Award Magazine V13

V4 N13

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Green Buildings, Healthy Buildings

HEALTHCARE EDITION Inside This Edition: Germ Warfare: The Rise of the Antibacterial Fitout Sector Analysis : Health & Medical centres The Cutting Edge: Macquarie University Hospital

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Blythe-Sanderson Group Blythe-Sanderson Group

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LEADING YOU YOU TO TO A A NEW NEW DESTINATION LEADING DESTINATION The current operating environment has forced everyone to change their tack. The standard The current operating environment has forced everyone to change their tack. The standard directions are no longer applicable to an industry that is demanding innovation, improved directions are no longer applicable to an industry that is demanding innovation, improved practices and an ability to find new ways to get to point B. practices and an ability to find new ways to get to point B. So while our eyes are still firmly fixed on where you need to be, our Access Consulting team So while our eyes are still firmly fixed on where you need to be, our Access Consulting team is creating environments for accessing life. is creating environments for accessing life.

Access Consulting | Project Management | Cost Management | Building Surveying | Urban Planning Access Consulting | Project Management Services | Cost Management | Building|Surveying | Urban Planning Specification Consulting | Infrastructure | Property Consultancy Certification Services Specification Consulting | Infrastructure Services | Property Consultancy | Certification Services

www.davislangdon.com www.davislangdon.com

Blythe-Sanderson Group is part of Davis Langdon Blythe-Sanderson Group is part of Davis Langdon

contents COVER IMAGE

Volume 4 Number 13 Publisher | Brandon Vigon 03 8844 5822 ext. 112 publisher@awardmagazine.com.au Editor | Mark Kenfield editor@awardmagazine.com.au

Feature SUPPLEMENTs

6 Germ Warfare: The Rise of the Antibacterial Fitout

8

Finding the Forest Through the Tree: The Second Coming of Timber.

32 Biological Engineering Revolutionises Construction

Contributing Writers | Michelle Aizenberg, Sarah Bachmann, Jim Barrett, Stephanie Bray, Jonathan Cartledge, Emily D'Alteri, Jim Doyle, Justin Jays, Mark Kenfield, Romilly Madew, Ivan Mareels, Paul McLeod, Ric Navarro, George Xinos

Feature Project Profiles:

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The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Building

Senior Designer | Annette Carlucci

22

Macquarie University Hospital

Junior Designer | Tushar Bhatnagar

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Healthbridge Womens Health Centre

Production Manager | Rachel Selbie

Circulation | subscriptions@awardmagazine.com.au

Straight Talk

Award Magazine is published by:

16

Straight Talk: with Randy Gadient, Siemens

PROFESSIONAL Columns MediaEDGE Communication Australia mailing Address: PO Box 6257 Chapel Street North South Yarra, VIC 3141 T: 03 8844 5822 F: 03 9824 1188 www.awardmagazine.com.au President | Kevin Brown Subscription Rates: (includes gst) Aud: 1 year, $49.95; 2 years, $89.95 Single Copy Sales: (includes gst) AUD: $14.95 New Zealand: $19.95 Reprints: For information on article reprints or reproductions, please contact the publisher at: publisher@awardmagazine.com.au Editorial suggestion/submission: Do you have a story idea, or would like to submit editorial for publishing consideration, please e-mail editorial@awardmagazine.com.au Š Copyright 2011 Australia Post Publications Mail Pub. No. PP381712102392

4 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

26

Technology Column: Using BIM to help save the planet

29

Glass Column: Bush home wins with green thinking

36

Legal Column: Specifying Green Obligations

39

Accessibility Column: Changing Places: better facilities for all, regardless of disability

40

Energy Efficiency Column Energy efficiency drives productivity

MARKET Analysis

15 State Analysis

Market Outlook: Growth Evasion

34

Sector Analysis Health & Medical centres

Industry Matters

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Securing a Sustainable Future

18

Green Buildings, Healthy Buildings

37

10

Taking the step to support sustainable forest management

Association Matters

28 Get ready for 2011 and beyond‌

36 Commercial Benefits of Green Precast Building

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Seizing the Sustainability Advantage

42

Efficient Building Solutions

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editorial advisors and supporters

| 5

Supplement

Image courtesy of Altro

Germ Warfare: The Rise of the Antibacterial Fitout

Safety flooring infused with a bacteriostat, provides a non-slip, hardwearing surface for operating theatres, along with the added passive protection of its antibacterial properties.

Hospitals. We think of them as places of healing, of high-tech equipment, of highly-skilled surgical hands and stringent sanitation; and for good reason - because they are.

However part and parcel of that is the fact that hospitals see our weakest and our sickest, in high numbers. That means many sickly hands turning many door handles, resting on many tables, benches, banisters and sheets; sickly hands holding and shaking hands with healthy ones – that will then go turning many door handles, resting on many tables, benches, banisters and sheets…

It makes the rapid transmission of a wide-ranging host of bacteria and infections a perpetual part of hospital life. Which in turn makes the need for bacterial protection throughout our hospitals even more important.

In Australian hospitals, we largely make 6 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

do with antibacterial curtains, rigorous hand-washing procedures, and the liberal application of disinfectant. But an increasing push is now coming through for the incorporation of antibacterial fitout, fittings and fixture materials, to help passively combat the dangers of bacteria in our medical facilities.

Hospitals are high impact environments; they experience very high levels of traffic, and spills of almost every fluid imaginable. Along with human traffic, hospitals also see huge numbers of trolleys and other wheeled devices travelling through them – everything from patient beds and wheelchairs, through to food and cleaning trolleys.

Naturally, over time, this high volume of traffic leads to trolleys and other objects smashing into walls and other fixtures; which generally makes materials such as plasterboard and ceramic wall and floor tiles inappropriate for theses environments, as they are not only more susceptible to this type of damage, they can also collect dirt in their gaps and cracks and harbour dangerous germs.

This makes high-impact wall fittings and safety flooring particularly attractive options for hospital environments, especially since there are now some with antibacterial properties built in.

“The primary need for antibacterial fitout materials comes from infection control,” explains Warwick Duncan of Altro, a local supplier specialising in antibacterial floor and wall coverings. “Hospital acquired infections (HAI), the so called ‘superbugs’ - staphylococci, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE),

are causing havoc in our hospital system right now, and antibacterial surfaces provide a genuine means of combating those infections from spreading” he says.

“The primary methods of infection control, such as cleaning up after spills and rigorous hand-washing controls, will always remain. But if you include a fitout material with a bacteriostat (a biological or chemical agent that stops bacteria from reproducing) that will help retard infection, then at times when you aren’t able to clean up a spill immediately, you still have passive infection control helping to provide some level of protection”.

“Thousands of people are dying from HAI every year” Duncan adds, “Which is why we are trying to educate those people in vital decision-making roles that their traditional wall and flooring choices may not provide the most hygienic solution available”.

There are additional benefits to these sorts of fitout materials as well. With high-impact wall claddings reducing maintenance in healthcare corridors and operating theatres, and safety floorings using PVC welds to join the sheets of material together – which turns the sheets in a single surface, making them tankable, completely resistant to water, and easier to disinfect.

Another of the most exciting developments in antibacterial fitouts, lies in the recent emergence of the antimicrobial properties of copper.

The initial research into copper’s antibacterial properties was led by Professor Bill Keevil and his team at the University of Southampton in the UK. With their early findings determining that copper surfaces could destroy up to

99.9% of bacteria, including MRSA and E. Coli O157, within just 90 minutes. To put this in perspective, stainless steel would take a full 72 hours to achieve the same result.

“We’ve been researching the possibilities of copper for the past ten years” says Copper Development Association CEO, John Fennell. “With copper you have a touch surface that can wipe out bacteria within two hours, which compares to plastic, glass and other conventional surfaces, where the same bacteria can last for days”.

“This is because, chemically, the bacterial membrane essentially treats copper as a friend,” Fennell explains, “but the copper actually breaks down the bacteria, and they can’t develop any resistance to it”. This offers the potential for enormous reductions in the bacteria burden on medical environments that use copper or copper-alloy touch surfaces.

The initial findings in the UK led to some extensive studies for the United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA), which in turn led to the 2008 classification of copper (and its related alloys) as ‘antimicrobial’, a rating that allows copper products to be registered to make health claims, something never before allowed for a ‘material’.

This was followed in 2009 by a series of clinical trials on environmental contamination in intensive care units, funded by the United States’ Department of Defence. Which showed that it was the items closest to immobile patients, things like bed rails, chairs and nurse calls buttons, that have the highest levels of MRSA and VRE. This suggests that touch surfaces in these wards can effectively

Image courtesy of Copper Development Association

Japan is currently leading the world in the adoption of copper fittings, hardware and touch surfaces. The Ochiai Clinic in Urayasu City, has used brass (a copper alloy), as the surface for walls, doors, counters and desks in what they hope will provide an active, human-safe barrier to the spread of disease

serve as reservoirs for bacteria, and greatly increase the risk of infection to patients, healthcare staff and visitors.

These high-risk touch surfaces identified in the initial phase of the trials, were swapped for copper components in the patient rooms nominated as 'copper rooms'; with 'control rooms' provided by patient rooms that retained their standard components. The rooms were then sampled for contamination and assessed by standard microbiological techniques.

The results of the trials were published at the 5th Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, in March last year. Confirming that copper surfaces can significantly reduce the levels of bacteria found on nurse call buttons (90%), chair arms (38%), IV drip poles (67%), and bed rails (99%). And providing the particularly exciting news, that neither MRSA nor VRE (the most concerning of the hospital superbugs) could be detected on any of the copper surfaces sampled.

These findings obviously make a very strong case for the implementation of copper/copper-alloy fittings and touch surfaces in healthcare facilities, and have led to increasingly stronger use in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Here in Australia however, although a number of local suppliers are looking to bring copper fittings, hardware and touch surfaces into the country, we are yet to see any real push for implementation from the healthcare industry.

“Hospitals are watching this very carefully though” Fennell says, “In Europe, a lot of hospitals are already saying ‘this makes sense, lets proceed’, and here in Australia we are finally starting to do some trials, and are working with architects and specifiers to bring in products that not only look good, but can provide real functional benefits for infection control”.

With hospital acquired infections becoming an increasingly concerning problem for our healthcare industry, it would seem short-sighted to not at least investigate the potential of passive antibacterial agents to help fight the spread of these infections. They will never replace primary controls such as regular disinfecting and cleaning; but flooring and wall cladding infused with a bacteriostat, and copper/copper-alloy fittings, hardware and touch surfaces do provide us with another weapon to help fight this escalating war on germs.

