Greening Your Skyscraper

Case Study in Improving the Environmental Performance of an Existing Skyscraper

Lester E Partridge BE, CPEng, FIEAust 1 and Eoin Loughnane BE, CEng 2

1
Principal, Director of Applied Research, Bassett Applied Research, Level 11, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia,
Tel: +61 2 8295 7555, Fax: +612 8595 7500, Email: l.partridge@bassett.com.au
2
Associate, Bassett Applied Research, Level 11, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, Email: e.loughnane@bassett.com.au

Abstract
Many new buildings are being designed to incorporate sustainable features which enhance a building’s environmental
performance. However new buildings only represent a small percentage of the entire building stock. Upgrading existing
buildings to meet higher sustainability performance targets presents a huge opportunity for building owners, designers
and contractors. This paper outlines the strategies and design processes undertaken for refurbishing a 30 storey building
in Sydney’s CBD. The building was originally constructed in 1976 and consists of 35,500m2 commercial net lettable
area over 30 floors with ground floor retail tenancies. Two above ground plant levels and two below ground car parking
levels serve the building. The building underwent a major façade and services refurbishment in 1996. A scope of works
was developed in 2006 with the aim of reducing the base building system’s greenhouse gas emissions from 141 kg C02
to 87 kg C02. The project also aimed at achieving a 5 star rating, out of a possible 6 stars, as defined by the Green
l.partridge@bassett. e.loughnane@bassett.
Building Council of Australia’s ‘Green Star’ rating scheme. com.au com.au
Lester Partridge
Lester Partridge
Keywords: is a Principal
Case Study, of Bassett
Refurbishment, LowConsulting Engineers
Energy, Sustainable Talland National Group Leader of the Research and Develop-
Building.
ment division, Bassett Applied Research. Bassett Applied Research is a specialist division of the AECOM group of com-
panies.
Introduction the number of workstations within the net lettable area.
Lester has over 20 years of experience in the building services industry in Australia, UK and USA specializing in mechani-
The building is aenergy
31 year old commercial The Green Building Council of Australia’s ‘Green
office “Green” building
cal services, thermal and modelling and sustainable design.
locatedis ainqualified
Sydney’s CBD comprising 2 Star’ system is a derivation of the UK BREEAM and US
Lester engineer and a Fellowofof 35,500m of Institute of Engineers.
the Australian
commercial LEED environmental rating systems and awards 4 to 6
Lester’s groupnet lettableexpertise
provides area. The building’s
in passive 30 floors
and low energy building design. His group provides capability and expertise
are served by mid and high level plant rooms that house stars for achieving credits toward eight environmental
in building energy simulation as well as comfort and daylight modelling. Over the last few years Lester’s group has un-
the Variable Air Volume (VAV) Air Handling Units categories including; Management, Indoor
dertaken research and published a number of studies on reducing building energy consumption through improved building
(AHUs). Chilled and heating water is reticulated to the Environmental Quality, Energy, Transport, Materials,
services design using advanced modelling techniques.
AHUs from a chiller plant located at basement level and Water, Landscape and Ecology, and Emissions.
a boiler plant
Eoin Loughnane located in the high level plant room. Heat
rejection
Eoin from the
Loughnane is chillers is by and
an Associate means of roof
Senior mountedEngineer with an honours degree from the National University
Mechanical
cooling towers.
of Ireland, Galway. He has particular experience in thermal modelling and ecologically sustainable design. He provides
In 2006
nationwide the building’s
support for Bassettjoint owners, Engineers’
Consulting commissionedenergy modelling professionals and has lectured “Energy Manage-
Bassett Consulting Engineers to undertake
ment in Buildings” at the University of Sydney’s a feasibility
Faculty of Architecture. Prior to joining Bassett, Eoin worked at a leading
study to assess
international whether
Building the building
Engineering was capable
consulatncy of UK. Eoin is a Green Building Council of Australia accredited
in London,
being upgraded to achieve 4.5 Star Australian Building
professional and an Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) accredited assessor.
Greenhouse Rating scheme (ABGR) base building and
tenancy ratings and 5 Star ‘Green Star’ Office Design
ratings.
The ABGR scheme, developed by the Australian
Federal Government and administered by the various
State Governments, is designed to rate commercial office
buildings with respect to their greenhouse gas emissions
caused by a building’s energy consumption. The scale
is from 1 to 5 Stars with ½ Star increments being
awarded. The rating scheme allows the rating of base
buildings, tenancies and whole buildings (base building
+ tenancies) to be undertaken. The system normalises
the actual greenhouse gas emissions based on net lettable
floor area, area weighted operating hours, building Figure 1: Project site
location and for a tenancy and whole building analysis,

CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 

 Greening Your Skyscraper
Case Study in Improving the Environmental Performance of an Existing Skyscraper

Lester E Partridge BE, CPEng, FIEAust 1 and Eoin Loughnane BE, CEng 2

1
Principal, Director of Applied Research, Bassett Applied Research, Level 11, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia,
Tel: +61 2 8295 7555, Fax: +612 8595 7500, Email: l.partridge@bassett.com.au
2
Associate, Bassett Applied Research, Level 11, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, Email: e.loughnane@bassett.com.au

Abstract
Many new buildings are being designed to incorporate sustainable features which enhance a building’s environmental
performance. However new buildings only represent a small percentage of the entire building stock. Upgrading existing
buildings to meet higher sustainability performance targets presents a huge opportunity for building owners, designers
and contractors. This paper outlines the strategies and design processes undertaken for refurbishing a 30 storey building
in Sydney’s CBD. The building was originally constructed in 1976 and consists of 35,500m2 commercial net lettable
area over 30 floors with ground floor retail tenancies. Two above ground plant levels and two below ground car parking
levels serve the building. The building underwent a major façade and services refurbishment in 1996. A scope of works
was developed in 2006 with the aim of reducing the base building system’s greenhouse gas emissions from 141 kg C02
to 87 kg C02. The project also aimed at achieving a 5 star rating, out of a possible 6 stars, as defined by the Green
Building Council of Australia’s ‘Green Star’ rating scheme.

Keywords: Case Study, Refurbishment, Low Energy, Sustainable Tall Building.

Introduction the number of workstations within the net lettable area.

The building is a 31 year old commercial office The Green Building Council of Australia’s ‘Green
located in Sydney’s CBD comprising of 35,500m2 of Star’ system is a derivation of the UK BREEAM and US
commercial net lettable area. The building’s 30 floors LEED environmental rating systems and awards 4 to 6
are served by mid and high level plant rooms that house stars for achieving credits toward eight environmental
the Variable Air Volume (VAV) Air Handling Units categories including; Management, Indoor
(AHUs). Chilled and heating water is reticulated to the Environmental Quality, Energy, Transport, Materials,
AHUs from a chiller plant located at basement level and Water, Landscape and Ecology, and Emissions.
a boiler plant located in the high level plant room. Heat
rejection from the chillers is by means of roof mounted
cooling towers.
In 2006 the building’s joint owners, commissioned
Bassett Consulting Engineers to undertake a feasibility
study to assess whether the building was capable of
being upgraded to achieve 4.5 Star Australian Building
Greenhouse Rating scheme (ABGR) base building and
tenancy ratings and 5 Star ‘Green Star’ Office Design
ratings.
The ABGR scheme, developed by the Australian
Federal Government and administered by the various
State Governments, is designed to rate commercial office
buildings with respect to their greenhouse gas emissions
caused by a building’s energy consumption. The scale
is from 1 to 5 Stars with ½ Star increments being
awarded. The rating scheme allows the rating of base
buildings, tenancies and whole buildings (base building
+ tenancies) to be undertaken. The system normalises
the actual greenhouse gas emissions based on net lettable
floor area, area weighted operating hours, building Figure 1: Project site
location and for a tenancy and whole building analysis,

