NEWS
370 Docklands Receives 5 Star Green Star Rating
19 September 2007
National developer Austcorp Group Limited together with its JV partner Melbourne-based YarraCity have received a 5 Star Green Star- Office Design rating accreditation from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for the design of its $50 million A-grade commercial building at 370 Docklands Drive.
For the first time in GBCA’s history a project has achieved 5 Star Green Star – Office Design rating after only one round of assessment. It won Austcorp and YarraCity a commendation for their willingness to fully adopt the GBCA initiatives increasingly adopted by sustainable sensitive developers and required by forward thinking commercial tenants.
“By achieving Green Star certification at the first round, this project truly understands, and has embraced, the holistic approach to Green Star. It indicates their whole team approach to creating a green building,” GBCA executive director David Craven said
Every project has the opportunity to go through two rounds.
Austcorp, the project’s development manager, took the decision early to lift the standard to 5 Star.
“We have recognised that sustainability is a competitive advantage in the property market. Buildings with a 5 Star rating represent higher value to investors because they command higher rentals and cost less to maintain in the long run,” said Mr Andrew Herbert, Austcorp’s Senior Development Manager.
Mr Herbert said 370 Docklands Drive was one of only a small proportion of Melbourne office buildings with such a high level of accreditation.
“We are pleased to have achieved this accreditation through the use of conventional technology and a cohesive approach to environmentally sustainable design by all stakeholders. It is the result of great team work between the developers, the consulting engineer, the architect, the builder and the project manager,” he said.
Mr Herbert said Austcorp and YarraCity would now target a 5 Star Green Star – Office As Built rating.
370 Docklands Drive ESD features include:
- Black water recycling plant;
- Rainwater collection and reuse for irrigation purposes;
- Solar hot water;
- Highest WELS rated tap/shower fittings and flushing devices;
- Low VOC paints, minimal use of PVC;
- Northerly façade finishes designed to reduce external heat loads;
- Low e-glass double glazed façade;
- Effective management techniques to minimise energy and water use;
- Allowances for comprehensive waste recycling;
- T5 light fittings with automatic control ballasts to one perimeter row;
- Smart lighting design options incorporating digital addressable lighting control system to office areas;
- Movement sensors to all core common area and carpark lighting;
- Base building services and overall building to achieve green star specified internal noise levels; and
- Air change effectiveness designed to promote a healthy indoor environment.
Lincolne Scott engineer Mark Tickle, who is a consultant to the project, said that “central to 370 Docklands Drive’s accreditation was a blackwater treatment plant that provided recycled water for toilet flushing as well as rainwater harvesting that provided water for irrigation.
“The fresh air quantity is also increased by 50 per cent on Australian Standards and is controlled via CO2 sensors. Air is delivered to each of the occupied floors via central risers serving a conventional Variable Air Volume (VAV) air conditioning system.
“The building also has central water cooled chillers including high efficiency frictionless compressors which increase the efficiency on standard chillers of up to 30% along with conventional boilers providing chilled and hot water to central air handling units.”
Development Scope
| Location | 370 Docklands Drive, Melbourne |
| Type | A-Grade commercial |
| End value | $50 million |
| Area | 7,150 square metres (net lettable area) |
| Floor plate | 1,600 square metres |
| Car park | 140 |
| Green Star - Office design | Achieved a 5 Star Green Star - Office Design rating |
| Green Star - Office as built | Targeting a 5 Star Green Star - Office Design rating |
| Commencement | January 2007 |
| Projected completion | April 2008 |
Read more about Austcorp's 370 Docklands Drive.Go to the 370 Docklands website at www.370.com.au.