And that’s something worth a looksee.

|7

Supplement

Finding the Forest Through the Tree: The Second Coming of Timber.

The Prince George Airport has been designed to showcase simplicity and investigate the possibilities of structural timber. In addition to the timber work, as much of the existing building as possible was reused, in an effort to conserve the embodied energy within the load bearing masonry shell.

Image courtesy of MGB Architecture + Design

Our world is changing.

These changes are being driven, in large part, by climate and changing attitudes towards fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

We live in an age of steel and concrete, yet amongst these changing attitudes we are starting to see a particularly interesting re-evaluation of the raw materials that comprise our buildings.

Current estimates place the production of concrete’s share of total global carbon emissions at around 5%, and steel’s at 2-3%. This is a huge issue. And with a predicted three billion people requiring new housing over the next 20 years, a solution that can help us address these emissions is vital. Interestingly enough, looking to the construction materials of the past just might point out the key to our future. Namely, timber.

Apart from being both readily renewable and cost-effective, timber brings carbon capture to the table, storing away the carbon it has captured even after it is cut down.

So how does it compare for largerscale constructions?

According to Michael Green, Principal with Canadian firm MGB Architecture + Design, and one of the world’s leading designers and advocates of large-scale timber construction, the lifecycle length of a timber building should be no different from that of a steel/concrete one.

“Quality and longevity in a building has more to do with how it’s maintained,” he says, “there is really no issue of longevity with wood, if it’s properly maintained and covered”.

Green says that the key to wooden structures for larger buildings, lies in preventing exposing to the elements, “You need to protect the structure with 8 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

a cladding envelope that keeps the elements out. Which means bringing the wood off the ground so that it’s away from moisture and termites and anything else that might cause the structural system to degrade”.

With newfound timber products, designs and methodology, Green says we can now quite comfortably achieve 20-storey buildings, and potentially reach up to 30-storeys, largely due to wood buildings being half the weight of their concrete equivalents.

The weight issue creates a law of diminishing returns with concrete buildings, he says. “Lighter buildings simply don’t have to resist the same forces as heavier ones, which in turn reduces the need for more complex and expensive structural base systems”.

Finding the Forest Through the Tree

‘Finding the Forest Through the Tree’ (FFTT), is a new methodology for assembling large-scale timber structures.

“One of the greatest benefits of timber structures is how quickly they can be built,“ Green says, “which is what makes them so cost effective”.

To put this in perspective, a concrete building tower might go up a floor a week pouring concrete, by comparison, with an FFTT-style timber system you can achieve 4-6 floors a day. “Which is the real turning point,” Green says, “realising that speed makes a dramatic difference in cost”.

The key to these structural systems is a range of engineered timber products,

commonly called large-format panel products, which are redefining the design possibilities for timber. The most significant are Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), and Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL).

CLT has actually been around for a century, but has only been revolutionised in last decade in Central Europe and Canada. It is fabricated by bonding together timber boards with structural adhesives to produce a solid timber panel with each layer of the panel alternating longitudinally and transversely.

Alternating the grain directions of each layer reduces many of the weakness that previous timber products had, and reduces the effects of shrinkage and swelling, allowing loads to be transferred in more than one direction.

LSL is a structural product that has been around for 25 years, and is produced by assembling wood strands and bonding them together with a structural adhesive to form a solid product. The laminated structure disperses strength throughout the beams giving them a higher bending strength and stiffness than equivalent solid timber sections of the same species.

LSL panels are kept as large as possible, 2.5m wide, 20m long and 89mm thick – as with bigger pieces you require fewer connections, and that both lowers your costs and the strengthens your structure.

Increasing the Uptake Large-scale implementation of these new timber systems requires us to close the gap between design, innovation and construction, Green says. “The market really needs everyone to work together, for a greater understanding of how these systems work and how they can save us time, money and carbon emissions”.

“I definitely look at this as a project over my lifetime,” he concludes, “it’s not a short-term change, but I think ultimately these ideas will capture the minds of architects and engineers over the world.

We’ve been using the same materials for the past 100 years, and the interest in those materials is going to wane.

Designers always want to try new things, and as these new materials and methods of construction come through, the shape and form of our buildings will change with them”.

And here’s hoping our environmental impact can change along with them.

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Service

Project Profile: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Harmony in Integration: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Building

Main: From the front of the Research Building, you can see how the atrium provides a clear separation between the offices on one side and the laboratories on the other.

Human development owes a great debt to the process of integration; it’s one of the hallmarks of the modern age. It was the integration of workers and machinery into production lines that spawned the industrial revolution; the integration of national economies into an international market through trade, foreign investment and migration that created the globalised economy; and the integration of societies and cultures through communication, transportation, and trade that has fuelled the extraordinary period of human development seen in the past century and a half.

By Mark Kenfield

10 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

And the significance of integration is only growing stronger as we plunge on headfirst into the new digital age of the 21st century.

Integration brings people and ideas together; and that, more so than anything else, is the fuel of progress.

Which brings us toThe Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Building, an exercise in translating ‘integration’ into a building.

Designed by Cheesman Architects and constructed by Hansen Yuncken as part of the $127 million Stage 2 Redevelopment of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (TQEH), the final stages of which are expected to reach completion later this year. The site comprises a single multi-storey research facility on a stand-alone portion of TQEH. “It brings together a wide range of research entities formerly dispersed

throughout TQEH and other sites” explains Cheesman’s project architect, Scott Boyd-Turner.

“The facility specifically creates the opportunity for researchers to share ideas, create a creative work environment and develop into a single, sustainable community with a distinct and recognisable physical ‘home’ at TQEH” he adds.

Photos courtesy of Tom Roschi

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Transparent Connections The notion of integration that underpins the Research Building’s design led to the building’s most impressive architectural element, its atrium.

“The one thing that really strikes me about the Research Building, and the element I’m most proud of with the design, is the atrium” Boyd-Turners says. “This multi-storey element creates a striking space that allows deep penetration of natural light into the centre of the building. It brings together the occupants both vertically and horizontally. With flying bridges creating the node-points for colleagues to meet and converse. It allows staff on all levels to readily see and hear activity within the building, and really activates the space”.

“It’s a great atrium” adds Aaron Griffith, Hansen Yuncken’s Project Manager on the Research Building. “The building is essentially composed of two halves

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All Together Now Perhaps the biggest challenge on the project, lay less in the actual construction, than it did in bringing all of the research building’s disparate research groups together under one roof.

“The cultural challenge of bringing everyone together, was really quite significant” Boyd-Turner explains, “The research groups had all previously been individual entities so they weren’t used to the idea of working together in a single facility with shared resources”.

The integrated approached offers a great many benefits in costs and efficiencies though, as not every group needs to use expensive equipment like a high-speed centrifuge all the time, but most will still need one occasionally - so by having everyone under the same roof, you create both universal access to, and much more efficient use of, such devices.

“The Research Building is a very unique facility” adds Robert Callisto, Director at Bestec, the project's consulting engineers. “Researchers are unique in themselves, being a very broad range of

people with various needs and various viewpoints. So getting a definite brief that would respond to everyone’s needs was quite a challenge”.

“They’re very unique, very intelligent people and so capturing what they needed from the building required getting into their mindset, trying to extract what they wanted from the facility and then communicating that back to them” he explains.

Boyd-Turner says that challenge was overcome through working closely with the Hospital’s redevelopment team, holding extensive workshops with the users, and through keeping the users engaged right throughout the construction process. “We made a point of taking them on site and confirming with them what was working, what wasn’t, and making adjustments as necessary” he says.

“And because we engaged them right at the early stages, we were able to work together to prevent any nasty surprises”.

“There were lots of meetings, preparation of data sheets, and going over the drawings with the researchers,” Callisto adds, “it was about putting into context all of the information they had given us, so that they knew exactly what they were getting from the engineering services”.

LEFT: The light and space created by the atrium separating the offices from the building's research laboratories help to activate the space by providing a transparent demarcation between the two sections of the building. | 11

Project Profile: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital

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Holistic Sustainability One of TQEH’s major objectives for the Research Building was the delivery of a project with best-practice environmental outcomes for a research facility. With a particular emphasis on internal environment quality, reduced CO2 emissions and water conservation.

To meet these objectives, the Research Building’s ESD solutions had to specifically address the intrinsic requirements of such buildings; namely, the need for continuous operation, the very high intensity of the building’s engineering services, and the requirement for a long building lifecycle with multiple changes of use.

The sustainable design features that were built into the project to address these concerns included: optimised passive design to reduce energy transfer, internal materials with ultra-low Volatile-

The Research Building brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines with state-of-the-art facilities.

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Organic-Compound content to improve internal air quality, solar-augmented hot water systems, low-energy T5 fluorescent lighting equipment, lowflow water fittings and fixtures both inside the building and as part of the landscaping, and a fully automated building management system.

“The main two components of the ESD were the HVAC design, and the lighting system” explains Callisto. “We used energy benchmarks, and lifecycle costings to determine the systems that would suit the project best. Selecting high-efficiency air-cooled chillers and boilers for the HVAC system, and T5 fluorescents with an automated lighting control facility, for the lights.

The control system switches lights off when rooms aren’t occupied. To achieve this, we carefully modelled the usage patterns of the researchers and incorporated those models into the lighting control system”.

“The team worked together to develop benchmark targets for the building,” adds Boyd-Turner. “We determined our benchmarks for energy and water use, indoor environment quality, emissions, and material sustainability using the pilot Green Star health tool as a guide”.

Conclusion “Our goal with the Research Building was to create a world-class facility” Callisto concludes, “We have world-class researchers here in Adelaide, and we want to keep them here to show the world the outstanding results our researchers are capable of. And I believe wholeheartedly that TQEH Research Building has achieved just that. It provides a worldclass facility, and should help encourage our young researchers to stay here and achieve great results”.

“The quality of the building has, reportedly, already contributed significantly toTQEH’s ability to attract and retain both research staff and research funding,” Boyd-Turner adds, “and there have already been discussions about possible expansions in the future”.

Proof positive then, of the power of integration.

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Integrating Technology Another essential component to the project’s goals of efficiency and integration was its detailed ICT solution.

“In my opinion, the ICT was one of the most impressive elements of our work on the project” says Robert Callisto.

“We designed an intelligent platform that seamlessly integrated all of the services devices in the building, even the user devices.This allowed all of the researchers’ equipment to interact and communicate in real-time within the facility, over a high-speed universal cabling platform.

So they all communicate without human intervention” he explains.

By reducing the need for human intervention, this integration of services makes the facility extremely streamlined, greatly improving efficiency. The ICT

solution also incorporated wireless coverage throughout, allowing researchers to use hand-held devices to access information whilst on the move, which keeps them from being tied down at workstations and offers further improvements to efficiencies.

