2 Victoria Avenue, Perth WA

“Durack House displays all the core values or architectural design and is distinguished by the manner in which it integrates commercial amenity with civic qualities and environmental responsibility. Durack House operates as a functional and effective office building that achieves a 6 Star Green Star Design. It is a testament to the value of architectyure that ensures a thoughful and clear conceptual framework througout the architectural process”Australian Institute of ArchitectsWA Chapter Awards Jury, 2010

2 Victoria Avenue

Perth

Winner of the2010 Ross Chisolm Award for

Commercial Architecture*2010 Walter Greenham Sustainable

Architecture Award* WA Property of the Year **

Aecom Award for Sustainable Development **

2 Victoria Avenue

2 Victoria Avenue is a PCA A-Grade office building, with a 6 Star Green Star Design v2 Rating. It was developed with a clean and legible form, generated by the simple rectangular floor plate. The floor plate is wrapped in a contemporary curtain wall system and with the use of a single vibrant colour to key elements, the building sits strongly within the urban context

Approaching the building, pedestrians are swept beneath the louvered façade and into the sculpted double height foyer. The innovative automated operable louvre façade wraps the western side of the building and provides a visual filter between the public and private domains. The main street elevation is further activated by the ‘see-through’ lift core and feature stair which facilitate the predominant vertical circulation throughout the building.

The building entry lobby is a double height volume, with a bridge connecting the first floor tenancies with the lift and stairs. The lobby accommodates a waiting area to *Australian Institute of Architects WA Chapter Awards

** Property Council of Australia West Australia Awards

the south, maximising the outlook across Langley Park towards the river. The lifts and stairs have been developed to provide maximum visual connection between the lift lobby spaces and Victoria Avenue. The glazed western stairwell is a strong feature of the lobby and acts as a interconnecting stair to the levels above.

The typical floor layout has been designed to maximise the amenity of the space, by locating cores on the perimeter, a clean open space is provided. Generally all floor space is a maximum of 12.5m from the perimeter, maximising natural light and available outlook. The floor plate also ensures that the premium views along Victoria Avenue and Terrace Road are preserved.

The building has been designed to maximise flexibility of floor space on each level. The location of the cores enables the typical floor level to be divided into 1, 2, 3 and 4 individual tenancies. This flexibility maximises tenancy options and will assist in having the building fully tenanted at all times.

Wind turbines have been approved by the local authority, and are the installation contract is currently being finalised. Located on the rooftop, the turbines are a unique feature and serve to remind not only the occupants, but also the general public, that renewable energy generation, although still in its early stages, is possible.

The bright orange louvers on the façade also attracts the attention from passersby, and cultivates a curiosity about what purpose these shading devices serve. A well designed and functional façade is critical to minimising the energy consumption within a building and 2 Victoria Avenue provides an excellent example of how this reduces the environmental footprint of a building as well as enhances Indoor Environmental Quality. The fact that the louvers respond to solar detection only emphasises the link between the sun and a buildings energy usage as well as the provision of indoor thermal comfort.

By incorporating leading-edge technologies with proven design techniques, 2 Victoria Avenue is a unique and sustainable building, with a fundamental design parameters of best practise for commercial office space.

The building achieves a high level of user satisfaction due to the provision of a desirable indoor environment, the enhanced access to natural daylight and the feature glazed stair and the significant end of trip cyclist facilities. In addition to user satisfaction, the sustainable initiatives will contribute to increased employee productivity due to provision of a healthy indoor environment which reduces the incidence of ‘sick building syndrome’.

User Satisfaction & Industry Perception

We expect the building to achieve high levels of user satisfaction due to the provision of a desirable indoor environment from the following initiatives employed in the building:

— Enhanced access to natural daylight through high performance glazing

— Good access to views across the Swan River

— Glass lifts to maximise natural light penetration into the office space

— Increased fresh air rates through chilled beam airconditioning and ventilation system•

— Appropriate lighting levels (less than 400 lux) and high frequency ballasts to reduce head aches due to glare and low level flicker

— Carbon dioxide monitoring to enable continual high levels of fresh air

— Tenant exhaust riser to capture the pollutants from the printing and photocopying areas

— A green tenant fitout which incorporates materials with high sustainability credentials

— Bike racks and shower/change room facilities for employees to encourage riding or walking to work

In addition to user satisfaction, all of these initiatives should contribute to increased employee productivity due to provision of a healthy indoor environment which reduces the incidence of ‘sick building syndrome’.

