THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG’S BUILDING SERVICES PROGRAM

WE HEAR FROM RPS ABOUT ITS BUILDING SERVICES PROGRAM FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG AND HOW IT IS HELPING THE UNIVERSITY REACH ITS PLANNED GOAL OF 20% ENERGY CONSUMPTION REDUCTION BY 2035.

The University of Wollongong (UOW) Thermal Comfort, LED Lighting & Solar PV (TLS) Building Services Program is the consolidation of two separate Building Services Programs:

1. Energy Initiatives Program (LED Lighting Retrofits & Solar PV Minor Works); and

2. Thermal Comfort Program (Mechanical Services Retrofits).

These two programs comprised forty-two individual minor works projects that were consolidated into the TLS Building Services Program, to minimise disruption to UOW’s Campus operations and to improve efficiency in the design and delivery process across common services disciplines. The TLS Program, to be delivered in three stages, has seen RPS manage the completion of Stages 1 and 2 for a Project Budget of $15M.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED OUTCOMES

The University of Wollongong, as part of its 2014 Campus Masterplan, set a target of reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2035. To assist in the realisation of this goal, the Energy Initiatives Program aimed to replace existing lighting technology with energy-efficient LED Lighting as well as increase the amount of renewable energy production across the campus through the installation of additional Solar PV arrays.

Additionally, UOW have a large stock of buildings at their Wollongong campus of varying age, type, usage and with varying ventilation systems. Approximately 77% of habitable spaces (such as offices and common teaching areas) were air-conditioned based on Gross Floor Area. This left approximately 20,600m2 of area where no airconditioning was present. The objective of the Thermal Comfort Program was to improve amenity across the Wollongong campus for staff, students, and visitors with the provision of cost effective air conditioning to areas currently without.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

Energy efficiency targets

The LED Lighting and Solar PV projects were milestone projects for the University in their plan to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2035. Due to limited funding availability, it was critical that these Energy Efficiency projects were able to demonstrate and realise a return on investment through significant energy reductions at the building level.

Maintaining business continuity

As is the nature of a university campus, operations run 24/7. TLS Program works were required to be undertaken in occupied learning and teaching environments that needed to maintain business continuity while the works were carried out.

The University has approximately 36,000 students and 2,500 full-time staff, while during semester as many as 15,000 people can be on the campus at any one time. This made for a wide variety of Project User Groups. Each Project User Group (PUG) provided its unique challenges with users not being familiar with construction process. The user groups varied from Academics in Law and the Humanities, Information Technology Professional Staff and Child Care workers, with many not having any previous experience with construction works or processes.

The project was challenged to understand each PUG’s unique operational needs and determine which were negotiable for disruption and then planning to keep these environments live and operational while the work was carried out.

Aging infrastructure and challenging site conditions

Retrofitting mechanical services proved difficult in buildings that were never originally designed to accommodate these services. The campus was originally designed under the principle of natural over mechanical ventilation, taking advantage of its coastal climate that has favourable conditions for large parts of the year.

Consequently, most buildings were designed in this respect, leaving little room for reticulation of services and low capacity electrical infrastructure. To assist with reducing heat loading, large native trees were planted close to many buildings. This consequently meant it was challenging to install mechanical services to roof plant areas as well as finding locations for solar arrays with sufficient solar access.

The Campus is comprised of a legacy of older building stock which has since been partially mechanically air-conditioned using a variety of air conditioning plant, newer buildings which have been built to include full mechanical airconditioning and other spaces that are naturally ventilated only, which was the philosophy under which much of the campus was built.

The differing ages of buildings and services across the campus created design and installation challenges for the TLS Program. The project faced challenges when trying to find appropriate spaces and locations to house mechanical plant and ductwork. Older buildings had little room for reticulation of services, low capacity electrical infrastructure, roof structures not capable of carrying the load for new plant and equipment as well as large surrounding trees which hampered the ability to physically complete some works on-site namely, crane lifts.

PROJECT SUCCESSES AGAINST PLANNED OUTCOMES

The forty-two projects delivered to date in Stages 1 and 2 are testament to the success of the TLS Program in achieving its planned outcomes for the University.

490kW Air Cooled Chiller installed as part of the Building 19 Thermal Comfort Project.

(Source: RPS)

Birds eye view – 130kW Solar Array installed on top of Uni Active, University of Wollongong.

(Source: Trill Electrical)

Stages 1 and 2 of the Program have successfully installed air conditioning to eight buildings (approximate floor area of 11,000m2). A mixture of VRF and Chilled Water/Heating Hot Water (CHW/HHW) systems were installed depending on the future use and life expectancy of the building within the Campus Masterplan.

There were seventeen LED Lighting replacement projects completed with approximately 10,000 fittings replaced. Seventeen solar arrays were installed across the campus for a total 1001kW capacity – increasing the existing renewable energy generation on campus by approximately 900%.

The campus renewable energy capacity is now 1033kW. To date, thirty-four Energy Initiative Projects have been able to successfully reduce energy costs more than what was originally estimated. Solar PV projects have to date generated an approximate 1,800MWh of electricity and LED lighting replacements have reduced energy consumption in buildings by approximately 1,000MWh.

These Energy Initiatives will begin to provide UOW a return on investment by 2029. Whilst there are still further Energy Initiatives projects to be completed for the client to meet their initial goal of 20% energy reduction by 2035, these advantageous projects have them in a good position to achieve this goal.

Authors: Blake Preston, Senior Manager Project Delivery, Systems & Space Utilisation, University of Wollongong and Graham Hains, Project Manager, RPS, Australia Asia Pacific.