Luggate Community Association chairman Graeme Perkins said the hall’s passive house standard design and panelised timber would set it apart from other community buildings.
"We are a growing but very tightknit community and having such an environmentally sensitive building as the permanent replacement for the old hall will mean a lot for current and future residents," he said.
Developed in Germany and applying to all kinds of buildings, not just houses, the passive house standard results in buildings that use about 90% less heating energy than existing buildings and 75% less than an average new one.
The stakeholders’ group included community association members, Queenstown Lakes district councillors Calum MacLeod, Niamh Shaw and Quentin Smith, members of the project team, and council staff.
Council property director Richard Pope said the new hall would not have been possible without community trust grants; the Central Lakes Trust approved a grant of $750,000 while the Otago Community Trust granted an additional $400,000 recently.
The former Luggate Community Hall was decommissioned in 2017 due to seismic concerns, and the Queenstown Lakes District Council provided a temporary replacement in July last year.
