Wollongong Council building achieves $200K/year in energy savings

Wollongong City Council’s Administration Building has become the first building in Australia to achieve a 5 Star Green Star - Performance rating.

Over the past 10 years, the council has implemented a range of upgrades to improve the sustainability performance of the building. The 13-storey building was first occupied in June 1987 and houses 660 council staff. The council has also replaced ageing equipment to meet modern building compliance standards. In 2014, council began a project to improve the building’s operational performance, from a sustainability perspective, using GBCA’s Green Star - Performance rating tool. The upgrades and altered practices have resulted in energy-efficiency gains of 55% and water-efficiency gains of 85%, based on the Green Star - Performance rating tool’s calculations. Council estimates that the energy-efficiency gains alone in the building are saving $200,000 in electricity costs each year when compared to 2007-2008 consumption.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery OAM said ensuring the sustainable operation of the administration building is a major step towards achieving environmental, financial and ecological sustainability.

“This is not just about gaining financial sustainability but ensuring that we have an efficient building that will consume less water and electricity, reduce the waste it generates and emissions it releases, and also provide an enjoyable and healthy workplace for our staff.

“We have been able to retrofit an ageing building - remember it is coming up to 30 years old - to achieve these significant reductions. This demonstrates that you can gain a 5 Star Green Star rating with an ageing building if you use the right methods and programs. We have shown that this pathway to sustainability could be used by other local governments or government agencies. We have also shown that we can gain a rating comparable to brand spanking new buildings that are purpose-designed to achieve 5 or 6 Star Green Star ratings,” said Bradbery.

“The building meets best practice benchmarks for a range of environmental impacts, such as energy and water efficiency, but also for factors that affect human health and productivity, such as material selection and indoor environment quality. The people of Wollongong now have independent proof that their building stacks up against some of the newest green icons around the country - and that they have a community asset that is efficient, productive and healthy,” said GBCA Chief Executive Officer Romilly Madew.

Council is now developing a Sustainable Building Strategy that will guide how it improves the operational sustainability of existing buildings, in addition to how new buildings will be designed, constructed and operated. The experience gained in retrofitting the building, along with improving its management practices, will greatly assist council in developing the strategy.