Improving power quality and lowering energy consumption

A focus on improved power quality, green energy and lowering energy consumption, the Walkers Arms Hotel at Walkerville, South Australia, is a benchmark for the use of innovative new technologies.

Rebuilt from the ground up, the hotel owner, the Dean Group, was after a modern space with modern technology. A solar array of 36 panels creates an eye-catching display for guests as they arrive, and there are 18 solar hot water systems installed as well as a 91,000 litre rainwater tank that is discreetly hidden under the hotel car park.

The hotel has 20 eco-sensitive accommodation suites and patrons have many options as to where they wish to sit and mingle, with a bistro area, a la carte dining space, bar and lounge. There is also an extensive al fresco area where patrons can relax in the warmth of a summer’s day, or during the cooler weather they can take advantage of the gas heaters which are spaced outside.

Behind the 14 m long marble-top bar, management has access to the lighting automation system, so when evening comes, intimate spaces can be created alongside bright and airy function rooms.

As part of the rebuilding, Clipsal C-Bus was installed into the hotel to give management complete control over lighting. Clipsal worked in conjunction with Bob Cross Electrical and Folland Panozzo Architects. Together they developed a control system which allows the hotel managers to easily control the lighting and mood settings in the different bar areas while also saving energy.

“One of the big challenges for hotels is creating a control system which staff members can operate, but cannot fiddle with,” Project Architect Mark Folland said. “I certainly know of hoteliers who curse staff for not having the level of interest to know whether the lights are too bright or too dark. And because there are so many lights in this project, and management wanted to create different illumination at different times of the day, Clipsal C-Bus was a good option for us.”

At this stage, three different lighting scenes have been created to operate throughout the hotel’s business hours, and management is now looking to refine the system.

“I know it’s been said before, but as architects, we always want to use lots of lights, but don’t necessarily want to have a lot of illumination,” Folland said. “C-Bus has allowed us to program a series of different moods requiring a minimum of staff involvement.”

The automation is controlled by one C-Bus Saturn Black and White touch screen and also from the AV system in two different areas of the hotel. Two C-Bus Professional Series Dimmers work to dim the lights in accordance with the automation and Clipsal 56 Series waterproof products have been used to light the alfresco area. This part of the project proved to be more difficult than first imagined, with each individual booth requiring its own run of conduit to ferry the technology to the area.

“For a project this size it went really quite well,” electrical contractor Bob Cross said. “Certainly we had some small day-to-day issues regarding how to get around air-conditioning or mechanical services in the roof, but apart from that, the build flowed really well. The support we had from Clipsal was tremendous.”

Guests to the hotel will be pleased to note that each accommodation room features a sleek desktop Epic Organiser. This means that guests no longer have to unplug cables from the back of the television. Instead they can use Epic to dock all of their digital technology including laptop computers, MP3 players, digital cameras and gaming consoles.

“Epic is a great unit which adds a really smart touch in the rooms,” Folland said. “Most of the rooms feature a 3-module unit, but one of the rooms, which doubles as a conference room, has a 4-module unit.”

Taking around 12 months to complete, the electrical component of the build totalled around $1 million. Management was pleased with the use of C-Bus lighting, which provides total control from one central point and maximises energy efficiency.