At Newington’s Eungai Creek Campus, the aim was to create a high-performance, low-impact educational environment. The brief called for replacing high-embodied-carbon materials with regenerative alternatives, prioritising straw, timber, cork, and hemp, while maintaining the durability, comfort, and adaptability required for a modern campus. Durra Panel provided a modular solution for walls and ceilings, delivering carbon sequestration, acoustic and thermal comfort, visual warmth, and easy disassembly, helping the project achieve its ambitious sustainability and performance goals.
The design team set out with an ambitious goal: to eliminate high-impact materials such as concrete, aluminium, tiles, plastic, plasterboard, paint, and laminates wherever possible. Instead, they sought to build using the Construction Materials Pyramid by CINARK as a guide, prioritising biogenic materials like straw, timber, cork, hemp, and bamboo, complemented by steel where necessary for longevity and recyclability.
The brief demanded materials that could deliver structural strength, acoustic comfort, and thermal stability without layering multiple finishes, while also reducing embodied carbon, construction waste, and environmental impact. The challenge was to achieve high performance and durability, maintain visual warmth and authenticity, and allow for disassembly at the end of life, all within the context of an educational campus.
Durra Panel delivered a regenerative, high-performance solution for this ambitious brief. Compressed straw boards, enhanced with biochar in the core, were installed across walls and ceilings. Each square metre of panel sequesters 31 kg of CO₂, with the total 2,500 sqm installation capturing over 60 tonnes of carbon. The biochar not only boosts carbon sequestration but also filters indoor air naturally, reduces methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and ensures a biodegradable end-of-life outcome.
The panels are modular, reducing the need for additional finishes such as plasterboard, allowing the buildings to be assembled efficiently and disassembled at the end of their service life. By combining thermal and acoustic performance in a single material, the design team significantly lowered embodied carbon.
“Durra Panel was intrinsic to our conceptual approach to the project from Day 1. In fact all 10 buildings on campus were designed around the Durra Panel module. It was important that the project have a low environmental (carbon) footprint, be healthy, and be educational. Using Durra Panel was key to the project’s successful outcomes across all 3 domains. It was a pleasure working with the Durra team and we’re looking forward to doing so again on future projects.”
– Michael Jones | Studio Lead – Design, AJC
The outcome is a campus that not only performs but actively contributes to environmental restoration. Durra Panels provide acoustic comfort, thermal stability, and carbon sequestration while supporting a low-maintenance, durable building envelope. The use of biogenic materials and modular construction dramatically reduces embodied carbon and waste, while allowing the campus to be disassembled without leaving a trace.
Students, staff, and visitors experience spaces that are visually warm, thermally comfortable, and healthy, while the campus as a whole demonstrates what is achievable when sustainability, aesthetics, and performance are integrated from the outset.
Contact us to find out how Durra Panel can transform your next project
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