Green Building Summit 2009

6 Green Star Case Study: Maquarie Building, 1 Shelley Street, Sydney

'A' grade commercial building combining iconic architecture with ESD initiatives.

Maquarie Building, 1 Shelley Street, Sydney: Presented by Mark Flanagan (Development Director) + Andrew Steventon (Project Manager), Brookfield Multiplex, Sydney.

'When you get to 6 Stars, you will already have specified all the low hanging fruit and will need to specify some of the more complex and expensive items to achieve a high rating score.'

(Tony Sullivan- Beca)

Mark Flanagan and Andrew Steventon Brookfield Multiplex, Sydney, Australia Green Building Summit 2009 - Presentation download 6 Green Star Case Study: Maquarie Building, 1 Shelley Street, Sydney

The Maquarie Building achieved 83 points in design against the benchmark of 75 and included a 10% point margin to avoid disappointment.  They sensibly took advantage of their location on the harbour and permitted activity to use harbour water for heat rejection thus saving energy and water use.

Some of the items included in the project are:

• A passive chilled beam system to create energy efficient space cooling
• A single pass air system ensuring indoor air quality is of the highest possible standard with no recycled air in the building.
• A Return air path through Atrium.
• A Harbour heat rejection system to reduce water consumption through elimination of cooling towers.

AND they dared to innovate!

Innovation points were awarded for achieving status of:

• First building in Australia to utilise 100% of NLA with passive chilled beams and Harbour heat rejection.

AND

• Commissioning a Productivity Study aimed to better understand the relationships between green building, indoor environmental quality, occupant perception and satisfaction with workplace and their worker productivity.

The Project Team is now targeting a 6 Star Built rating. It is anticipated that a few points may get dropped at this phase as one negotiates different approaches to business as usual at all phases of building.

Some useful practices introduced to facilitate successful delivery of a 6 Star Project are:

• Inclusion of Green Star specifications into subcontractor agreements ensuring all subcontractors were aware of their deliverables and expectations well in advance.
• Site audits and subcontractor audits to ensure Green Star standards were adhered to on site.
• Implementation of an extensive education and training across the business.

Avoiding or at least limiting the element of surprise is crucial to the process!

At the moment we don't have any 6 Star Office buildings in New Zealand, but Tony Sullivan of Beca says there is "no reason technically why we can't achieve it here. After all, they've just opened a zero energy building in Singapore. Perhaps a large tenant will demand it, perhaps a developer will wish to raise their profile. Whatever drives it, I'm sure it will happen. The only question is who will be the first?"

Contributed by Padma Naidu (NZGBC Ecducation Manager) with thanks to Tony Sullivan Associate-Building Services (Beca-Auckland) and Andrew Rowden (Hawkins Construction-Christchurch).