5 Star Green Star Office as Built v2 Rating

275 George Street, Brisbane, QLD

Brisbane added a new sustainable project to the city with the Charter Hall and K-REIT Asia (Australia) Trust owned commercial office building in 275 George Street, Brisbane CBD being awarded a 5 Star Green Star Office Design v2 rating in 2008 and a 5 Star Green Star Office as Built v2 rating in May 2010.

The development covers over 32 storeys, 40,000 sqm of commercial space was created by Norman Disney & Young and designed by architects Crone Partners. Watpac built the project developed in a joint venture between Charter Hall and Indigo. This space includes 1,431 sqm of retail space and a further 244 car park bays in the building’s basement.

The basement structure and foundations of the building were already completed during its original construction of the Northbank Plaza 30 years ago. Redeveloping the basement meant the refurbishment was completed in the fraction of time, which holds particular relevance in achieving budget costs and timing for a building based in the immediate surroundings of Brisbane’s busy CBD. This head start also meant waste from its construction phase, noise and air pollution were kept to a minimum.

This building was built on a basis of ‘A Grade’ Design Specification, for office buildings from the Property Council of Australia; as a result the environmental features go beyond exterior pollution, attaining a degree of Australian Excellence. The sustainable design innovations within the fitout include energy saving systems such as a building control system. This enables total and close control of energy moving around and being consumed within the building.

A significant contribution to energy consumption stems from a buildings lighting system, consumption of this was curbed in this building through the installation of a motion detector system as part of a lighting zoning system, in some of the most communal areas such as the toilets, office lobby and the car park.

The heating and the cooling of the building is being controlled through a zoning system which works to confine air conditioning to a specific area of the building when the building isn’t being occupied by its workers. This limits the quantity of air conditioning travelling through the building and significantly cuts down on the amount of electricity used, compared to a traditional HVAC system.

A greywater treatment facility has been put into place which recycles waste water from the building to be reused with onsite amenities such as throughout the toilet system; waste water from the cooling towers is also recycled. Other elements of the building that are recycled is the use of 90% recycled steel throughout the project and industrial waste product replaced 40% of all the cement used during the construction phase.

The exterior of the building impressively impacts on its sustainable contributions through the implementation of the high performance façade. This façade incorporates the use of spandrel panels and glazing, the thermal properties of these means that solar energy moving through into the building is cut down during the hotter months whilst during the winter months it works to limit the buildings heat loss; the adaptable nature of the façade means that energy consumption through the need to heat and cool the building is significantly cut down.

This building has been regarded as one which has become one of the most efficient high rise tower buildings in Brisbane, the majority of its significance stemming from its part in the master planned  North Bank precinct plans. Owing to this significant redevelopment of the existing structure, along with the buildings Green Star rating, it has also been awarded a 4.5 Star NABERS Energy rating.