Led by John Lenagan, the sustainability expert of Geyer, VAGO’s refurbishment reviewed and adopted a new philosophy to its space requirements.
In association with project manager Montlaur and Connell Wagner, services engineers and ESD specialist, the firm outfitted VAGO’s Melbourne offices with a slew of systems designed to reduce energy usage. The design detailing, services design, and finish selection were developed on the basis of achieving the targeted 4-star ABGR and Green Star fit out rating.
For its part, VAGO purchases 25% of its power with Green Power energy credits, drawing upon solar, wind and other renewable resources. Geyer has provided electricity sub-meters to assist the building manager to monitor electricity usage. Meters connected to the Building Management System allow easy monitoring of energy consumption for each electrical load.
Monitoring is done to enable VAGO maintain savings from existing energy efficiency investments and initiatives, identify any new opportunities for savings, create a solid database to enable cost control, external comparison, and monitoring of greenhouse impacts.
An energy-efficient lighting system automatically controls T5 linear fluorescent bulbs with motion and daylight sensors, resulting in an estimated energy usage of 16%, compared with 67% in standard offices. The motion sensors and daylight sensors vary the intensity of lighting to suit the time of day and provide high efficiency lighting.
Set to activate after 10 to 20 minutes of inactivity for each photocopier and printer, the automatically enabled power save modes on peripherals printers, photocopiers, and fax machines will save up to 25W of power compared to VAGO´s previous office system. All mechanical equipment, including refrigerators, dishwashers and air conditioning systems also have the option of turning on /off independently.
Geyer has also installed water-efficient fixtures such as dual-flush toilets, waterless urinals, sensor activated taps, and efficient showerheads. The fixtures are projected to save VAGO up to 55% in water usage compared to a typical office with standard water fixtures.
The interior of the office has centralized facilities for teaming and collaboration on each floor, maximizing the opportunity for various business divisions to interconnect and share knowledge. The open plan and workstation design provides abundant natural light and vista views to all work areas.
The modular usage of space coupled with intelligent layout and use of the facilities will provide long-term flexibility and support the different work styles of various business units. Provision of facilities such as showers and lockers, workplace layout, wireless and portable computing specifications are set to retain high-level personnel.
A highly branded, secured main entry provides security over the whole client facing facility, conveying the history, stability, and important role of the office in the Victorian community.
Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star, similar to the US Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, is used to determine the suitability and longevity of a building’s fit-out materials after a yearlong occupancy period.
