An HVAC solution from Fujitsu General met the specific requirements of a co-living apartment building in suburban Sydney, enabling the owner to monitor power usage by each tenant.

Situated on St John Street in the Sydney CBD-fringe suburb of Glebe, this co-living property is designed for professionals looking for a conveniently located residential apartment with access to communal spaces that extend the living environment and provide a sense of community.

Background

The property owner, Zenprop provided JHA Engineers with a highly detailed brief to include an HVAC solution from a top-tier manufacturer that would deliver a cooling and heating solution for all individual spaces.

Engaged as the mechanical contractor for the HVAC project, Epic Air worked closely with Fujitsu General to ensure the design, installation and commissioning of the system was achieved on time and on budget.

The Project

The three-storey 1,251-square-metre building was constructed on the site of an old pub and a terrace house with a heritage façade. While the pub was knocked down, the house was renovated and incorporated into the design. Though the terrace house appears to be a separate building from the outside, it is connected internally with two of the apartments housed within the terrace.

The finished co-living property consists of 33 studio apartments and one commercial space.

Challenges

Unlike standard apartment blocks, this property will have one owner with multiple tenants; therefore, the HVAC solution required a smart monitoring system to enable the owner to identify and apportion electricity charges to each tenant easily and accurately.

It was also important that the property had a system that could control and manage power distribution to each individual apartment, so that if one apartment was impacted by a power outage the rest of the property was not affected.

Outcome

Having worked successfully with Fujitsu General on numerous projects in the past, Epic Air was confident about specifying a Fujitsu VRF system. This solution provided the property with a centralised heat recovery solution from a leading air conditioning manufacturer, also meeting the client’s brief.

One of the key reasons Epic Air chose to work with Fujitsu was due to the high level of support Fujitsu offered. In addition, the commercial VRF system being installed came with a three-year warranty, which was longer than other manufacturers could offer. Service was available through Fujitsu’s in-house Fujitsu Assist team, so all these benefits added a lot of value to the project.

During the tendering and construction process, Fujitsu General worked closely with Epic Air to provide technical support and system information in a timely manner.

The challenge of controlling the power connection to individual tenancies was solved with the installation of Fujitsu General’s multi tenancy cards. This solution needed to be integrated with automatic shutdown system requirements outlined by the Building Code of Australia.

Epic Air and Fujitsu’s commissioning team worked together and conducted multiple onsite tests to ensure the integration of the multi tenancy card system worked according to the project requirements.

“The experience we gained from working with Fujitsu on this project has ensured that Epic Air will have no difficulties installing many more of these Fujitsu systems moving forward. We differentiate ourselves from our competitors by providing our clients a premium service, which involves devoting the necessary time to ensure the system will function as needed,” Nelson Gu, mechanical engineer, Epic Air said.

Architecture & Design Team

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Fujitsu General Australia

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