On top of all that, the system was also designed to connect to various external parties. “Because of their research, access to TQEH’s network was a necessity,” Callisto says, “however we set up the ICT network to access Adelaide University’s network as well. Which allows the instantaneous sharing of information between the hospital and the university, to further aid their research”.

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separated by the open space of the atrium, so you have the research labs on one side and the offices on the other.

There is a real demarcation between the two areas, which had a real function to it, and makes the atrium more than just an aesthetic feature”.

“Accommodating the atrium into the facility has been a huge success for the building itself” adds Walbridge & Gilbert’s Greg Zafiridis, the lead structural and civil engineer on the project. “It was initially a challenge to convince the team that the atrium was the right way to go.

However after looking at the orientation of the building, and the light that we had available, once we decided it was the way to go it all came together quite neatly” he says.

The atrium brings large volumes of natural light into the centre of the building.

HOW CAN YOUR NEXT DECISION SAVE YOUR HOSPITAL $000’S? Altro’s integrated floors and walls are easier and more cost effective to maintain thanks to their seamless joints and high impact resistant durability. This greatly reduces the need for on-going repairs, which are as expensive as they are unsightly, saving your healthcare facility $000’s per year.

For more reasons to choose Altro, contact us on info@asf.com.au or 1800 673 441.

INDUSTRY MATTERS

Securing a Sustainable Future Sustainability is only a meaningful concept and indeed can only be comprehended on very long time scales. Worse still, it is easily argued from the basic laws of nature that sustainability, as such, is elusive. At best, we can hope for a meaningful humanity for as long as the sun supplies earth with an acceptable amount of solar radiation.

Equally climate change is not readily observed. It is but a statistical or mathematical property of the weather.

To argue about climate change, we have to rely on mathematical models that involve both spatial and temporal scales that are super-human.

Contemplating sustainability or climate change inevitably requires some leap of faith.

Of course that is not the end of the matter. For example the citizens of Melbourne have clearly contributed to a more sustainable urban living experience through their personal response to water restriction measures.

Equally many corporations try to operate sustainably. The engineering company Better Place aims for a fossil-fuel-free land transport system.

IBM has thrown its weight behind its "smarter planet" initiative.

Nevertheless, most actions for sustainability and reactions to climate change are rather tentative. Moreover local Australian efforts, no matter how meaningful in the Australian context, will simply be dwarfed by the worldwide need to cater for an ever growing world population, with concomitant energy needs. It is becoming increasingly clear that the "business as usual" response will not suffice.

Several UN reports firmly state the world will fail miserably in attaining its millennium goals, under this scenario. Worse, in the process we will cause ever greater weather extremes affecting more and more people.

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What is required is a clear vision and decisive leadership.

Indeed the world does not lack natural resources. Water and energy are abundantly available. The sun provides earth with more than 1,000 times the energy required to support the entire world population comfortably. We have the technology and know-how to cater for twice the present population, but we need to change our ways fundamentally. Just as climate change and sustainability do not recognise national boundaries, we have to learn to collaborate across cultural and national divides.

Most disappointingly instead of taking decisive action, we hide behind excuses like "it costs too much" or "someone else has to take the economic risk first". What misery! What price do we put on planet earth? What is the present net value of future generations?

At the University of Melbourne we have started to put "sustainability talk" into action. The University is cutting its water usage and carbon footprint drastically. It engages suppliers that share its philosophy of sustainability. It looks towards recycling and reducing its volume of land fill waste and so on. Its substantial research and development base is increasingly geared to look at sustainability, with entire research institutes devoted to energy, water and sustainable societies. It has adopted

a sustainable building policy. Through partnerships with industry, government and other research providers, such as NICTA and CSIRO, credible, critical mass endeavors are formed that can translate ideas into practical solutions for society, faster than ever before.

More broadly the group of 8 universities is starting to collaborate to bring their combined resources to bear on how a meaningful response for sustainability in the face of unprecedented population growth can be achieved, here and in our region.

Clearly the combined effect of many working sustainably will result in a more sustainable future for all. Even so, time is against us. A more decisive response is required to avoid the detrimental effects of climate change and present unsustainable practices.

Australia and the world needs a vision for energy and water services; a clear vision that can rally the necessary resources to deliver.

Iven Mareels Dean, Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne

State Analysis Market Outlook: Growth Evasion

Growth is continuing to elude the Australian construction market, with a mere five percent short-term gain anticipated over the next three months, according to BCI Australia.

The research company reported in their March forecaster that the national market experienced zero percent growth in the last 12 months and suggests the winding down of government stimulus spending and a tepid private sector is continuing to hinder growth.

However the market is also expected to take longer to develop as state government elections cause apprehension within the marketplace and natural disasters cause further dragging out of construction starts.

But not all is gloomy. April is expected to be the high point in the coming months with more than $600 million worth of construction expected to commence nationally.

BCI’s Research Director Damian Eastman said that some states will perform better than others in the coming months and that the market will begin to see disaster recovery funds affect the industry.

“Our research suggests the market will see an increase of one percent for building and 11 percent in civil works over the March to May period.”

“We anticipate improvement in several sectors within the market over the next quarter, particularly in the residential, community, and industrial sectors,” Mr Eastman said.

The national market is shaping up to be fairly moderate in the coming months however three out of the five major states are expecting losses in the value of construction commencing during the March to May period.

New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory Although the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory market has been positive over the last 12 months, the next three months paint a less rosy picture. The market is expected to experience a 35 percent fall in the value of construction starts, a decrease due to large declines in all major sectors except for the commercial and industrial

By Stephanie Bray

sectors. The commercial sector is pegged to experience a 16 percent increase, with May anticipated to be the better performing month, while the industrial sector is expected to increase by 21 percent in the coming months. However the conclusion of the New South Wales state election may breathe some life back into the ailing sectors.

Victoria The Victorian construction market is looking average for the next three months with an expected 19 percent decline in the value of construction starts. Construction values for March, April and May are expected to hover around $1000 to $1300 million mark, which is a considerable change from the results seen at the same time last year.

The declining industrial sector is expected to improve with a jump in construction expected during April and May. The improvement for the sector in the March to May period is expected to be more than 120 percent.

Unlike the industrial sector, the commercial sector in Victoria is forecasted for a 62 percent drop. After a huge jump in the construction starts value during January, the sector is expected to have a mediocre three months with few projects exceeding $5 million.

Queensland As one of the few states expecting positive growth in the March to May period, Queensland is bracing for an 84 percent increase in the value of construction starts. Queensland is expected to see significant increase in monthly construction expenditure due to flood and cyclone damage with the majority of construction to commence in April.

However, predominately privately funded sectors like the commercial and the retail and hospitality sectors are expected to experience decreases of 51 percent and 25 percent respectively.

It should be no surprise that one of the best performing sectors in flood damaged Queensland will be

the civil sector. Due to consistent rain little civil construction has been undertaken in Queensland during the summer months. As a result of thousands of roads requiring work and a back log of projects, the state is expected to experience a 144 percent increase in the value of construction commencing during the March to May period. The majority of the work is expected to commence during April, but May is also expected to produce a higher than average value of construction starts.

Western Australia WA is expected to have an explosive 131 percent growth in the next three months, with major growth expected within the industrial and civil sectors. However the residential sector is also expected to grow by 68 percent during the March to May period. Similar to 2010, Western Australia is expected to see peak residential construction in May with projects like the $30 million “The Salt” apartments on the Rockingham waterfront slated to commence construction.

Although most of the major sectors in Western Australia are expected to see growth, the retail and hospitality sector is not so lucky with a 23 percent drop forecasted in the construction pipeline. April will see a peak of close to $100 million worth of construction starts before dropping to a 12-month low in May. South Australia A 52 percent drop in the value of construction starts is expected for South Australia during the March to May period. Although the retail and hospitality sector is expecting a major increase, the civil, residential, commercial, and industrial sectors are all expected to be significantly down from the previous three months. The March to May period may be looking a little gloomy for the state but overall South Australia is not fairing too badly with a 12-month long-term trend of only negative six percent.

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straight talk

straight talk with Randy Gadient Senior Energy Engineer Siemens AUSTRALIA

The cost of energy has risen rapidly in even just the past 12 months, and it is expected to rise even further in the coming years. What does this mean for Australian building owners and operators? And what can and is being done to help cope with these rapidly increasing costs?

RG: The cost of energy has been rising, and we would only expect to see that trend continue into the future. There is a lot of work is being done right now in energy efficiency precisely because of the benefits it can offer, both in environmental impacts and as a positive cash flow generator. As such, we are seeing energy efficiency upgrades becoming very popular in the market as they offer the best way for people to reduce both energy costs and energy consumption.

Are all new buildings structuring their energy management with these increasing costs in mind?

RG: In the new building market, because you are starting with essentially a clean slate it’s much easier to come up with energy efficiency opportunities. When you are building a new building the technology is being installed for the first time, so the incremental costs of upgrading to new technology are much easier to handle than when you are approaching it from a retrofit perspective.

So it is very prominent in the new building industry for buildings to have green initiatives, whether they conform to the Green Building Council of Australia’s standards or not, it just makes financial sense to make those decisions and put in the higherefficiency technology that’s available at the construction of a new building.

Australia has a lot of old building stock, with notoriously poor levels of insulation, glaring energy inefficiencies, and electricity grids that are frightening close to capacity. All of which makes the case for retrofitting abundantly clear. With these limitations in mind, what are the best ways to tackle these issues?

16 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

RG: Existing building stock does comprise the vast majority of the Australian market, at about 98-99%. So there is not a lot of new infrastructure and consequently a lot of buildings that do not have new technology.

With all these older buildings, because our grid is running at capacity, a lot of actions have to be taken to reduce energy consumption. One of the best ways to tackle this is through lighting, a lot of products are aligned with lighting upgrades, and that makes it a relatively easy upgrade. One that everyone understands, and one that everyone can see. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) upgrades are another great option.

As you get progressively more towards the greener concepts, such as putting renewable energy inside your facility, the costs increase substantially.

So traditionally businesses will focus on those technologies that can provide a genuine financial benefit for their organisation.

When it comes to energy management, which particular processes or building elements do you find most effective for quickly achieving improvements and greater efficiencies in a project’s energy usage?

RG: In general lighting is one of the more cost effective retrofits. As well as Building Management Systems upgrades and control upgrades, primarily because your initial costs are lower, so you get higher energy savings with them.

