Australia's Greenest office Building – 40 Albert Road, Melbourne

Seems like everybody’s building them! Rarely a building goes up that hasn’t an accompanying list of claims crowing about how green it is.

Comparing is not always straightforward - after all, the real estate game is the real estate game …

One good thing however, is that “Mine’s greener than yours” seems to have more traction than “Mine’s bigger than yours.”

Something is happening out there…

Commercial buildings are major users of water and energy. While greener buildings may have only recently “crept up” on most of the populace, there are some, like Peter Szental, who’ve been at it for years. Late in 2005 he was named NSW DEUS Ambassador for Energy and Water for 2005-2006, acknowledging his passion for sustainable building solutions for over 25 years.

40 Albert Road, South Melbourne is a 1,200m2 five-storey office building built in 1987, which was regenerated during 2004-05 to world leading environmental standards. Sophisticated, contemporary style with cutting edge sustainable design, it is now headquarters to Peter Szental’s Szencorp group. A showcase of sustainable building performance and innovative technology, it has achieved many world and Australian “firsts.”

It has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star – Office Design V1 rating which gives the project “world leadership” status, and is the first office refurbishment in Australia to be awarded this rating.

It demonstrates that an innovative, holistic and long-term approach to the building design can reap business and environmental benefits whilst maintaining commercial viability.

40 Albert Road’s “greenest building” claim derives from scoring the highest rating score on design before building completion, and then having the highest possible performance obligations against ratings to be met post-completion; this includes an absolute commitment to monitoring and verification of results (and their transparent reporting). The emphasis of the project post-completion is on accountability for results, with state-of-the-art monitoring systems installed to ensure actual building performance lives up to expectations. Szencorp has also taken a number of steps to ensure that the lessons from the project are passed on to all interested parties. These include running tours of the building features, establishing a building website (www.ourgreenoffice.com) and making building energy and water use monitoring data available online.

Groundbreaking achievements include:

• Australian first refurbished building to attain 6-star world leadership status awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia under its GreenStar ratings scheme. To achieve a 6 GreenStar rating a building must score a minimum of 75 points. 40 Albert Road achieved a design score of 83, making it the greenest building in Australia.

• Australian first building refurbishment to sign a five-star commitment agreement with the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) system.

• Believed to be world first integrated sensor and management system developed by Szencorp’s Energy Conservation Systems Pty Ltd, for occupancy lighting, HVAC and security control.

• Australian first zero emissions building completed and occupied in September 2005.

• Australian first use of the Drykor dehumidification unit which dries and cools the office space simultaneously, using a desiccant to absorb the water vapour from the air. The process removes 94% of all micro-organisms and 77% of particles larger than 5 microns thereby helping overcome “sick building syndrome.”

• Australian first use of on-site ceramic fuel cells to supply non-grid electricity and heat for hot water. The unit catalytically cracks natural gas rather than burning it resulting in high energy efficiency with lower emissions at a lower cost.

• Australian first commercial use of natural gas engine air conditioning units.

Click here for more technical details.

Measurable environmental benefits include:
• 70% reduction in energy use compared to conventional offices
• 30% of its own energy requirements will be self generated with a view to becoming a greenhouse sink/energy exporter within two years
• 82% reduction in potable (drinking quality) water usage
• 72% reduction in sewerage discharge compared to similar offices

Other benefits include cost savings (energy and water), increased rental returns, enhanced working environment through natural air flow, increased staff productivity and occupational health and safety improvements.

Szencorp Group companies are market leaders in energy and water efficiency design and technology for the built environment. 40 Albert Road acts as a “live and working” marketing demonstration to prospective clients considering building refurbishments and innovative environmental technology solutions.

Click here to find more information on Green buildings generally and Szencorp.

The Warren Centre’s “Low Energy High Rise” project seeks to overcome the barriers that prevent energy efficient technology, systems and processes from being adopted in the commercial building sector. We are currently seeking volunteers from the property industry to work with this project. For more information please go to www.warren.usyd.edu.au/projects.htm and follow the link to Low Energy High Rise.

Disclaimer: The Warren Centre publishes articles relating to new technology and innovation that are often based on information supplied by third parties. While an editorial process is applied, we make no exhaustive investigation into the accuracy of the information, thus no liability will be accepted for its accuracy. Please note that in providing this information, The Warren Centre is not supporting or promoting any technology or company, merely seeking to inform. Interested readers should take their own steps to verify the information prior to relying on it in any way.
 

96% of the original building structure and 88% of the façade was reused.  Screening provides a modern aesthetic while reducing glare

'Energy Conservation Systems' Managed Lighting Systems (MLS) controls lighting intensity in 21 zones throughout the building, through a sophisticated sensor system that also links directly to HVAC and security systems

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(c) The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, November 2006