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

 Additional credits are also able to be achieved
through the implementation of innovation in buildings
however the awarding of these credits is at the discretion
of the Green Building Council and reliance on them
during the design stage is not recommended.
Methodology
The approach taken by the sustainability
consultants involved undertaking a detailed review of the
existing building and As Built drawings. An ‘Existing
Building’ ‘Green Star’ analyses was undertaken. This
analysis demonstrated where ‘Green Star’ credits were
available and which additional ‘Green Star’ credits were
required to meet the 5 star rating.
Table 1: ABGR rating scheme star rating assessment in relation to
kgCO2 emissions
Star Rating kgCO2/m2 Emissions
1 199
2 167
3 135
4 103
5 71
Based on 940 tonnes CO2 per MWh electricity, 230
tonnes CO2 per MWh natural gas and 2.8 kgCO2 per litre
diesel oil consumption for Sydney.
Electricity, Gas and Standby Diesel Oil invoices
and receipts were collected for a full 13 month period
and applied to the ABGR schemes rating calculator.
This demonstrated that the building was operating at 2.8
stars or 141 kg C02 per m2.
An improvement in energy consumption
equivalent to approximately 30% was required in order
to achieve the 4.5 star ABGR rating.
Energy Simulation Modelling
An extensive energy simulation modelling
exercise was undertaken to investigate the building’s
potential to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas
emissions and hence elevate its base building ABGR
rating. The modelling was undertaken in accordance
with the ABGR’s Validation Protocol for Computer
Simulations {2} which required an ‘off axis’ analysis be
undertaken whereby faults were purposely built into the
computer model’s operation to simulate for
imperfections in the system. The purpose of the ‘off-axis’
analysis is to determine the sensitivity of the building’s
system design to real operational issues.
A 3-dimensional computer simulation model of the
building and its neighbouring buildings was created.
The façade solar performance and fabric thermal
resistances were applied to the model along with
occupant usage and plant operation profiles. A model
of the actual HVAC system was then integrated into the
geometric model and a simulation undertaken using
recorded Sydney hourly weather data. The model was
assessed using both a ‘Green Star’ compliant Test
Reference Year (TRY) file and an International Weather
file for Energy Calculations (IWEC). IWEC files were
deemed more accurate as they are compiled based on up
to 25 years of recorded weather data whereas TRYs are
based on a single year’s weather.
Figure 2: Simulation model using IES<virtual Environment>
Software
The HVAC model was compiled with supply air
rates, coil capacities and temperature controls replicating
each of the building zones. All plant items’ efficiencies at
both peak and part load were incorporated so as to gain
an accurate representation of the system’s actual
performance.
Often buildings that are modeled demonstrate
remarkable energy efficiency, however in operation they
fail to meet their theoretical performance. The reason
for this is often due to poor commissioning and ongoing
maintenance standards and inherent design flaws. To
test how robust a building’s HVAC system is, an “off
axis” analysis is performed. This involves modelling
the failure of certain systems and analysing the
sensitivity of the building energy consumption.
Systems which are very sensitive to certain in
congruencies will often find it difficult to achieve
theoretical ratings, whereas systems which are less
sensitive rely less on good maintenance to achieve their
high theoretical performance.
The results of the energy simulation indicated that
the building services had the theoretical potential to
achieve a Base Building ABGR 4.5 star rating despite
only actually rating 2.8 Stars. This was thought to be
due to an aging building management control system.
Updating the building management system and
re-commissioning the entire building could potentially
provide a theoretical 4.5 Stars.
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
Table 2: Base building energy results comparison for current and Table 3: Base building greenhouse gas emission results for current and
proposed upgrade works proposed upgrade works.

