quality of the research projects undertaken at the SPCMS laboratories. High tech professional will replace bach, while still maintaining the distinctive local look and "can do" spirit of the place that has already achieved so much and which gives the Leigh centre its uniquely New Zealand strengths and feel.

The quality of research programmes is closely connected to the conditions the laboratory facilities provide. These conditions require sophisticated, high quality, energy-intensive building service and laboratory systems.  By considering sustainable and energy efficient strategies during the design and construction of the new laboratory complex, energy consumption and operating costs can be reduced significantly.

The Science Centre will be built on the east of the site in a space created by the demolition of a workshop and accommodation unit and the relocation of existing student accommodation.  The building is a series of squares that step from three storeys on the north side to two storeys on the south side, following the contour of the land as it rises.  The Centre has been kept to three storeys to further minimise visibility from the marine reserve.

The design emphasis has been to keep the Centre's structures as organic and sustainable, and sympathetic to their natural surroundings, as possible.  The Science Centre will be a combination timber frame and concrete structure.  The building's design and construction materials must take account of the harsh coastal climate. The materials are "self finishing" weathering to soft muted colours. This will help embed the buildings into the natural environment. 

A complex that sits easily within its surrounding terrain is also important in the establishment of a Mainland Island planned to complement the laboratory's position on the marine reserve.  The SPCMS intends to undertake an extensive predator clearing and replanting programme to create a refuge for wildlife and another movement corridor for coastal and sea birds, integrating protection of the land with protection of the sea.