The Westpac Enviro Dome will be opened in 2008 on the site of the old Ape Block at Adelaide Zoo. The facility has been made possible through funding from the SA government’s Department of Education and Children’s Services and Westpac.

School programs will operate from the “Chimpanzee” end of the building. Three classrooms will provide student groups with a rich environment for learning. Interactive displays will include live animals, prepared skins and other “real” hands on materials. Rooms will be wired up to support electronic multimedia and will expand the use of technology by students at the Zoo. Outdoor teaching areas will include a courtyard and a roof-top garden.

Zoo education can bring conservation alive for students and community members by providing practical experiences and imparting information and stories in context. It supports curricula for preschool to tertiary aged students.

Formal education can use the Westpac Enviro Dome itself, a building that is designed to rigorous 'deep green' requirements to act as an educational tool and provide exceptional environmental performance. Discussions and demonstrations of sustainable ways to erect and operate buildings can look at:

• The use of existing walls and structures in the new facility.
• Procurement of building material which is recycled or produced ethically.
• Reuse of materials from the previous structures in other zoo areas.
• Sustainable energy use, using solar energy, building design, insulating features and better practices.
• Sustainable water use, including rainfall collection, grey water recycling, water saving innovation and better practices.
• Waste reduction and recycling through thoughtful structures and practices.

Students can be involved in hands-on activities to support the sustainability principles.

A kitchen, toilets and sheltered outdoor eating areas on the verandas will improve the quality of the overnight and holiday programs. Tent sites located in the roof-top garden will allow Education to offer overnight programs to secondary students and family or community groups for the first time
Students, like all Zoo visitors, will also benefit greatly from the Discovery area of the Enviro Dome.

More than 50,000 students currently use Adelaide Zoo’s facilities or resources. The Westpac Enviro Dome will increase the number of students and strengthen the conservation and sustainability messages that Zoos SA delivers.