2 Victoria is the first building in WA to achieve a 6 star Green Star rating and has consequently received much favourable media attention as well as already winning a number of awards. Media articles can be found in Appendix 1.

2 Victoria Avenue was also a showcase project at a Green Building Council ‘Breakfast with the Stars’ which was attended by many industry professionals interested in green buildings.

Adaptability

With Western Australia being a stronghold in the resources sector, the Perth office market often accommodates large, transient project teams.

2 Victoria Avenue has been designed to maximise flexibility of floor space on each level. Significant consideration was given to the structural grid of the building to ensure that efficient and adaptable workplace standards could be applied accommodating flexible open plan configurations, cellular office layouts or a combination of both.

The service cores, which are located on the perimeter, also assist in this adaptability, enabling the typical floor to be divided into four individual tenancies. This flexibility allows maximised tenancy options, considering future tenant needs and evolving workplace practices. It also mitigates risk for the owner should the building needed to be subdivided into smaller tenancies for leasing purposes .

Office lighting is zoned to allow for individual switching of small areas, and as such the lighting can be re-arranged and programmed as necessary to suit the tenant’s requirements.

The active chilled beam units can be moved/added to, to suit the tenant’s requirements.

Electrical sub-metering is provided for each floor to enable energy monitoring by tenants

Provision made for additional wind turbines should the initial installation of 3 wind turbines be successful

Corporate & Social Responsibility

2 Victoria Avenue embodies many principles of Corporate Social Sustainability. These can be demonstrated in the provision of a healthy workplace for its occupants, improved environmental performance, reduced operational costs and also in its ability to provide a visual cue to encourage people to act more sustainably in their own lives.

Economic

The wind turbines and chilled beam airconditioning system, along with energy and water efficient items such as T5 lighting, motion sensors, efficient chillers and boilers, water efficient cooling towers, water efficient bathrooms and a grey water system are estimated to save over $80,000 in utility bills per annum. Rising costs in energy and water utilities will only increase these savings.

Environmental

2 Victoria Avenue has achieved a 6 star Green Star design rating, which is classified as “World Leadership” and hopes to achieve an “As Built” rating of a similar calibre. It has also signed a commitment agreement with SEDO for an annual, ongoing energy ratings of 5 stars, which signifies “Excellence”.

The building will make substantial savings in energy, water and resources through many of the sustainable attributes detailed above. 2 Victoria Avenue is less demanding on the natural environment and resources than typical office buildings in Perth. It makes the most of the renewable resources available to it and the non-renewable resources that it does use are maximised to their fullest potential. It will also save 62.3kgCO2/m2 per year, in achieving a 5 star NABERS energy rating per year, compared to a ‘standard’ building of 2.5 stars NABERS energy. (See Table 1)

Social:

2 Victoria provides enhanced Indoor Environment Quality for its occupants with good access to external views, increased fresh air rates, ample daylight through high performance glazing, appropriate levels of lighting and low or no VOC and formaldehyde products. From an external perspective, the building also provides visual cue to encourage people to act more sustainably in their own lives via the wind turbines and the bright orange operable façade.

Stockland realises that integrating local community elements into the built form is one of the key aspects of a successful development. Stockland has partnered with local artists to create images on the façade of the building which represent not only people from the local community, but also the people involved in the creation of 2 Victoria Avenue..

Indoor Environment Quality — Ventilation rates - 50% increase on fresh air rates on AS 1668.2-1991

— Air change effectiveness greater than 0.95 to enhance occupant comfort

— Carbon dioxide monitoring and control

— Daylight glare control - active louvres on the western facade to reduce light & heat ingress

— High frequency ballasts installed in fluorescent luminaires over a minimum of 95% of the tenancy’s Net Lettable Area to avoid low level flicker

— Office lighting levels less than 400 lux over a minimum of 95% of the Net Lettable Area to reduce discomfort and strain for occupants

— 60% of Net Lettable Area has direct line of site through vision glazing

— Thermal modelling to optimise comfort levels

— Internal noise levels monitored for noise intrusion from outside and building services

— 95% of all painted surfaces use low-VOC paints. All carpets, adhesives and sealants are specified as low-VOC

Management — Green Star Accredited Professional engaged to provide sustainability advice throughout the design and delivery period

— Comprehensive pre-commissioning, commissioning and quality monitoring were performed by relevant contractors and communicated to building owner.

