Brisbane building wins Best Sustainable Development

215 Adelaide Street, Brisbane was announced winner of the Thinc Award for Best Sustainable Development - Existing Buildings at the 2013 Property Council of Australia Innovation and Excellence Awards.

Held in Sydney on 18 May, the awards celebrated innovation and leading practice within Australia’s property development and investment industries. 215 Adelaide Street was among 107 finalists across 16 categories nationwide. Vying for the Best Sustainable Development - Existing Buildings with three other significant sustainable developments, the strong competition demonstrated the importance of achieving high results in the improvement of sustainability credentials within an existing building.

Located in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD, 215 Adelaide Street has been a prominent commercial tower for 30 years. In 2008, Norman Disney & Young recommended a plan to improve tenant services and slash energy consumption; a plan that would lift the energy rating from 2.5 to 4.5 Stars.

Following a $5.4 million building services upgrade, this target was achieved in December 2011 on time, under budget and without disruption to tenant business. In December 2012, the building achieved a 5 Star NABERS Energy Rating and its first 4.5 Star NABERS Water Rating.

The building has now reduced its carbon emissions by 4.5 million kg CO₂(e) pa or 46%. Its operational costs have also been reduced by $460,000 pa - a number which will only increase with the rising cost of electricity.

NDY director Andrew Gentner is proud of the recognition at a national level and of the work undertaken by the NDY Environmental team.

“NDY has been intimately involved with this project for over five years through project inception, design, construction and finally finetuning,” said Gentner. “It was a pleasure to collaborate with such a gifted design team and this result is testament to the team’s input and innovation.”