The ones that are less common but often more important from a building perspective are infrastructure and building services upgrades, so replacing chillers, boilers and airhandling systems. But because these are substantial systems, there are substantial costs that go along with them. And because of those costs, infrastructure upgrades often fall by the wayside. So generally for quick turn-around projects we are looking more along the lines of lighting and control systems.

With Mandatory Disclosure expected to have a significant influence on the attractiveness of more efficient buildings to tenants. What sort impacts are you expecting its introduction to have on the industry at large and on the work you do?

RG: On the whole it is having a very positive impact, with Mandatory Disclosure being introduced, it is going to force building owners to make some serious decisions as to what sort of facilities they are going to provide, and it is going to make those decisions very visible to potential tenants.

This is a good thing because this sort of visibility and transparency is important to have in the building market, as it allows potential tenants to really understand the type of space they are leasing.

Different tenants are always going to have different requirements in terms of the space that they are letting. A lot of government tenants for example, will now require 4-4.5 star facilities; which will drive improvements to infrastructure and is good for the industry; not only for the building market, which will see an influx of more efficient technology, but also for the technology providers and the contractors who will be installing this equipment.

So overall this should have a positive impact on our economy, because building standards will have been raised and building owners will be forced to either comply with the standards or risk being labelled as ‘inefficient’ within the market.

Energy Performance Contracts are an increasingly popular contracting method for existing buildings to improve their energy management. How do they work and what makes them so effective?

RG: Energy Performance contracts are really a clever funding model to pay for upgrades through energy and maintenance savings.

With an energy performance contract you’ll have an upgrade that needs to be funded, sometimes it’s a chiller, sometimes it’s a lighting upgrade. And what will happen is a company will

come in and make those retrofits, and guarantee that the savings made will then pay for those upgrades.

So the company is able to take out a loan from a financial institution, which will be backed by the energy performance contractor, and the savings from the upgrades made will then pay back that loan over the course of 3-5 years.

This can allow a company to fund a project off balance sheet or however their needs dictate. Which can makes it a very effective option for improving the energy management in your building.

Green/energy/performance ratings and the like are obviously having a significant impact on the Australian industry as a whole, raising much greater awareness of energy management in the market. Has people’s understanding or approach to energy management changed in recent years?

RG: I would suggest that energy management; the understanding of it and the integration of it within organisations has changed substantially in recent years.

We have moved from an economy that was purely cost-focussed in the past, to one that now takes a much longer-term approach. For example when you think of the systems from the 1970s and 1980s, they had no regard whatsoever for energy management or resource efficiency, those were really secondary products.

Compare that to now, and you have an industry that is really focussed on costs in the long term, upfront costs still underpin that sometimes, but because the cost of energy is rising and becoming ever more substantial, it now has a larger impact to organisations.

So as a consequence of the rising price of energy, energy management has become a part of everyday life for most buildings owners. And this is making both a positive and permanent change to the way we approach buildings & energy management within them.

| 17

INDUSTRY MATTERS

Green Buildings, Healthy Buildings

The core value of all healthcare professionals is to promote health without harm. Though how can health practitioners consistently deliver on this promise in an unhealthy environment?

In a qualitative survey of 50 hospital inpatients in the United Kingdom in 2004, participants wanted a homely, welcoming atmosphere that was supportive. Good physical design, access to external areas and facilities for recreation and leisure were all nominated as important.

Instead, many healthcare environments confront patients with a lack of amenities to fulfil some of their most basic human needs; the need for fresh air and access to natural light. In standard hospital and healthcare environments, patients experience pain, discomfort and anxiety. In many cases, they are sharing a ward with strangers, in a room without a view. Boredom is a very common complaint in hospitals, and generally the television is the only thing that patients can control, particularly as they are not able to control the thermal comfort of their environment, the lighting or the ventilation.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, patients who have some influence over their immediate environment, and who have access to natural light, 18 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

ventilation and views, recover faster than those who do not.

This is not a radical new concept.

In 1860, Florence Nightingale argued that without raising themselves or turning in bed, patients should be able to “see out of window from their beds, to see sky and sun-light at least… if you can show them nothing else, I assert [this] to be, if not of the very first importance for recovery, at least something very near it.”

One hundred and fifty years later, green building practices are providing the answers to some of these challenges faced by both patients and health practitioners.

While the traditional business case for green construction has rested on financial savings through energy efficiency, the rationale for green healthcare facilities encompasses not just economic advantage, but also improved patient outcomes, better staff health and reduced staff turnover, and community benefit through reduced environmental impacts.

There’s no doubt that because they conserve energy and water, green

buildings are cheaper to operate. In a 2008 report which examined the business case for green healthcare facilities in the US, for example, the vice president of facilities at the Ochsner Health System in New Orleans said that “sometimes you find opportunities to go green in the unlikeliest place.” His organisation replaced thousands of pump and suction motors with variable speed motors, reducing the hospital’s energy footprint to the tune of US$350,000 a year.

Other green initiatives included using water directly from the Mississippi River in place of traditional cooling towers for air conditioning – which delivered better environmental outcomes and now saves US$3 million a year in electricity. Replacing 60,000 fluorescent lighting fixtures with newer energy-efficient bulbs reduced energy consumption by 20 per cent, saving a further US$1.2 million a year in electricity.

Green building is not just proving its value at the environmental and economic levels. A growing body of

So many possibilities to improve efficiency, but where do I start?

Siemens energy efficiency portfolio: End-to-end solutions that deliver economical and environmental benefits Climate change, demographic change, urbanisation and globalisation are placing significant pressure on our resources.

Rising temperatures and our growing population is increasing demand for energy while causing carbon emissions to rise.

However, controlling energy demand is the simplest and most economical ‘first-step’ towards mitigating CO2 while at the same time, saving costs.

Siemens provides a unique perspective on your facility to achieve your business and environmental goals. We see that all businesses in Australia and New Zealand have the potential to reduce their energy usage by up to 40 percent.

Siemens has been providing solutions in water, energy, environment, healthcare, productivity, mobility, safety and security, for nearly 140 years.

www.siemens.com.au/energyefficiency

INDUSTRY MATTERS

evidence based research suggests that green buildings can improve patient outcomes in hospitals and healthcare settings, hasten patient recovery rates and reduce health risks to staff.

For example, a study at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Michigan found that applying green design principles such as increased daylight, rooms with external views, more fresh air and better quality ventilation systems, and an increased use of natural materials with fewer pollutants in its redevelopment project, led to an 11% reduction in secondary infections and a decrease in nursing turnover rates.

Another 2005 study into the effect of sunlight on patients undergoing spinal surgery found that lighter and brighter rooms in hospitals contributed to stress reduction and that patients experienced less pain 20 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

and used less analgesic medicine.

Furthermore, research from the Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre in Canada found that depressed patients in sunny rooms recovered 15% faster than those in darker rooms.

Faster healing rates and reduced prescription of pain medication both lead to substantial economic and societal benefits.

In Australia we have an environmental rating tool to help support sustainable planning, design and construction for highperformance healthcare facilities that provide better quality care for patients.

The Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) Green Star – Healthcare v1 rating tool was launched in June 2009 to evaluate the environmental potential and integrated fitout of health and aged care facilities. It also assesses major

refurbishments of existing facilities.

We have a number of projects already registered to achieve Green Star ratings for their healthcare facilities, and we’re confident that the Green Star – Healthcare v1 tool will help owners and operators of healthcare facilities to build healthier facilities in the future – both for patients, staff and the environment.

The Green Star – Healthcare v1 rating tool is freely available for download from the GBCA website, as well as for independent third party accredited assessment. For more information, or to provide feedback on the tools, visit the GBCA website: www.gbca.org.au

Romilly Madew Chief Executive, Green Building Council of Australia

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Photos courtesy of Paul Wright

Project Profile: Macquire University hospital

The Cutting Edge: Macquarie University Hospital

By Mark Kenfield

Balance is never an easy thing to find in life, conflicting objectives pull us every which way.

So spare a thought then for those who have to balance the myriad objectives of a project as complex as a teaching hospital.

22 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

Early Beginnings In late 2006, HPI submitted an application to the Minister for Planning for planning approval for the hospital, and approval was granted in May 2007.

“The Hospital had to have cutting edge diagnostic and treatment technology that would place it at the forefront of Australian health care,” HPI’s Project Architect Anne Lamb explains. “This included the first cyclotron and radiopharmacy in a private hospital; the first Gamma Knife in Australia; comprehensive cancer care facilities (including oncology and radiotherapy); 12 fullyintegrated digital operating suites (one with a fully inter-operative CT); electronic medical records; a wireless network; RFID and VOIP communications”.

“One of the keys to creating cutting edge teaching spaces on both the hospital site and in the ASAM,” she adds, “was to provide direct

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The recently completed Macquarie University Hospital (MUH), a $150 million private teaching hospital, designed by Health Projects International (HPI) and constructed

by Baulderstone, had to seamlessly integrate the three essential components of an academic health science centre, namely: clinical care, education and research.

Located on Macquarie University’s grounds, it is the first private teaching hospital to be linked to a medical school in Australia on a university campus.

The site would offer the MUH a location within the Macquarie University Research Park, which was already home to a number of leading Australian and international companies specialising in medical interests; it was within 500m of Macquarie University Station and within easy walking distance of major transportation networks and bus routes.

MAIN: The

Australian School of Advanced Medicine, which is housed in a specialist clinic adjacent to the hospital, is linked to it directly via an impressive overhead bridge.

FAR RIGHT: The level three garden, provides an open space and pleasantly landscaped view for around half of the patient rooms.

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A New Way of Teaching Central to Macquarie University’s teaching goals for the MUH was the creation of the Australian School of Advanced Medicine, which is housed in a specialist clinic adjacent to the hospital, and is linked to it directly via an overhead bridge.

“The goal with ASAM was to provide specialty postgraduate training in surgical specialisation,” Lamb explains, “and this was only possible thanks to the location of MUH on the University campus. By linking directly with the Hospital, ASAM utilises it as a key teaching facility, whilst the University provides the necessary research and pedagogical support that the school needs, along with access to

an extensive range of science and healthcare facilities”.

Macquarie University’s proposed model of integrating a private hospital with a research intense university was largely based upon the practices established in such distinguished institutions as the Mayo Clinic, Rochester and Georgetown University Hospital.

“For training in surgery, university programs are the norm in the USA,” Lamb says. “However this is not the case in Australia, where surgical training is supervised by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

And whilst the Australian system has proven to be excellent, the US model ensures that as surgical specialties grow in depth and breadth – the underpinning scientific, ethical and pedagogical knowledge remains central to practising surgeons”.