— Building tuning - commitment to 12 months commissioning building tuning (with quarterly reviews and a final recommissioning after 12 months of operation) after building handover

— Independent commissioning agent appointed to provide commissioning advice to ensure optimal building performance

— Comprehensive building users guide

— Adoption of an environmental management plan during construction

— Targeting 80% of construction waste di-verted from landfill

Energy — Energy improvements - designed for a 5 star NABERS Energy + 20% CO2 reduction

— Electrical sub-metering for base building and tenancy for energy monitoring

— Chilled beam air conditioning system separated into perimeter and internal zones to maximise efficiency. The primary air handling plant is a floor by floor system (located in 2 plant rooms at each floor) which improves tenant control and after hours energy wastage across multiple tenancies

— Lighting power density less than 2.0 watts per m2 per 100 lux

— Lighting controlled by zoned timed switches and perimeter sensors. Motion sensors in common areas controlled by base building.

— High efficiency chillers incorporating vari-able speed compressors.

Transport — Small car parking spaces provided

— Secure bicycle storage, accessible showers and changing facilities with lockers provided for 10% of occupants

— Close access to public transport networks which habrilluiave frequent services

Water — Grey water treatment plant for recycling shower and hand-basin water to be used in toilet flushing

— Water sub-metering for effective monitoring and leak detection

— Landscape irrigation via subsoil drip system and automatic timers with rainwater/soil moisture sensor control override

— Cooling towers designed to achieve six or better cycles of concentration

— All water used for testing of hydrant systems, and all drain down water from sprinkler systems is returned to the fire reserve tank or irrigation tank.

Materials — Appropriately sized recycling waste storage in base building

— 20% of all aggregate used is recycled aggregate; 20% of cement for in-situ concrete and 15% of cement for pre-cast concrete is replaced with industrial waste product

— At least 90% percentage of all steel in the design contains a post-consumer recycled content greater than 50%.

— The total PVC content cost for major services elements (pipes, conduits and cables) is reduced by at least 30% by replacing with alternative materials.

— All timber and composite timber products used in the building and construction works are required to be sourced from either or a combination of post-consumer re-used timber or Forest Stewardship Council(FSC) certified timber

Land Use & Ecology — Reuse of land that was previously developed

— Development has minimal environmental impact

Emissions — 100% of heating ventilation and air conditioning refrigeration have an ozone depletion potential of zero

— Refrigerant leak detection and recovery

— Stormwater collection and distribution from this site designed in accordance with the Victorian EPA Best Practice Guidelines for Environmental Management for Urban Stormwater

— Outflows to the sewerage system due to building occupants’ usage have been reduced via grey water recycling and water efficient fixtures and fittings

— All thermal insulation avoids the use of ozone-depleting substances in both its manufacture and composition

Innovation — Three 2.5kW wind turbines on the rooftop provide green energy to a proportion of the building. The wind turbines will be connect-ed in parallel to the main grid and will help reduce the buildings demand for conven-tionally produced electricity.

— Active chilled beams - This will be the first large scale development to use active chilled beams as the primary form of air conditioning in Perth. Active chilled beams offer a significant energy saving opportu-nity, with less air handling power required. Chilled beams also offer the potential for tight humidity control, with air supplied purely to control internal humidity. This improves internal comfort conditions and reduces the risk of mould growth within the occupied space.

— The western facade for this building has been provided with automated louvers which respond to solar detection, ensuring no direct solar penetration into the space. This feature allows the building to maintain views and natural lighting.

Client Feedback

Project Team:

Architects: Woodhead

Interior design: Woodhead

Project Managers: AAP

Builder: Diploma

Developer: Stockland

Photography: Martin Farquharson, Barry Williams, Leon Bird

For further information contact; #@woodhead.com.au

woodhead.com.au