Written by Andrea Barnard Thursday, 04 March 2010 12:50
DURACK II, a world-class building situated in the heart of the Perth CBD, sets a benchmark in environmentally-friendly design and is the brain-child of design, engineering, environmental, management, planning and advisory company AECOM.
AECOM Associate Director and mechanical engineer, Graham Agar, says the recent sharp demand for office space in WA led to the design and construction of Durack II, a six star Green Star Energy rating building located on the corner of Terrace Road and Victoria Avenue, Perth.
“Durack II was a speculative office development, which was designed to provide high quality commercial space for tenants,” Mr Agar says.
“It was also Stockland Property Group’s first major new office building development in Perth, so it was designed to be a flag ship project.”
AECOM, a global company with over 45, 0000 employees, has set a common goal to enhance and sustain the world’s built, natural and social environments.
The Durack II building incorporates a number of innovative technologies, including active chilled beams, which were designed and built by Australian company Dadanco.
“Because of the height restrictions for the building being in a residential area, we lowered the floors and put in chilled beams, which is quite unusual for Perth. Durack II is one of the first commercial buildings in Perth to have them,” Mr Agar says.
“Chilled beams work by circulating water around the floor rather than just circulating air.
“Water is around 4000 times better at heat absorption than air is, so for every 4000 litres of air you move just 1 litre of water. This is very good for energy consumption.”
In addition to chilled beams, Mr Agar says Durack II also boasts a number of other energy efficient features which add to its environmentally sustainable design.
“It’s in the first generation of buildings which have put in a grey water treatment plan.
“This works by taking water from showers and hand basins and cleaning it up to be used to flush toilets. It is the second one in Perth to be commissioned.
“The building uses approximately 50 percent of the energy and produces around 50 percent of the carbon emissions of a regular office building in Perth.
“It saves more than 2 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water each year compared to an average building.
“It also generates its own renewable power from wind turbines and feeds excess energy back to the grid and is the first project in the CBD to accomplish this.”
According to Mr Agar, as the cost of power continues to increase, mandatory disclosure of carbon emissions will become a legal requirement.
Tenants will start to recognise the difference between sustainable buildings and the rest of the market. Eventually, this will mean that buildings have to do the right thing by energy usage or become vacant.
“The project expects to save almost $80,000 each year in electricity costs alone,” he says.
