The Green Building Council of Australia have awarded Trevor Pearcey House a 6 star rating representing World leadership in Sustainable Office Building Design.
Trevor Pearcey House is a 19 year old building complex located within Fern Hill Technology park, Bruce ACT. The refurbished building is actually Block E but has become known as Trevor Pearcey House over the course of works. The refurbished building has become the new head office for Australian Ethical Investment and has been designed to be an exemplary 'green' building.
At the beginning of the project, all team members made a commitment to the building being a leader in green design, not only in the ACT, but nationally. This refurbishment project has sought and achieved a 6 star Green Star accreditation through the Green Building Council of Australia, announced October 2007. The building is only the third project in Australia to be awarded a 6 star rating and the first outside Melbourne.
Australian Ethical Investment (AEI) is an Australian investment company who specialise in environmental and socially responsible investment. It is a part of AEI's philosophy to promote ecologically sustainable and socially just enterprises through careful investment; and also to improve the ethics of corporate Australia.
Photography: Ben Wrigley
Through a cooperative design approach the project has been sculpted into a high class sustainable building which is humane and liveable. It appeals to general instincts of how buildings should feel and look without resorting to gimmickry. The resulting form and appearance is a reflection of all the elements which interact on its design - structure, environment, people and location. To give an example - coined by Howard Pender from AEI, "the building before the refurbishment was like trying to keep your milk fresh by storing it in a cardboard box ", the refurbished building is more like an esky.
Sustainable Design
The building has been developed to maximise the potential for passive systems such as natural ventilation and lighting. The atrium type area on the first floor in the building forms a control for ventilation, day lighting and activity. This atrium runs through into the existing barrel vault (originally unused) and includes light and ventilation columns (stacks) to the lower level.
This atrium type space tempers the air both in winter and summer to allow fresh air intake without mechanical ventilation into the first floor. Air is drawn into the building either through either manual operable window hoppers or mechanically using electrically operated windows or louvres controlled using a weather station. Winter temperatures are tempered by radiators around the perimeter walls or within internal rooms. In summer exposed concrete ceilings on the ground floor cool the air with ceiling fans providing extra air movement. A back up of air conditioning is provided on the first floor; however this is locked by a key and requires a consensus by staff before use.
Windows and air stacks are used in conjunction in summer nights to purge the building of hot air build up during the day - this is called a night purge. The building shape and overall modifications to the building lends itself to good levels of natural light, supported by the atrium on the upper level. In all areas natural light will be able enter from two sides utilising both the atrium space on the first floor and the light columns (stacks) connecting through to the ground floor. Different forms of shading have been provided to each elevation to reduce direct solar gain while still obtaining indirect light.
Photography: Ben Wrigley
As a base lighting system, office areas have been provided with high efficiency, low brightness, semi-specular, louvred luminaries with T5 lamps (low energy lights that use 40% of the energy of normal lights). Lighting to the perimeter and adjacent to the atrium are separately switched. This allows maximum advantage of available daylight. Lighting is also timer and occupancy controlled to allow lights to be switched off when not required. The base level lighting is low and supplemented with task light at individual work areas.
One of the most interesting features of the refurbishment has been the level of recycling and reuse of materials. The Architects and Construction managers (Cobul Constructions) worked collaboratively to ensure as many materials as possible were reused in the construction.
This included:
- Electrical wiring ducted skirting, power point and switch face plates.
- Partition wall studs, plasterboard and frames for windows and doors.
- Internal doors, door handles, door stops and internal glass blocks.
- Carpet tiles were reused and supplemented with more recycled carpet tiles.
- Steel hanging frames and mesh found in the ceiling space and were reused to make a bike enclosure.
- 90% of the joinery cupboards were made from old cupboards found in the building.
- Recycled timber was used for feature floors and walls. Some of the recycling led to inspired elements within the building such as two walls made from old timber palettes and, most notably, art work made from old computer floor tiles.
Photography: Ben Wrigley
Interior Concept
Part of the character of the new refurbishment, is the definite 'rawness' to the aesthetic. A deliberate decision was made from the project's inception to avoid unecessary additions to the finishes and internal structure of the building and work primarily with what was already there. Allowing the building to reference it's previous life has also made it easier to demonstrate the conversion that has taken place.
The feature wall in AEI's reception provides a direct example of the refurbishment's personality. It was constructed from odd-sized timber pallett ends which had been destined for landfill. In the centre, AEI's logo has been created from the ends of old timber cable reels, sourced at a local rubbish tip.
The ceiling on the ground floor is an exposed concrete slab, painted white only in the areas above workstations, where this assists with light reflection. The remainder of the slab has been left untouched.
On the ground floor there has been no attempt made to conceal the open area above meeting room and office ceilings. This space has been left open to allow air-flow and unashamedly allows the observer to view cabling and insulation edging.
The colour scheme is deliberately subtle, dominated by neutral planes. A muted green provides occasional interludes amid natural beige and white tones. In part this gives the recycled timber features and various artworks a greater presence within the fit-out.