Shifting from the existing Australian model, which is based upon apprenticeship, to a model underpinned by research, scientific investigation and a university accredited teaching model, was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of ASAM, and it is what allows the school’s speciality post-graduate training in surgical specialisations to occur.

Technology also plays a huge part in facilitating this new style of teaching, with high-tech linkages throughout the hospital providing live surgical training for students. For example, the surgical skill laboratory in ASAM provides students a simulated surgical environment in which to study fundamental and advanced surgical technical skills and procedures.

Digging Deep One of the biggest challenges faced by the design team on the project lay in the strict council planning requirements they had to meet. “There was a strict height limit in place,” explains Lamb. “So one of the biggest challenges we faced was fitting everything the hospital needed into a building envelope that wouldn’t exceed the council’s height requirements.”

The solution to this was to build two floors of the hospital underground, though this posed the additional challenge of having to cut through solid rock.

Into these basement levels were placed Radiopharmacy and Radiotherapy bunkers to house the hospital’s cyclotron (where radioactive isotopes are produced for use in the detection of cancer in patients) and gamma knife (a device for delivering concentrated radiation to small, targeted areas in the body – the first of its kind in Australia), these bunkers required a great deal of structural work to provide the necessary levels of radiation shielding. “These areas were complex to design and construct due to the requirements of the radiation and laser equipment,” explains Allsop, “resulting in walls and slabs up to 2m thick in parts.”

The bunkers presented quite a few challenges in having to comply with EPA requirements for the construction of radiation facilities; accommodate the delivery, installation, maintenance and future replacement of specialist equipment including items up to 20 tonnes in weight; and provide all of the services required for the operation

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access to live high-definition video images from the hospital’s operating theatres”.

“The project commenced in November 2007 with the demolition of the existing buildings and preparation of the site, which was followed by a 30,000m3 excavation for the basement car parking facilities across the site,” explains Baulderstone’s Project Manager Paul Allsop.

“Two roads ran through the site,” he adds. “Technology Place, which runs between the hospital and specialist clinic building, and Innovation Drive, which is at the southern end of the hospital site. Construction restrictions allowed only one of the two roads to be taken out of public use at any one time, so we removed Innovation Drive first, which allowed us to construct the basement and suspended deck for the new road”.

| 23

Project Profile: Macquire University hospital

The teaching centre features a dissection room in which students study and refine their surgical techniques on cadavers; this room utilises live linkages to the hospital’s operating rooms, to allow students to follow live surgeries over highdefinition screens whilst they practice.

24 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

space by opening it up to the rock it was built into. “It was a collaboration between the Baulderstone and us,” Lamb explains. “Because the rock is really quite beautiful, we decided to essentially knock holes in the wall to reveal the rock behind it, and then built lighting features in to highlight their beauty.”

Conclusion The Hospital has, by all accounts, been a resounding success in its establishment of a world-class health facility, linked to a leading research university that provides cutting edge training to medical students.

“We’re extremely proud of the end result,” Anne Lamb concludes. “I think the entire project team did a wonderful job on it. We’ve manage to balance the extensive technical requirements of the hospital with patient-focused elements such as garden on level three, and the rock features in the basement levels.

Which provide open space and architectural features that help give the place a bit of soul.”

Tough though it might be to find, it would seem you can find balance in even the most demanding projects if you try.

h

of the specialist equipment they housed.

“We managed the design of the cyclotron bunker so that the structural solution; which included reinforcement detailing, concrete mix, concrete pour configuration and pour sequence; and ensured the concrete could not become radioactive during operation of the cyclotron,” Allsop says. He adds, “It also ensured that radiation could not penetrate through the bunker”.

“One of our biggest challenges was to make these underground spaces not look as confronting as they actually are,” Lamb says. “So it became paramount for us to balance the lighting, colour and furnishings throughout the basement levels, in order to make them warm and pleasant. So we worked within those limitations to create a calming space rather than a confronting one”.

“People who are attending for radiotherapy are obviously under a great deal of stress,” she explains, “and to shove them two floors underground could have created a very confronting environment if those issues hadn’t been considered in the design.”

The solution was to acknowledge the fact that patients were two floors underground, and personalise the

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TECHNOLOGY column

Using BIM to help save the planet

THE MISSION: Build a new southern regional office for Horizon Power; State Government power utility with customers spread across WA

THE CANDIDATE:

Highline, a Perth based commercial building company.

THE LOCATION:

Esperence, a south coast town more than 800kms south east of Perth.

THE OBJECTIVE:

Ensure the building is designed to achieve a sustainable green development.

Impossible? Not with the right tools.

Highline’s core business is based around steel designs.

For this particular project, it was more economical to have the structure made of steel. To begin with, it can be prefabricated offsite; you can design members to span long distances – a feature not possible with other building materials; steel is quick to install and erect, and is overall very cost effective.

The structure was to be designed in a way that would achieve a sustainable green development, so it had to include solar panels, wind turbines and rain harvesting water tanks.

This particular model was a step up in complexity as very few walls and roof planes were straight. The large circular section at the rear has an expanding roof overhang which made almost every column and outrigger unique. The front entry has many beams crossing over, under and into each other meaning they all had to be installed in a specific order.

With this type of unique, complex project where accuracy is paramount and scheduling critical, Highline needed to use BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology to ensure that the pre-planning was done accurately. For this project, Highline chose Tekla Structures due to its ability to handle complex geometry easily, its ability to schedule the project, and its integration with other 2D and 3D cad software packages and scheduling software.

Using this software meant that the project team could perform a ‘clash check’. In basic terms, this means that a check is done of the entire 3D model in ‘virtual reality’ to make sure that all parts fit together. With the criss-crossing nature of the front entry, it would have been easy for the beams to clash. Within this platform, everything is ‘live’ to the model, ensuring that every time something is changed in the model, the drawings automatically update themselves immediately to reflect that change. This guarantees that when clashes are 26 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

found and eliminated, the drawings will remain correct.

Tekla Structures also permitted Highline to automatically create steel quantity lists as well as material and bolt lists read for the installation. This proved to be much more accurate than manually going through drawings and the process provided substantial time savings.

BIM software gives all parties involved in a project a way to streamline the communication of information. For this particular project, Highline were able to use the ‘model reviewer’ to share information with the project’s architects Formwork Architects. They could import and view the architect’s model and compare it against the one they were working on. This made it easy to show ideas on how a design could be improved or modified.

According to Highline’s General Manager Alan Tink, “The ability to forward the public web file to the architect meant that simple, unforeseeable design problems were overcome”.

“The Tekla Structures system also enabled us to export the model into Autocad for concrete footing and slab detail drawings; and the multi-user function allowed us to have two experienced draftsmen working on the project at the same time, which – particularly during the modelling and detailing of the fabrication drawings – allowed us to reduce the project lead time” he says.

“As a result of the various software we used, we are very satisfied to have achieved a design that met Horizon Power’s entire objective for their new regional office in Esperance” he concludes.

MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED

Paul McLeod General Manager Pacific Computing (Australia) Pty Ltd

ASSOCIATION MATTERS

Get ready for 2011 and beyond…

For the year ahead there is a general air of optimism in the construction industry, however 2011 has started with more than a few clouds overhead. The entire industry and country was shaken by the impact of the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi. And although the rebuilding effort is likely to see a jump in building starts for the construction industry, prior to these natural events, the construction industry was already facing challenges.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates for construction work done in the September quarter 2010 were released last November; the December quarter figures are expected to be released in the next few weeks.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell by 2.1% in the September quarter, following rises in the previous two quarters. The result was also below the median market forecast rise of 2.3%. Notably, falls were recorded in all industry sectors with the exception of non-residential building.

Engineering construction work done fell by 1.4% in the September quarter, following a 2.4% increase in the June quarter 2010, to be 1.0% lower than a year earlier.

Residential building work done fell by 6.1%; following on from the rise

28 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

of 8.7% in the June quarter 2010, reflecting the current weakness in housing approvals and the stretched affordability of housing.

Non-residential building work done increased by just 1.5% due to the winding back of the stimulus from the Government’s school building program. Which follows an average growth of 8.6% over the previous three quarters.

The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI) for January 2011 reported that the national construction industry had contracted at a steeper rate as the severe impact of the floods on building activity added to already weak project demand.

The PCI declined by 3.6 points to 40.2, to remain below the 50 point level separating expansion from contraction for an eighth consecutive month. This was also the lowest level since July 2009.

The PCI reported that activity had declined across all of the four major industry sub-sectors. The weakest conditions were in apartment building, where activity declined at the steepest rate in the past two years. Engineering construction registered a marked fall-off in activity following the upturn of the previous month, while house building and

commercial construction also posted more subdued conditions.

Businesses that reported a decline in activity attributed this to work stoppages caused by the floods, tight credit conditions, higher interest rates and diminishing work from school building projects.

These reports reflect the two speed nature of the economy. The outlook for major project investment in resources, infrastructure and the engineering construction is expected to be strong, built on a pipeline of work in the mining, oil and gas processing and transport infrastructure sectors while private commercial construction is forecast to remain subdued.

In a sobering reminder of the challenge before the industry, Premier Colin Barnett, in an address to the Western Australian Parliament, reported that there are currently $170 billion worth of resources and associated infrastructure projects either underway or set to start in Western Australia alone in the next five years.

Jim Barrett Executive Director Australian Constructors Association

glass Column

Bush home wins with green thinking

Photos courtesy of Blue Eco Homes

By Justin Jays

With the beautiful and natural Blue Mountains for a home, many would agree that when it comes to building a family hideaway, living within the environment is a lot better than fighting against it.

This was the inspiration for the construction of the Winmalee Eco Home by Blue Eco Homes, collaborating with local architect Ross Young to achieve a 7 ½ star modern, low impact, low maintenance and low energy-use family home that has just won the 2010 MBA Awards Environmental Management Award and HIA Greensmart Award for Water Efficiency.

The pleasing earthy feel of corrugated iron and rust-painted compressed sheet walls, a floor plan that bends gently to respond to the site contours, the curved roofline and unpretentious louvered windows meld seamlessly with the bush backdrop and open the home to its surrounds.

Bedroom wings fan out from the central living, kitchen and dining areas, with the main living areas and children’s bedrooms opening on to a large covered verandah with views of the bush.

“Blue Eco Homes is very much about environmentally sound design and to achieve that we embraced the beautiful natural surrounds, were responsive to the requirements of the site and coordinated clever technologies to achieve cost effective and green solutions” explains Joe Mercieca, Director of Blue Eco Homes.

“We managed a great deal of research and co-operation between various trades to apply the full range of design responses and technologies needed to achieve the high degree of self sufficiency we wanted for the house” he continues.