Existing Proposed Existing Proposed

Energy End Use (MJ/m2/pa) Building Upgrade Carbon Emissions End Use (kgCO2/m2) Building Upgrade

Heating (electric) 0.7 0.0

Heating (electric) 2.6 0.0
Heating (gas) 1.1 0.0
Heating (gas) 18.0 0.1
Space cooling 16.4 11.6
Space cooling 63.0 44.3
Pumps 7.6 3.9
Pumps 29.1 14.9
HVAC fans 15.8 13.0
HVAC fans 60.7 49.8 Tenant Condenser Water 11.6 11.6
Tenant Condenser Water 44.4 44.4 Miscellaneous HVAC 16.1 14.7
Miscellaneous HVAC 61.5 56.5 Tenant Tempered Fresh Air 1.4 0.0
Tenant Tempered Fresh Air 8.4 0.0 Generators 1.6 28.1
Generators 6.2 434.8 Common area lighting 12.3 6.5
Common area lighting 47.0 24.9 Exterior Lighting 0.1 0.1
Exterior Lighting 0.5 0.5 Domestic Hot Water 0.5 0.0
Domestic Hot Water 7.2 0.0 Hydraulics Pumping 1.5 3.2
Hydraulics Pumping 5.8 12.3 Lifts 4.7 4.7
Lifts 18.0 15.0 Switchboard Voltage Losses 1.7 1.5
Switchboard Voltage Losses 6.6 5.9 Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions 93.1 98.9
Electricity Displaced by CoGen Plant 0.0 -39.4
Total Energy Use 378.9 703.2
Electricity Displaced by CoGen Plant 0.0 -150.9 Total Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions 93.1 59.5
Total Net Energy Use 378.9 552.3

As demonstrated in Table 3, the adoption of all

It was determined that the margin for error was too
tight to provide a guarantee that the building would
achieve a 4.5 Star ABGR rating. On this basis it was
recommended to the client that a trigeneration system be
installed.
Tri-generation systems typically burn natural gas
in a reciprocating engine or turbine producing vast
quantities of high grade heat. This heat can be used for
space heating within a building and domestic hot water.
It can also be used for generating chilled water through
conversion by an absorption chiller. The waste product
from the trigeneration system is electricity generated
from an alternator connected to the engine or turbine.
Figure 3: Tri-generation concept (Source
Cogeneration systems generally achieve efficiencies
of up to 80% when fully utilised in comparison to 30% for
grid connected electricity. Electricity generated for
Sydney is primarily generated from black coal burning
power stations emitting 940 kg C02 per kWh of electricity
delivered. In contrast natural gas piped to buildings is
consumed on site emitting 230 kg C02 per kWh. The
provision of the trigeneration system was responsible for
reducing the buildings C02 emissions by a further 10
kgC02 per annum and upgrading the potential ABGR star
rating to 5 Stars.
greenhouse emission strategies would reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions to 59.5 kgCO2/m2. This value
is equivalent to 53 kgCO2/m2 when normalized in
accordance with the ABGR calculator which is well
below the 5 Star target of 71 kgCO2/m2.
General Environmental Sustainability Upgrade
Strategies
In order to achieve the 5 Star ‘Green Star’
environmental rating a number of strategies were
implemented, these included:
x Upgrading tenant area lighting
x Upgrading common area lighting
x Providing peak electricity demand reduction control
using the trigeneration system
x Installing extensive sub-metering infrastructure
x Replacing central refrigeration plant with new high
efficiency plant
x Upgrading existing air plant with high efficiency
motors
x Replacing the existing building management system
with a new modern system
x Installation of a centralised black-water treatment
plant
x Replacement of hydraulic fittings with low flow
appliances
x Providing cyclist facilities for occupants
x Providing rainwater harvesting
x Upgrading fire system test water
The following subsections detail the upgrade work
proposed for the building in order to upgrade the
environmental performance to achieve the 5 Star ‘Green
Star’ rating.

