A commercial property in Melbourne has become the first “triple-crowned” building in Australia, achieving simultaneous 6-Star NABERS ratings for Energy, Indoor Environment and Waste.
The 171 Collins Street building, which is co-owned by Charter Hall Group and Cbus Property, had previously been widely recognised for its achievements in sustainability and waste management.
While the seven-year-old building was already 6-Star certified by NABERS for Waste and Indoor Environment, and its Energy rating only this year ticked up from a 5.5 to 6-Star, rounding out the Australian-first achievement.
In 2019, it became the first office tower in Australia to achieve a 6-Star NABERS Waste rating, and it has since maintained at least a 75 per cent recycling rate.
The building holds a 5-Star NABERS Water rating and a 5-Star Green Star performance rating.
According to Cbus Property’s chief executive officer, Adrian Pozzo, the building which is the global headquarters of mining giant, BHP Billiton, was originally designed to meet a 5-Star Energy rating, however, recent developments had proven that performance could be continually improved over time.
Charter Hall’s regional portfolio manager, Nicole Ward told The Fifth Estate that some of the ways 171 Collins Street achieved a higher NABERS rating were:
- Getting the buildings cogeneration plant working reliably
- Reviewing and optimising programming of the building automation systems
- Proactively working with tenants regarding any mechanical leakage in the UFAD (Under Floor Air Distribution) that may be occurring due to fitouts – this was wasting energy as the plant was not operating effectively
- Undertaking a super-clean of the buildings cooling towers, which has provided an estimated 12-15 per cent increase in efficiency and had a knock-on effect on energy consumption
The entire 33,000 square metre building is powered by renewable electricity through the City of Melbourne’s second Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP2).
The power purchase agreement brought together seven large energy users, including Cbus, to which Tango Energy committed to provide 110 GWh of renewable energy per year from wind farms in Victoria.
NABERS director, Carlos Flores said 171 Collins Street was leading the way for the commercial property industry.
“I had the fortune to visit 171 Collins in 2019, where I witnessed first-hand all the work the team was doing to simultaneously reach three different 6-Star NABERS ratings,” Mr Flores said.
“This raises the bar on how sustainable buildings can perform today, setting the tone for the kind of change we need to make progress on our climate goals throughout the next decade.”