The technologies included a clever glazing system from Evolution Windows which applied passive heating and cooling principles to achieve maximum solar exposure and control as well as adhere to bush fire resistance requirements.

“Our windows use Viridian ThermoTech E double-glazed or louvre windows with Low Emissivity (Low E) glass that admits excellent levels of visible light to welcome the views, whilst still having good

insulating properties that help maintain even temperature levels in the home to reduce heating or cooling requirements” says Michael Brookes of Evolution Windows.

“Door and louver window openings were well placed to provide ventilation diagonally through rooms, while glazing and overhangs were designed to allow maximum solar entry for winter heating and minimum entry of summer sun” he adds.

Other technologies apply energy efficient heating and cooling methods, which include a hot water-activated hydronic floor heating system by Latento in the concrete floor slab, that uses a roof mounted system of evacuated tube collectors by Sunda that is frost tolerant and can produce hot water all year round.

Water is used in a ‘whole of house’ system, with rainwater collected from all roofs. There are three large tanks in the award winning system which can store over 90,000l of water, using cartridge particle filters and UV light to sanitise.

All waste water from the house is reused using a black and grey water recycling system; with the treated black water used for the lawn and gardens, and the treated grey water for laundry, toilet and other general use needs.

Renewable energy is provided through a 4.2 kilowatt photovoltaic solar panel system. Which collects enough energy to power all of the home’s energy needs.

“We’re really proud that, through pursuing environmentally sustainable design principles with the use of sophisticated technologies, we were able to achieve self-sufficiency and outstanding energy performance within budget requirements” concludes Ross. “The home is also a warm and inviting living space that accommodates and enhances the family’s lifestyle,” adds Mercieca. | 29

SPOTLIGHT: HEALTHBRIDGE WOMENS HEALTH CENTRE

By Ric Navarro

Transformation from Office to Private Hospital Converting an existing office building into a state-ofthe-art women’s private medical facility was always going to be challenging, but to do so in just 16 months is unprecedented.

Located at 50 Burwood Road in the inner Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, the Healthbridge Private Hospital occupies 5247m2 over four levels and was formerly home to a number of corporate office suites.

Following the successful acquisition of the commercial property by the Healthbridge group in April 2010, consulting engineers Norman Disney & Young (NDY) were commissioned by architects HSPC to assist with the planning and engineering services design of this unique refurbishment and fitout.

Working closely with the architect, builder and services sub-contractors, the Health specialist team on this project provided the necessary engineering expertise to overcome the myriad of challenges posed by the building conversion. A lean total construction budget of $15 million, combined with a tight completion timeframe, ensured that efficiencies were addressed by all parties 30 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

involved in the project.

According to project coordinator Ashley Marriott, the client brief called for the retention of as much of the existing services infrastructure as possible, while still complying with all relevant Code and health facility guidelines.

“When the base building infrastructure and services have been set up to accommodate a corporate office environment, creating a specialist IVF and women’s health clinic – complete with operating theatres, delivery suites and patient bedrooms – was always going to pose some interesting challenges” Marriott says.

“One of the main construction issues that we identified early on in the design brief was the necessity to partly demolish the core structure to allow for the replacement of major equipment such as chillers and diesel alternators” he adds.

Compounding these challenges was the limited availability of ‘as constructed’

documentation which necessitated the project team undertaking a significant amount of investigative work to assess existing services and infrastructure.

The client brief also required the provision of an additional future tenancy level that wouldn’t impact on business continuity. This required provisions for a future lift so that the existing lifts could be extended upwards to serve the additional levels without interrupting regular operations.

According to Marriott, one of the greatest challenges presented itself before work had even begun on the building.

“Most of the pre-existing tenants vacated prior to commencement of major works, however, some opted to see out their tenancy terms – this required a high level of strategic maneuvering, and detailed planning was required to maintain services to the remaining tenants whilst allowing the demolitions to proceed”.

The changes in planning use from commercial office to medical also had major implications for the design of the engineering services.

Innovative engineering solutions were needed to accommodate the specialised medical services reticulation within the restrictive 3.85m floor-to-floor heights,

which was further exacerbated by the requirement for 3m ceilings in the operating theatres. The requirement for optimum use of net lettable area also left little opportunity to increase plant space in the building.

“Our innovative solution to this problem was to locate some plant remotely in the covered car park area and then to reticulate services externally up to the operating theatres, concealed by purpose-designed camouflage pods without adversely impacting on the building’s aesthetics” explains project director Keith Davis. “The key to success with this project was the very close collaboration and integrated approach adopted by the design team, including the active participation of an extremely well informed client”.

Theatre packaged air-conditioning units have been securely accommodated in the covered car park and ducted up to the theatres. This provides excellent access for servicing and overcomes height restrictions and plant space limitations.

Further challenges involved providing for the establishment of medical gas bottle storage and an acoustically enclosed emergency standby diesel generator.

Adjacent residents meant that acoustic considerations influenced the location of the generator yet enabled the electrical sub-mains to be reticulated to the main switchboard without encroaching into the significant height clearances which are needed for servicing and delivery vehicles.

Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) was also a consideration in the

client brief so a wide range of initiatives to ensure the building refurbishment retained green off-shoots.

“The inclusion of computerised lighting controls was a meaningful and tangible way of ensuring lighting efficiency and energy savings” Davis says. “We also ensured that natural light was maximised in all patient areas and making provision for individual air-conditioning control to bedrooms - an important aspect of Evidence Based Design and the flexibility to give patients control over their immediate environment”.

Services also needed to accommodate metering to multiple tenants. By decommissioning a redundant dumb waiter, the project team reconfigured the space as a services riser to provide for additional service cabling and essential services requirements.

Lifts were successfully upgraded from conventional commercial passenger types to accommodate energy efficient bed passenger types within the constraints of the existing lift well structure. The lifts were fitted with the required manual controls and key override to facilitate the transport of liquid nitrogen in dewers to the IVF laboratory on level one.

The end result of the building conversion satisfies both form and function. The luxuriously appointed and spacious individual postnatal rooms cleverly disguise the vast web of essential services purposefully designed and built into the surrounding walls. NDY and HSPC have successfully given life to this significant healthcare conversion.

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Supplement The Sahara Forest Project is a combination of natural and manmade engineering feats

BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING REVOLUTIONISES CONSTRUCTION

By Emily D’Alteri

Biological engineering has traditionally been associated with human health matters. Revolutionising this practice in design and construction could see the elimination of excess carbon emissions and complete global sustainable living.

Biological engineering, in its most basic form, is the process of studying living organisms and analyzing how their abilities or form can be re-created to serve a purpose. This scientific practice focuses on taking natural orgasms and using their different aspects in solving problematic societal or health matters.

This application is now being used in construction and design. In his 2010 lecture at TEDsalon in London, Michael Pawlyn described this theory in terms of construction and how it is being used globally to create sustainable living, as well as reversing specific global warming issues.

In exploring how this process is able to work in a construction and design arena the focus is channeled through three natural occurring aspects; radical resource efficiency (more commonly referred to as radical resource productivity), close loops and energy from the sun in the form of solar power.

The close loop theory is the very basic idea of creatively reusing, and recreating a material that can be effective for the uses of more than one business or establishment. Pawlyn uses the example of the cardboard box at a restaurant. The cardboard goes through stages of being bedding for a horses stable, through to being food for fish, which are then sold back to the restaurant. This close loop theory is in itself a sustainable concept 32 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

that uses creative means of recycling on a large scale to benefit business as much as the environment.

Radical resource efficiency is defined by the dictionary of sustainable management as “obtaining the same or increased amount of utility or work from a product or process while using fewer resources, including energy, man-made materials, and natural resources such as air, water, or minerals”.

Pawlyn uses the example of the spinneret glands on a spider to illustrate radical resource efficiency in real terms.

Using these glands the spider is able to create a silk. It is able to naturally create a material stronger than any man made fiber using only dead flies and water. This idea is juxtaposed against the man made interpretation of this material, aramid fiber. In comparison to the natural and zero carbon emission process of the spiders silk, aramid fiber is made using copious amounts of energy and creates extensive carbon emissions. What this means for the construction industry is that by studying this natural process it is apparent that processes are available to maintain a modern civilized environment, whilst still being sustainable.

This idea is then extended upon. By including the factors that – through radical resource efficiency – money and natural resources can be saved, as well as seeing a reversal in resource depletion.

A reversal in depletion is something that is almost completely unique to construction-based biological engineering. This process is not simply promoting sustainability, but offering a way to reclaim desolated land.

A project using these ideals as well as intensive solar power utilities is the Sea Water Green House and its evolution into the Sahara Desert.The process in both the former and latter projects involve masses of concentrated solar power and the use of creative means of using the waste of a green house building to feed surrounding areas, turning baron land into fertile grassland. Plans have been made to stop or even reverse the desertification at the edge of the Sahara, which would create a lush environment, as well as create zero energy and carbon emission food.

“We receive ten thousand times as much energy from the sun every year as we use in energy of all forms. So our energy problems are not intractable. It’s a challenge to our ingenuity.” Pawlyn says.

By adapting to climate change it is possible for the construction and design industry to benefit from innovative sustainable options. It is clear that with building and design ingenuity it is possible to not only promote an eco-friendly environment, but also create enormous growth in industry productivity.

Sector Analysis Health & Medical centres

By Michelle Aizenberg, NSW Research Manager BCI Australia

The past 15 months have been erratic for construction commencements in the health and medical sector. Figures have been guided by the eventuation of postrecession federal funding boosts for some of the biggest projects of the past few years. Queensland epitomized this trend with a high in April 2010, thanks to the $405 million redevelopment of Mackay Base Hospital. The New South Wales sector was also unsteady. At its peak in May 2010, Stage 3 of the Nepean Health Services a $68.6 million expansion, commenced construction but from July 2010 the usually sizable market was slow.

The next two months are expected to see significant improvement in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales but decreases in Queensland and South Australia which are likely to pick up closer to the middle of 2011.

Similar to State health and medical sectors, there were noticeable spikes in activity in the commercial construction sectors of New South Wales and Queensland in February and March 2010 respectively. Victoria has been the least steady State with considerable highs in April 2010, July 2010 and Jan 2011.

In March 2011, we expect to see 34 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

a slump in four of the five biggest States with drops of up to 66%.

Western Australia, however, is likely to see a jump as high as 72%. This peak is contingent on the progress of several major projects, for example the Northbridge development at the old Tony Barlow $89 million site and Workzone - 34,000 square meres of offices planned for Perth worth $67 million.

