Overview

Developed by Mirvac, one of Australia’s leading, diversified property groups, Bay Centre (65 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont) is an A-grade commercial 5 level office with large floor plates in excess of 3,000sqm each. Designed with embedded flexibility and future-proofing in mind it offers tenants a flexible and modern working environment.

The goal: The plan for a sustainable future

As part of Mirvac’s plan for a sustainable future, they were looking to save energy on their building portfolio and enhance environmental outcomes. This plan launched them to consider energy saving strategies that re-imagined the way energy, water and materials are used. Originally built in 2002, Bay Centre was maintaining the original 14 year old mechanical equipment. The building needed to effectively reduce carbon emissions, water and waste to assist Mirvac in reaching their goals of reducing carbon intensity (2018), installing 1MW of renewable energy (2018) and being net positive (2030).

The solution: Strategies for energy efficiency improvements

Leading Edge Automation (trading as Conservia in Australia) worked closely with MIRVAC to determine the building management system (BMS) control strategy that would help them reach their energy goals. Through this we matched up client data to target those areas that had the highest energy use. We engineered and implemented bespoke energy efficient strategies to deliver improved HVAC control through the BMS that would met building and end user requirements.

Utilising an Optergy BMS, smart alarms were set to monitor and notify of any energy irregularities or increases to allow discrepancies to be fixed and improved upon.

After the initial BMS installation was complete, Mirvac signed up to a Platinum Maintenance Agreement focused on ongoing monitoring and improvements in energy efficiency to save energy. This ongoing fine-tuning and optimisation involves reporting on electrical consumption and highlighting energy concerns and opportunities for BMS & EMS improvements.

Key optimisation strategies:

• Lighting upgrades
• Chilled water plant (CHW) optimisations
• Air handling unit (AHU) control optimisations
• Variable air volume (VAV) control optimisations
• Air conditioning control &strategy optimisations
• Tenant condenser water system optimisations
• CO2 control strategies
• AHU minimum air damper controls
• PAC unit condenser water shutoffvalves
• Demand based ventilation using CO2 control strategies
• Optimum start/stop strategies
• Economy boosts
• Car park fan optimisations
• Cooling tower water optimisation

Platinum Maintenance Agreement

A joint partnership driving building performance by reducing energy consumption whilst maintaining comfortable building conditions for the tenants in which the outcome is guaranteed.

• 24/7 monitoring to ensure building efficiency.

• NABERS forecasting for predictive & proactive measures.

• Monthly performance reports, review and building fine-tuning.

The results: Using 40% less energy than before

In 2016, Bay Centre officially became Sydney’s first 6 Star NABERS Energy rated base building without green power, having saved in excess of 12% of that required. Since then, Bay Centre has continued to be accoladed as one of Sydney’s most energy efficient commercial buildings. Over the years they have been recognised with numerous awards and with continuous building tuning have achieved and maintained a 6 Star NABERS Energy rating. In 2017, Bay Centre had another very energy efficient year, and with the assistance of system fine-tuning achieved another 6 Star NABERS Energy rating (with a savings buer of 68MWh (12%), meaning the building could run for another month and still achieve the 6 Star rating!).