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008

Electrical Systems Upgrade
Tenant Area Lighting
The existing T8 luminaires are to be replaced with
single tube 25W T5 fittings thereby halving the
building’s average lighting power sensitivity from 12 to
6W/m2. Existing tungsten halogen down lights in the
meeting rooms are to be replaced with compact
fluorescents, lowering the average meeting room lighting
power density from 60 to 13W/m2. The increased
efficiency of the building’s lighting enables the size of
the chiller plant to be rationalised with a resulting
reduction in base building energy consumption.
All new luminaires are to be fitted with electronic
ballasts enabling an additional ‘Green Star’ credit to be
claimed
The design includes an intelligent control system
which will turn lights on and off based on time switch
and motion sensing. The perimeter fittings are to be
controlled by photoelectric sensors to enable daylight
harvesting; i.e. control of the fittings’ output to ensure
that a minimum of 320 lux is provided on the working
plane at all times yet allowing energy savings when there
is sufficient daylight to supplement the artificial lighting.
Figure 4: Building floor plate and individual lighting zones
Common Area Lighting
The car park lights are to be replaced with high
efficiency fittings controlled by the lighting control
system. The lights will be activated by time switch and
during the out-of-hours periods lights are activated by
occupancy sensors. This strategy is to be adopted in
both the lift lobbies and the toilet areas up through the
building.
At present, the building’s lighting for the three fire stairs’
operates on a 24 hour, 7 day/week basis on the landings
of all 30 floors. The refurbishment’s design includes
the fitting of reed switch controls to activate the lighting
once a door opens into the stairs.
Figure 5: Daylight modelling of floor plate demonstrating area
achieving daylight factor of greater than 2.5% during uniform cloudy
day.
Peak Energy Demand Reduction Generator
The design includes a gas fired tri-generation
system that has been sized to reduce the base building
system’s peak electrical demand by 25%. This 25%
peak demand reduction allows a ‘Green Star’ credit to be
claimed.
Smart Metering Infrastructure
The design incorporates a smart metering
infrastructure system designed to comply with ‘Green
Star’ credits. The metering system is deemed “smart”
as its meters communicate digitally with the systems
dedicated head end, as opposed to standard pulse meters.
This allows the head end to record a range of data from
each meter such as line current, power and energy
consumption. The system is also configured to alarm
the building manager should there be a loss in
communications between a meter and the head end.
During a communications failure the meter continuously
records its data and uploads it to the head end upon
re-establishment of communications thereby ensuring
that a full annual data set is recorded for each meter.
The base building system’s mechanical control
panels are metered in a configuration that allows all
major load contributions to be analysed in isolation.
Minor load contributing plant items are metered together
in groups no greater than 100kVA to aid future
diagnostics and allow a ‘Green Star’ credit to be claimed.
The ‘head end’ of the smart metering system is to
be programmed with weekly energy consumption targets
for each component of the base building energy
consumption. The targets have been calculated as part
of the extensive energy simulation modeling exercise
undertaken to validate the design strategies. The head
end is to be programmed to alarm the building manager
and provide him with the tools to identify ‘rogue’ plant
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
items that have been incorrectly programmed to run out
of hours and rectify the situation.
Each of the tower’s 30 office floors is fitted with
dedicated tenancy meters to enable the tenant to monitor
their energy performance. In addition, each of the
building’s seven ground floor retail tenancies are
provided with submeters to enable accurate monitoring
of the entire building’s electricity consumption.
Mechanical Systems Upgrade
Chiller Plant & Ancillaries
The building’s three existing chillers are to be
replaced by two variable speed centrifugal machines and
a low load screw. The low load machine has been sized
to meet the peak demand of the retail tenancies on the
ground and lower ground levels thereby optimizing the
plant’s efficiency at weekends and during out of hours
periods. Thermal smart meters are to be provided to
itemise the chilled water consumption attributable to the
retail tenancies.
The new chiller plant has been specified with zero
ozone depletion potential R134A refrigerant. The
selection of chillers which meet this criterion enables a
‘Green Star’ credit to be claimed.
An absorption chiller that has been incorporated
into the design to reclaim heat from the gas fried
co-generation system to produce chilled water. The
chilled water produced supplements that of the central
chilled water plant thereby reducing CO2 emissions
further.
New chilled water pumps are to be provided with
high efficiency motors and variable speed drives. A
variable speed primary pumping circuit will enable the
pumps to back off at non peak load thereby saving
considerable pumping energy. The pumps’ minimum
flow rates have been designed so as to ensure that the
chillers’ evaporator vessels have sufficient flow rates to
prevent freezing.
New condenser water pumps with high efficiency
motors and variable speed drives are to be provided. By
varying the pump speed the return condenser water
temperature from the cooling towers can be optimized
thereby maximising the chillers’ efficiency whilst
yielding pumping energy savings.
The existing cooling towers are to be retained and
their fans fitted with new high efficiency motors with
variable speed drives. The intent of the controls is to
stage the towers up and down in parallel to yield
maximum chiller efficiency from over-cooling the
condenser water.
The towers are to have their chemical dosage rates
and bleed valves set so as to achieve > 6 cycles of
concentration thereby enabling a ‘Green Star’ credit to be
claimed.
Air Handling Plant
The building’s existing air handling units are to be
retained and fitted with high efficiency motors. It must
 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008
be acknowledged that original air handling strategy
already provides optimum zoning with discreet zones on
each façade and two central zones. This is atypical of a
building from this era which often have single AHUs
serving multiple facades with large reheat coils to ensure
supply air temperatures are correct to meet individual
room loads. The existing zoning provide a considerable
advantage in attaining a high energy efficiency in
operation.
Dedicated tenant exhaust systems are provided for
printer rooms. These systems discharge on the
building’s façade and there installation provides
improved indoor air quality and enables a ‘Green Star’
credit to be claimed.
Building Management Control System
A key component of the upgrade project is the
replacement of the Building Management Control
System (BMCS) to enable accurate and precise control
of the base building systems. The new BMCS, when
used in conjunction with the smart metering system will
allow intelligent control of the base building systems and
ensure that faults that contribute to the base building
energy consumption are identified and dealt with early,
thereby limiting their impact on the greenhouse gas
emission rating.
Hydraulic Systems Upgrade
Black-water Treatment Plant
An existing storeroom located adjacent to the
chiller plant room will house a black-water treatment
plant. The plant will collect black-water from toilets,
basins, kitchenettes and cooling towers and treat the
water on site. The plant will charge flusherette tanks in
the high and mid level plantrooms which will supply
flush water to the WCs and urinals.
The plant has been sized to minimize the occupant
amenity potable water use to below 9.5 litres per
occupant per day. The effect of the black-water treatment
plant will be to reduce the potable water usage by an
order of 57% and enabling full ‘Green Star’ credits for
water reduction to be claimed.
Rainwater Harvesting
An irrigation tank located in the high level plant
room will be used for collection of rooftop rainwater.
The rainwater will be used to supplement the cooling
towers’ make-up supply and as irrigation water for the
building’s internal landscaping.