A negligible percentage of health sector construction in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory had green star briefs in what was otherwise a profuse year for the planning pipeline. Only $13

million out of the total $6.1 billion went towards environmentally designed projects. Victoria and South Australia also had minor proportions of green health projects. This is particularly striking because these two states have become leaders in green building within other sectors.

Queensland had an extremely slow year for health and medical projects, only a fraction of the other states and in comparison to other years. Nonetheless, the majority of that spending was invested in green health designs, making it Australia’s second biggest contributor. Projects such as Aitkenvale’s Metro 1 including

GP Super Clinic exemplify a modern way of incorporating health projects into green commercial projects.

Western Australia had a very strong green health construction sector in 2010 with investment of $653 million, 22% of the total health construction projects in development. This positive result is largely attributed to a few significant projects, the most expensive being Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre Central Energy Plant in Claremont.

The facility will be an integral part of the hospital development and will provide high temperature water, chilled water, emergency power, medical gases and reverse osmosis water for clinical use.

Traditionally the strongest sector for sustainable building, the commercial office market once again raised the average proportion of works which are briefed or registered as Green Star.

As in its health sector, Queensland’s overall commercial spending was at its lowest point in years after a nine month slow-down from April 2010 to January 2011. The green component of Queensland’s commercial industry remained robust, contributing 54% of total spending. This suggests that sustainable projects are less susceptible to market pressure.

Despite some significant delays over the past five years, the $500 million office, retail and hotel project at the former Empire Square site in Brisbane is on its way to construction this year.

New South Wales, including the Australian Capital Territory, housed the largest amount of green commercial work, worth $3.2 billion and composing 19% of total sector investment. One of the most ambitious new projects aiming for a 6-star Green Star rating is Fraser Property’s Central Park development

at the former Carlton United Brewery site on Broadway, Chippendale. At a total cost of around $2 billion, commercial offices will constitute 30% of the floor space. To achieve the 6-star target, the seven internationally located architecture firms have integrated specialised technology and design, such as a tri-generation plant and a blackwater treatment plant.

Unlike the other States, the amount of green construction in Western Australia’s commercial field is significantly less than in health and medical. A 14-storey office refit in Dumas House, West Perth was Western Australia’s most expensive green office project in 2010. This development follows the trend of retrofitting older buildings to increase their energy efficiency and decrease the impact of demolition and new construction.

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legal column

Specifying Green Obligations With the current obligation to ensure that all significant investments are environmentally sustainable and therefore likely to continue to appreciate at a reasonable rate into the future, it is important when commencing construction projects to ensure that these contracts entitle the principal to a green result.

Most projects – a high-rise office tower or a substantial high-density residential development, for example – involve a number of players with widely differing priorities and agendas.

While all participants aspire to work collaboratively and in a coordinated manner to achieve the project aims, aspirations are not always easily achieved. Project directors and project managers strive to efficiently coordinate and schedule the wide variety of tasks carried out by all players in order to achieve a positive result with varying success.

However the aim of producing a green building requires meticulous planning and analysis in order to ensure that despite any errors along the path, the final result is actually achieved. It is awkward and insufficient to simply impose the requirement to deliver a green result on the contractor, particularly when its ability to deliver that result is effectively compromised by the decisions of other stakeholders, including those who developed the concept design and the fit out; in the widest sense possible including services and cladding.

Accordingly, it is important to develop and maintain a considered strategy with a suitable factor of safety in order to provide more than a single opportunity to achieve the greenness required. For example it may be best to design at a standard sufficient to surpass agreed standards by a significant margin in order to allow for the possibility that one or more aspects of the building may still fall short of their design or expected performance.

This would still allow the building to achieve the sufficient green rating specified in subsequent contracts of sale or lease notwithstanding that one or two green initiatives had not been as efficient or effective as initially contemplated.

It is important to bear in mind that the usual remedy for contractual breach is damages and where the contractual breach is a failure to achieve a specified requirement; damages are measured as the cost of rectification unless that is unreasonable and where rectification is unreasonable the diminution in value may be awarded.

It is noted that the damages may be limited by the contractual arrangements, and further, may be much less than the real value of the deficiency in the desired characteristics. For instance, if a building fails to achieve 36 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

a green rating it may not suffer any diminution in value, particularly if the market conditions have strengthened over the period of its construction. In addition, it may not be reasonable to reconstruct the aspects of the building which have caused it to fail the relevant green criteria and repairs may not be practicable if a large number of lessees or purchasers are keen to settle on their contracts.

Because the sustainability of buildings is a relatively new concept there are few cases that have exhaustively reviewed the applicable legal principles and provided detailed application of those principles in allocating liability among the various stakeholders, owners, designers, constructors and specialist subcontractors.

Even the various systems of assessing green ratings such as BREEAM, Green Star and NABERS have been subject to criticism for perceived inconsistencies.

Furthermore, while one would expect that the various regulatory and accreditation bodies would ensure stability in their requirements over time, the practical application of their requirements are likely to vary and progress as a clearer and more pressing desire to lower carbon footprints motivates the construction and development industry as well as the wider community in general.

Accordingly, a constructor would be unfairly treated if penalized for the rising community expectations manifested through a more detailed and comprehensive analysis. The more practical difficulty of constructors allowing for such movements in their pricing may mean that there are increasingly complex claims arising from the adjustments and variations that have to be made to achieve the required green rating.

Therefore it is important when planning, designing and constructing green buildings that one has a considered strategy to achieve the desired result, which has been robustly developed in light of all of the risks and uncertainties that are inherently attracted to significant and complex green projects.

Jim Doyle Doyles Construction Lawyers

INDUSTRY MATTERS

Taking the step to support sustainable forest management

Do you ever look at your dining table and wonder where it came from? What about your box of tissues, your timber floorboards or child’s toy train?

Environmentally aware consumers are increasingly asking more questions about the origins of their timber and paper products. Consumers finding out where these products have come from and how they have got to be what they are now can be an important factor in the sustainability of forest management.

Discovering where your timber and paper products originate from is a threefold process; firstly, ask your supplier questions about where the timber has come from; secondly, look for certification symbols; and thirdly, if you are in doubt, buy certified Australian products.

Timber production in Australia is subject to worldclass regulation that consumers can trust. Sustainable initiatives such as the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) seek to protect and support the longevity of forests and certified timber.

The SFM is a holistic approach defined as the stewardship and use of forests and forest land in a way and at a rate that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and potential to fulfil – now and in the future – relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels without damaging other ecosystems.

Strength and Credibility The Australian Standard for ‘Chain of Custody’ of wood and wood products, AS 4707, is a credible and rigorous standard that certified organisations comply to.

Their compliance is based primarily on the procurement,

inventory control and sales of the certified product.

The consumer can demand proof of any claim made by an organisation that the product is from a sustainable forest, in Australia or if imported, in its country of origin.

In Australia, forests are managed sustainably. They comply with strict environmental regulations ensuring issues such as biodiversity, water quality and cultural heritage are protected during forest operations.

Over 10.3 million hectares are certified against the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management, AS-4708, globally over 230 million hectares are certified against the PEFC International Standard. PEFC is the world’s largest certification scheme.

Importing Timber Products Whilst forestry in Australia is highly regulated, this is not always the case in other countries. Illegally harvested timber from overseas may have destroyed forest ecosystems, threatened endangered species and impacted negatively on the environment.

Ensuring that you purchase only certified timber contributes to the eradication of illegal logging, and supports the global program to increase sustainable forest management.

Kayt Watts Chief Executive Officer, Australian Forestry Standard Limited | 37

ASSOCIATION MATTERS

Seizing the Sustainability Advantage There are a number of challenges to achieving a more sustainable future for Australia – substantial demographic, environmental and economic changes to name just a few. Alongside these longterm challenges the current fragmentation of policies and programs across governments, portfolios and agencies does not help industry or government to respond effectively.

This has created a number of concerns; including the fact that policy and program development for sustainability is fragmented across portfolios, government departments and agencies; that policies and programs appear unsupported by any comprehensive process evaluating their costs and benefits (or lessons learned); that fear campaigns and scaremongering are leading to illinformed opinions that can distort policy development; and finally, that we need to prioritise the promotion of adaptation in the built environment to achieve sustainability in the face of future economic, demographics and climate change.

There is an urgent need for a fresh approach. In spite of these institutional barriers the need for immediate and ambitious action to improve the efficiency of our economy, mitigate climate change and adapt to change is clear. Launched in February this year, ‘Seizing the Sustainability Advantage’ is a report that proposes a range of recommendations with a view to developing best-practice solutions, the report’s key recommendations include: 1) A price on carbon within the next twelve months to incentivise business R&D, innovation and investment in new technologies

This needs to be set to achieve the behavioral changes required; drive low carbon solutions through cost benefit analysis and the demand for value for money outcomes; incentivise business R&D, innovation and investment in new technologies; and account for the needs of SMEs and emissions-intensive industries.

38 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

2) A Commission for a Sustainable Australia (CSA), established through COAG This would integrate the agreement for a price on carbon within a broader sustainability framework; provide a vehicle for collaboration and alignment between research institutions, governments, consulting professionals, industry and community organisations; evaluate, develop and advocate policy solutions and champion reforms that achieve genuinely sustainable outcomes; and provide recommendations that – by virtue of the Commission’s reputation and integrity and effective community and business engagement – are widely supported by stakeholders.

3) A National Sustainability Framework to create a cohesive agenda for sustainability operating across governments

This would promote: decisionmaking accounting for environmental, social and economic impacts; provide tools that help identify the environmental, economic and social costs of policy; provide consistency across states and territories; fully involve local and regional authorities, non-government organisations and industry; provide effective integration of national, state and local policy and planning; adopt long-term timeframes including intergenerational principles and indicators; identify and deter breaches of framework requirements; provide a clear strategy for monitoring and assessment with clear indicators; apply positive state policy at a national level; and mandate government leadership through model government procurement.

4) A nationally-consistent adaptation plan to protect Australia against the threat of damage from climate change, and help us manage other demographic and economic changes already forecast

This will help establish how prepared the public and private sector are; establish value-at-risk in recommending scenarios outlining the impact of climate, economic and demographic change; include adaptation considerations in planning and construction approvals;

consider changes to urban infrastructure; adjust regulatory and policy frameworks to account for required adaptation requirements; review social services and changing community needs; provide clear recommendations for the modification of planning frameworks, legislation and design guidelines; and prioritise the preservation of ecosystems which do not have the means to adapt.

The report’s recommendations suggest developing and continuing to implement policies that support the efficient use of water, waste and energy resources, including a National White Certificate Scheme and long-term support for green depreciation and investments improving the efficiency of Australia’s existing building stock.

