BHP Billiton was presented with a 6 Star Green Star Interiors rating for its Perth fitout at Brookfield Place,with consulting engineers Norman Disney & Young (NDY) providing building and sustainability services.
Covering in excess of 60,000 square metres, the BHP Billiton certification is the first 6 Star Green Star Interiors rating in Western Australia, one of the very few to achieve such a rating for a project of this scale in the country.
“Our building fitout was designed not only with sustainability in mind, but also to provide a modern, open and flexible work space for our employees,” said vice president of health safety environment and community at BHP Billiton Iron Ore, Brett Swayn. The project was originally registered for a 5 Star Interiors rating, but the innovation points achieved have lifted that to a 6 Star rating.
Key innovations include the implementation of a Sustainable Supply Chain, where BHP Billiton put sustainability as an important procurement consideration, making decisions on credits not previously achieved on the scale of the company. Reduced transport emissions was furthermore achieved through 'Virtual meeting' facilities.
The tower is the tallest side core building in the Southern Hemisphere, which offsets the large concrete core to the north of the project, in effect providing an enormous concrete heat shield.
As the BHP Billiton fitout was fully integrated in to the base building works, waste was also minimised while efficiencies were maximised. This greatly contributed to environmentally sustainable design and green upgrades.
Image: brookfieldmultiplex.com
The building design, construction and fitout were built upon the strong foundations of indoor environment quality, occupant amenity and operational efficiency.
For instance, all employee workstations are located within eight metres of natural light, while all lights in the building adjust automatically depending on the level of natural light. After 6pm, the lighting becomes sensor-activated, thereby deactivating automatically once the premises are empty.
Other initiatives include a demand-based supplementary HVAC system with control of ventilation rates integrated with the base building’s CO2 monitoring HVAC system, and energy efficient Power over Ethernet telephone network system.
"Overall, these initiatives contributed to a 20 per cent improvement on a 5 Star NABERS rating for the fitout," says NDY's sustainability and acoustics consultant Aaron James.
Already established as an iconic landmark on the Perth skyline, the 45-levels Brookfield Place development is also home to PWC and Barrick Gold.