Figure 6: Rainwater harvesting and black-water treatment plant
integrated water management concept
Occupant Amenities
The building’s amenities’ hydraulic fittings are
being replaced as part of the upgrade with fittings of
greater water efficiency. WCs will be fitted with dual
6/3 litre flush valves to enable the existing WC pans to
be retained. A reduction below 6/3 litre would have
required the pans on all 30 floors to be replaced with
pans of different geometry. This option was disregarded
as the existing pans are in good condition and flush water
is supplied from the black-water treatment plant. The
additional water required is therefore not supplied by the
town’s mains, as such, it was not deemed a sustainable
solution to replace the pans.
The tapware is being replaced by WELS 5 Star
rated fittings {2} and the urinals by 0.8 litre flush units.
The decision to adopt waterless urinals was disregarded
as the supply of flushwater to the urinals is from the
black-water treatment plant.
Table 4: Water flow per fitting for WELS 5 Star rated fittings
Fitting Maximum Flowrate (L/min)
Basin faucet 6.0
WC 4.7
Urinal 1.0 per stall
Shower 6.0
Cyclist Facilities
The basement carpark levels have been redesigned
to provide secure bicycle parking for 10% of the building
staff and visitors and shower facilities for every 10
bicycle spaces. This requires a new changing area to be
provided to bring the building‘s total number of showers
to 24. The showers provided have been specified with
WELS5 star ratings and their waste water is treated at the
building’s black-water treatment plant.
The hot water supply serving the showers is
provided by the co-generation waste heat with a heat
pump provided to meet peak demand periods.
Fire Systems Upgrade
The building’s fire system has been upgraded and
designed for code compliance and improved water
efficiency. A new fire indicator panel has been
specified and the detector grid density increased
throughout the building.
All the building’s fire test water is to be reused on
site thereby preventing wastage. The design includes
the provision of closed loop valve arrangements at the
sprinkler pumps to allow re-circulation of test water.
The annubar test water is retained in a basement
sprinkler tank. The most challenging element of the
design’s compliance with this sustainable strategy was
the reuse of the annual “town’s main” pressure test water.
Retention of this water in the sprinkler tank would cause
the tank to overflow, it was therefore necessary to
reticulate pipework to the black-water plant’s treated
water tank to ensure this water was reused.
Alternatively this water could have been supplied to the
cooling tower make up tank or the irrigation tanks
however this would have required a dedicated riser to be
installed through the building thereby imposing
significant capital and material costs in order to save
water from a once per year test.
Conclusion
The Australian commercial property sector now
places a premium on buildings that demonstrate good
environmental performance. This is demonstrated by
the rapid take up of sustainability ratings such as the
ABGR and ‘Green Star’ rating systems for the
commercial sector over the past few years. The
“greening” of the sector commenced with the application
of these ratings to new build projects however
increasingly building owners, asset managers, tenants
and leasing agents are realizing that existing buildings
can be refurbished to achieve significant improvements
in energy and environmental performance. Finally, it is
now being acknowledged that the reuse of existing
buildings is often more sustainable than the demolition
and rebuilding of existing building stock. This is
evident from the ability of existing buildings to reuse so
much of their existing structure, façade and in some
cases building services infrastructure.
Table 1 summaries the predicted savings resulting
from the sustainability upgrade of the building. After
the works have been completed it is estimated that the
building will achieve a reduction of 4,700 tonnes of CO2
and up to 12 Megalitres of water per annum. This
reduction in emissions and water use in addition to the
general sustainability upgrade works outlined will ensure
that this building will achieve the brief criteria of 4.5
Stars in accordance with the ABGR rating scheme and 5
Stars in accordance with the Green Star environmental
rating scheme.
CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008 
Table 4: Summary of predicted CO2 emissions and water savings
Current Post Upgrade Saving