While the recently announced Climate Commission and appointment of Chief Commissioner Professor Tim Flannery is an important step in the right direction, the report outlines more ambitious reform and demands a broader approach.

The recent update reports released by Professor Ross Garnaut to his 2008 Review, and February’s release by the Australian Industry Group of their analysis of the impact of rising energy prices, the role of a price on carbon, and the importance of a renewed focus on energy efficiency across the economy further underscores the importance of taking action now.

The Seizing the Sustainability Advantage report draws substantially on this expertise and is currently available for download at: www.consultaustralia.com.au.

Jonathan Cartledge Director of Policy Consult Australia

Changing Places better facilities for all, regardless of disability The current legislative requirements for providing access to people with disabilities is centered on research conducted some time ago. Items such as circulation spaces and locations of fixtures were determined based on two resultant footprints from the original research: one wheelchair footprint that represents the 80th percentile of all wheelchair users and another which represents the 90th percentile. With the exception of furniture and fitment items, this is loosely the main differentiating concept between Parts 1 and 2 of the Australian Standard AS 1428 ‘Design for access and mobility - General requirements for access - New building work; and Enhanced and additional requirements - Buildings and facilities’. However, it should be noted that scooter users were not included in the original research and therefore do not see any of their needs recognised.

The BCA currently references AS1428.1 - 2001 and therefore only attempts to address the needs of 80% of all wheelchair users. Of course this would suggest that a sizable population of people simply cannot enter and interact with the buildings that are currently being built and certified; where they can enter, they cannot perform essential functions such as use of the toilet as well as travel through and operate doorways.

People who are further excluded from publicly available spaces within the built environment are those with multiple or more severe disabilities. These are people who may require specialised seating systems to remain safely seated in their wheelchairs or a toilet pan, for those who may not be independently continent and who may need specialised lifting equipment to attend to continence needs via the use of an adult change table or specialised toilet pan.

It is logical to assume that certain decisions were made in producing the current set of guidelines based on the economics of obligating all building owners to construct specialised facilities and in preserving the maximum lettable space available. In the context of a long established Disability Discrimination Act, and as a signatory and ratifying member of the UN Convention and Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, this may not be entirely appropriate.

Many access consultants are now advocating for such specialist facilities in certain types of buildings. Buildings such as large shopping malls, public libraries, public swimming pools, leisure centres and large convention spaces represent society’s modern day Agora, where

all people should be able to freely congregate and participate in the public discourse.

A campaign in the UK named ‘Changing Places’ has been gaining substantial support and increasing coverage of late. The campaign has been promoting such facilities and seen significant uptake throughout the UK. The organisation concurrently manages a website which publishes a list of compliant facilities to assist people with disabilities in locating appropriate facilities and thus allowing them to access the surrounding environment with greater independence and dignity.

More recently the concept and many of their recommendations have been incorporated in a British Standard BS 8300 – 2009 ‘Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people - Code of practice’.

Some of the requirements for constructing these facilities include: a height adjustable, adult-sized change table; a ceiling mounted track hoist system or mobile hoist; adequate space, approximately 12 m2 in the changing area for the person with a disability and up to two carers; a centrally placed toilet with space on either side for carers;a screen or curtain to allow the person with a disability and carer privacy; wide tear-off paper roll to cover the change table; a large waste bin for disposal of continence products; a non-slip floor; a height adjustable wash basin; and showers with appropriate drainage in facilities where these are required – such as leisure centres and travel hubs.

The ‘Changing Places’ website (www.changing-places. org) is an excellent resource for finding out more about these facilities and I encourage people to visit the site. Anecdotally, much is said about the indignity, difficulties and the impositions on the safety for people with disabilities and their carers, however this cannot be adequately appreciated by people who have not had an intimate experience with disability and the way it can affect people’s lives. The ‘Changing Places’ website also shares several videos of people’s interactions with what is currently being provided in accessible sanitary facilities. I encourage all designers, building owners and managers to watch these to better appreciate the challenges being faced.

George Xinos Senior Access Consultant Davis Langdon – Access Consulting | 39

Energy efficiency column

Hospitals: Picture a future where energy efficiency drives productivity Many hospitals are bursting at the seams with the strain of a growing and aging population. Other challenges; such as increased reliance on technology, aging infrastructure and rising energy costs; all add to a hospital administrator’s daily pressures.

Such productivity pressures are set to continue into the future. However, the recently released ‘Picture the Future’ research by Siemens, states that environmental sustainability, and in particular energy efficiency, could be part of the solution to address Australia’s declining rate of productivity.

Given that the research also states that Australia will have 40% fewer workers to support its retirees by 2030, energy efficiency and its proven economic and productivity benefits makes perfect economical and environmental sense for securing global competitiveness and future prosperity.

So what does it take to implement a successful energy efficiency project?

Well for many companies, energy efficiency can be seen as a luxury, rather than a necessity. However Energy Efficiency Council CEO, Rob Murray-Leach, warns that a ‘wait and see’ approach could cost a business and the economy significantly.

“It’s important that businesses get their heads around energy efficiency” he says, “This means forming strong partnerships with experts who can help you understand the impact that energy issues could have on your business, including cost savings, energy security, tenant demand and new policies and regulations”.

“Once you’ve done this, you can work with your partners to identify a broad range of options for energy efficiency opportunities and start setting some goals”.

“There’s never been a better time to move forward with your energy efficiency goals, especially with rising fuel prices and a range of government incentives available” He adds, “Now is the time to take advantage of these incentives, which could be followed by more heavy-handed approaches in the future”.

According to Michael Shaw, Vice President of Siemens Building Technologies, current research into productivity shows a bleak outlook for Australia over the next 20 years unless we become smarter about how we embrace technology to become more efficient.

Although reduced carbon emissions are a serious outcome of energy efficiency programs, according to Shaw, improving productivity is the main benefit for hospitals, because cost savings can be directed towards patient care.

He outlines three compelling reasons for hospital admin40 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

Randy Gadient (Siemens) and Greg Phillips (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) have achieved $73,000 in savings since implementing an Energy Performance Contract at the hospital eight months ago. istrators to build into their business case.

“Firstly, hospitals are large energy consumers with an energy-saving opportunity of around 26 percent. Efficient energy use would seriously improve their bottom line; secondly, every dollar counts – so reducing energy consumption means cost savings, which can be redirected to patient care and other vital areas; and thirdly, although modern hospital equipment delivers increased patient through-put, it stretches the power supply to its limit, especially with aging hospital infrastructure. Power capacity should be freed up for vital new technologies - energy efficiency is an economical option compared to upgrading the power supply”.

Ilona Millar, a Senior Associate with Baker & McKenzie who specialises in environmental law and policy, adds that businesses must do their research before negotiating contracts for their energy efficiency projects.

“When engaging an Energy Services Company (ESCO) to implement energy saving measures, key issues must be addressed, including technical specifications, maintenance obligations, performance guarantees, baseline adjustments and IP rights. The allocation of risk throughout the entire project must be clearly defined and understood by all parties to avoid any nasty surprises” She says.

“It’s important to provide the ESCO with all the necessary information to achieve energy saving measures and be specific about who operates, maintains and repairs equipment.

A clear dispute resolution mechanism within the contract is also essential”.

An excellent example of this would be the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, which was guaranteed annual savings of $70,000 – with a payback period of five years – after implementing Victoria’s first Energy Performance Contract (EPC) for a hospital project.

“We wanted a solution that addressed all our needs” explains Peter Mac’s Director of Support Services, Greg Phillips, “This meant, a provider that had proven experience in energy engineering; a transparent performance measurement and verification process; and the financial strength to uphold their guaranteed savings. The cheapest installation will, more-often-than-not, result in poor performing solutions, so we used independent engineers to evaluate which solution offered the best bang for our buck”.

The hospital has achieved staggering results since commissioning eight months ago. Apart from emission reductions, Phillips reports financial savings of $73,000 (167% of the target), reduced breakdowns and increased patient comfort.

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Brisbane 11 Old Pacific Highway Yatala QLD 4207 P: (07) 3382 6999 E: sales@gosfordquarries.com.au

ASSOCIATION MATTERS

Efficient Building Solutions

In today’s competitive construction industry, time is critical; delays and downtime cost money and slow projects down. In light of the rebuilding efforts after the Queensland floods, cost saving and time efficient construction products are vital components for the industry. Amidst the growing advent of new construction technologies, using precast is becoming a popular choice for many construction projects.

Combined with the need for cost efficiency, energy efficiency is a major factor for the construction industry.

Architectural and structural precast concrete components can be combined to create entire energy efficient buildings. Within a range of structures, such as apartments, parking structures, retail developments, offices and industrial buildings this design approach can take several forms. Use of precast columns and beams with either panelised cladding or load-bearing walls, floors, service cores and stairs that are all precast concrete can offer fast construction, structural stability and enhanced fire resistance.

With the growing recognition of the need to use Australian made products in the construction industry the quality of the design specifications of this product can be achieved by manufacturing offsite in precast factories.

On-site field adjustments are reduced, creating a smooth erection process with minimal surprises.

A beneficial element of using precast concrete is the rapid speed of construction it provides. This allows construction workers to have access 42 | www.awardmagazine.com.au

to work areas within days, further enabling greater productivity and time management. Importantly, safety on the construction site is a managed on site with all parties being involved in preparing a programmed erection sequence from which the design of the bracing of the temporary works can be completed.

The time saving advantage through precast creates more room for the refinement of the critical design features that have to be addressed.

Design elements of ceiling heights, load bearing walls, accommodation of lift boxes and some of the unique façade elements; in particular balconies are all an integral part of a precast structure. Once it is determined that the quality, safety and other requirements around these meet the brief, the design team in conjunction with the precaster is in a position to fine tune. The essential requirement for any total precast project is to allow adequate lead time to allow such refinement.

As with the issue of sustainability being an ever-growing trend, and as technology becomes more prolific,

so too do the client’s needs change.

Interior design flexibility is provided by long span precast concrete flooring systems that help building owners adapt to changing client needs in future years. Precast flooring systems can span up to 17 metres to minimise the need for interior columns that are required with in-situ systems; high loading capacity is also provided at little extra cost.

It appears, in a consistently competitive industry, using precast offers a solution for the entire core, shell and facade design. Precast manufacturers can design and supply the entire system, generating a better co-ordinated set of drawings to allow construction to proceed more efficiently. This eliminates the added effort needed to co-ordinate various trades when using mixed systems controlled by different suppliers.

Sarah Bachmann Executive Officer National Precast Concrete Association Australia

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