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Hydro Tasmania Consulting's new home at Cambridge is the first Tasmanian office building to be awarded a prestigious Five-Star Green Star rating for environmental excellence in Australia.
The $25 million development has recieved the Five-Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, which represents national excellence in office design and recognises the environmental initiatives and sustainability measures incorporated in the new building.
Around 300 staff will move from existing offices in Hobart's CBD to the new purpose-built premises at Cambridge in April.
General Manager of Hydro Tasmania Consulting Mike Brewster said the award was a tremendous achievement by the Development Team and the new premises represented a two-year effort to ensure the best possible home to bring all Hobart-based Consulting staff together in one building.
"The business is moving to premises that set the standard for the rest of the State and are at the forefront of green buildings across Australia," he said. "This is a major milestone in our journey to live our renewable green promise."
Green Star is Australia's first comprehensive rating system for evaluating the environmental design and perfromance of Australian buildings based on a number of criteria, including energy and water efficiency, indoor environment quality and resource conservation.
Incorporating international best practice and environmental measurement standards relevant to the Austalian marketplace and environmental context, the Green Star rating system promotes integrated whole-building design, identifies building life-cycle impacts, raises awareness of green building benefits, aims to transforrm the built environemnt to reduce the environmental impact of development and recongnises and rewards environmental leadership.
To achieve a Five-Star national leadership rating office building must meet demanding criteria and undergo independent third-party assessment.
Bovis Lend Lease was responsible for the design and construction of the project, applying its industry leading expertise in sustainability in the commercial sector to ensure the development achieve such high environmental performance standards.
"The project was completed on time and on budet and Bovis Lend Lease is proud to be involved with such a landmark eco-friendly project in Tasmania," said Bovis Lend Lease General Manager Victoria Geoff Moore.
The architects, Forward Brianese + Partners, found the experience working to a national environmental measurement system a challenge.
"The experience we have gained working with the construction team to produce Tasmania's most environmentally sustainable building has been invaluable," Partner Garry Forward said.
Structural, civil, electrical, mechanical, communcations, fire and hydraulic engineering services were provided by Johnstone McGee and Gandy Pty Ltd Consulting Engineers and Planners as part of the integrated design process necessary to achieve Hydro Tasmania Consulting's Green Star target.
The Hydro Tasmania Consulting building is part of the Cambridge Park development, which is a joint venture between Harvey Norman Limited and Prudentia Investments, an independent property group that embraces environmentally sustainable solutions as a core philosophy. Cambridge Park also includes the 39,000sqm Harvey Norman Centre that commenced trading this week.
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