IAG house at 388 George Street is an A-Grade commercial office building originally completed in 1976 and refurbished in 1998. The property is co-owned by Brookfield and Investa. It has 28 office levels with an NLA of 38,743 sqm and 80 car spaces.

In renovating the property, Brookfield’s main aim was to reduce consumption and waste and enhance the building’s sustainability credentials, thus improving the quality of the office space for the tenants whilst reducing the on-going operating costs of the building.

The upgrade included the installation of energy efficient lighting in common areas, a new building management system, variable speed drives to motors and refurbishment of the air handling system dampers to achieve greater energy savings and less wastage.

A new fire detection system was also installed and has resulted in fewer false alarms and improved service reliability. Smart metering of energy and water use by the landlord and all tenants has enabled all users of the building to monitor and reduce their consumption.

The refurbishment took three years to complete and 388 George Street has been awarded a 4 Star Green Star - Office As Built V2 rating and a 4.5 star NABERS Energy certified rating.

 

It has resulted in an energy saving of 1.2 million kWh every year or a reduction of 52.7 percent when compared to 2008 consumption. This translates to taking 320 family cars off the road.

It also now boasts a reduction of 62.7 percent in building energy intensity (MJ/sqm) and a reduction of 47.8 percent in building carbon intensity (Kg CO2-e/ sqm) from 2008.

The refurbishment has also meant there is a water saving of 5.5 million litres estimated to be saved every year. This is a saving of 2.2 Olympic swimming pools.

A range of technology was utilised in the refurbishment of the property. On all office floors smoke detectors, floor dampers, a Building Management Control System along with smart metering were installed. Further controls were installed for all tenant supplementary air conditioning systems.

In the base building areas, a new Building Management Control System was installed along with smart metering, fire indicator panel and detectors, T8 lights, lighting control system, new boilers, variable speed drives to pumps and fans, high efficiency fan and pump motors, rainwater harvesting, lift upgrade, bathroom upgrade and a new base building security system.

The ability for building managers to control level by level isolation contributes to energy savings. For example, air conditioning can be channelled to one level and avoid air circulation to empty floors.

A range of innovative materials and products were selected to ensure 388 George Street was refurbished to a high-quality standard and at the forefront of ESD for commercial office buildings.

 

Products and materials used included:

‐Low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) adhesives and sealants

‐Low emission formaldehyde to composite wood products

‐All timber and composite timber products are FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council)

‐Dual flush toilets

‐Sensor operated low flush urinals

‐Tap ware mixers

‐Cleaners taps  with 6L/minute flow restrictors

‐Replacement of energy inefficient hand dryers with paper towel dispensers

‐Energy efficient lighting

‐Metered soap dispenser system using vegetable based soaps

 

Low waste and consumption goals were achieved by reusing existing materials in the building. For example, partitions in all bathrooms were kept and covered in adhesive film to update the space. Similarly tiles in the bathrooms were kept and floor tiles were re-covered with vinyl.

The process of re-use throughout the refurbishment has contributed to not only monetary savings, but savings to the environment by reducing waste sent to landfill.

The refurbishment project also included methods to maximise the use of existing equipment and systems. Machinery in working order was updated to improve energy efficiency.

An example of this was the replacement of fan blades in the cooling towers with adjustable blades, which has reduced energy output by the cooling towers. Resources that would have otherwise been used to create and install new cooling towers have been saved.

During the replacement of the boilers, asbestos material handling required a strategy so tenants would not come in contact with it. Cranes were erected on the roof and a hole cut into the side of the building to ensure ease of replacement without impacting tenants.