Built environment

The new Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) at Tufts University is a nifty response to a challenging brief.

Some building owners are happy if their edifice performs adequately. For those making decisions about Quay Quarter Tower, the aspirations were considerably higher. Behold the winner of the 2022 AIRAH Award for Excellence in Innovation.

Located in the heart of the CBD and overlooking the river, Brisbane Quarter is Brisbane’s first truly integrated, world-class mixed-use precinct. Consisting of three buildings, the project presented the ideal scenario for a district-style heating and cooling scheme. Sean McGowan reports on the design and construction of the HVAC systems serving this $1 billion development.

HVAC&R specialists have key role to play if Australia is to meet emissions targets and keep building healthy, argues ARBS Chairman Tony Arnel.

There is a growing chorus that now, perhaps more than ever, institutionalised professions need to question conventional practices in response to evolving public need.

One of three similar facilities to be built in regional Victoria, the Ballarat GovHub is helping to revitalise the CBD of this regional centre and centralise government services in the area by accommodating up to 1,000 workers. Mass timber is at the heart of the building’s superstructure.

Over the past decade the HVAC industry has experienced a maturity in fault- detection diagnostics. From a technical standpoint this has resulted in historical analytics, streaming analytics, forecasting, modelling, and a welter of other innovations changing the way to figure out what’s wrong with our buildings. Ideally this data can be used to radically change the way things are done, make BMS professionals more efficient, and actually generate some outcomes for facility owners and building owners.

District heating and cooling could offer an important pathway to decarbonisation – and one of the biggest barriers to its uptake might simply be our mindset, writes Mark Vender.

Using a hybrid of dynamic thermal simulation and detailed hourly spreadsheet calculations, the analysis identified design and operation strategies to size PV and batteries for various degrees of grid independence.

Located in South Korea’s capital, the HQ for a luxe fashion brand boasts several sustainability initiatives, including a high-performance façade.

The Australian building industry is on the path to electrification, signalling an end to a reliance on natural gas for hot water, heating and cooking. Sean McGowan explores how this path is being forged with Bruce Precious M.AIRAH, principal consultant at Six Capitals Consulting; Yale Carden, M.AIRAH, founder and managing director at GeoExchange Australia; VA Sciences’ James Moyes and Simon Witts, M.AIRAH; and RMIT industry fellow Alan Pears. 

Hospitals aren’t just another building; they are a processing facility in which lives are being saved daily – this requires reliability and energy. So, can we please stop bundling them in with other building types when it comes to talking about green buildings? James Moyes, Simon Witts, M.AIRAH, and Broden Kay are asking this pointed question.

In a quiet street in Sydney’s northern suburbs resides New South Wales’ first Passivhaus Premium certified building. The residential home is the result of more than five years of painstaking research and planning by a family determined to future-proof their investment against climate change.

The redevelopment of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct on Sydney Harbour is not only preserving the wharf’s heritage but has incorporated renewable thermal energy to deliver energy–efficient cooling to the facility. Sean McGowan reports.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a 1957 building has been converted into a net-zero energy net-zero carbon project.

A multi-award winning, mixed-use development in Melbourne’s prestigious Collins Street has brought building managers, service technicians and energy optimisation specialists together to collaborate on operational performance improvements post-completion. Sean McGowan reports. 

As we learn to live with COVID-19, improving indoor air quality (IAQ) has been touted as a potential solution in our return to the workplace. Sean McGowan explores the issues with VA Sciences national division director Simon Witts, M.AIRAH; Mechanical project engineer, principal and Australian discipline leader at Stantec Patrick Chambers, Affil.AIRAH; Litmas technical and managing director Claire Bird, Affil.AIRAH; and Probuild technical director Sean Treweek, F.AIRAH.

AIRAH launches COVID-19 knowledge hub: the IAQ Assembly

The new-look 388 George Street office tower in Sydney’s CBD represents one of the largest commercial office building refurbishments the city has ever seen. As Sean McGowan reports, the multidisciplinary approach taken by consulting engineer Arup has delivered world-class amenity, connectivity and comfort to tenants. Importantly, the clever refurb integrates the site with a newly pedestrianised George Street.

CSIRO energy leader Dr Stephen White, F.AIRAH, is one of the founders of i-Hub.