Base Building (tonnes 4,900 2,500 2,400

CO2)

Tenancy (tonnes CO2) 4,700 2,400 2,300

Water (ML) 52M 40 12

This project demonstrates that existing tall

buildings have the potential to elevate their
environmental performance to achieve ratings that are
consistent with best practice for the new build sector.

Comment
When evaluating the application of certain
sustainable building strategies on a project of this nature,
it is easy to structure the process entirely around the
prescriptive constraints of an environmental rating tool.
There are however many instances on such a project
where the rush for ‘Green Building’ rating scheme
credits can cloud the designers’ judgment as to what are
the more sustainable solutions. It is therefore a
challenge for engineers and architects to resist the
temptation to gain these credits at the expense of true
sustainability strategies and educate their client and
stakeholders as to the wider sustainability merits of their
decisions.
The ‘town main’s’ fire test water upgrade is an
example of one of the many challenges encountered by
this design team in their efforts to achieve ‘Green Star’
credits. In this instance attempts to conform to credit
criteria may appear to be Green however when the
capital cost and the embodied energy associated with the
solutions are evaluated in detail often the solution cannot
be deemed truly sustainable.

References
Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme, ‘ABGR Validation
Protocol for Computer Simulations’, DEUS 2004.
Australian Standard AS/NZ 6400:2005 Water efficient products-Rating
and labeling.
Green Building Council of Australian, Green Star version 2 Office
Design Tool, gbcaus.com.au

 CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008