Sydney Opera House receives 6 star sustainability rating

Honeywell has announced its contributions to help the Sydney Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed building, achieve a 6 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). Since 2021, Honeywell has been a Sydney Opera House Global Goals partner and has installed its technology to help support more sustainable operations and reduce the building’s environmental impact.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the first UNESCO World Heritage-listed buildings to receive a 6 Star Green Star rating, representing ‘World Leadership’ in environmental and social sustainability operations. This achievement is the result of continuous improvements to the building’s performance, reducing its carbon emissions and maintaining its carbon neutral certification.

Honeywell and the Sydney Opera House work 24/7 in close collaboration to identify and implement solutions tailored to the unique needs of the building, including:

• Creating a technology system that monitors indoor air quality (IAQ) and relative humidity (rH).
• Integrating more than 20 disparate subsystems in the building to help improve safety, energy and water usage.
• Implementing several innovations including electricity spot-price monitoring, extraction fan control in non-air-conditioned (AC) areas and monitoring of coldroom doors that remain open for too long.
• Automating outside air control through real-time air quality data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
• Identifying potential energy saving opportunities in the building, including the installation of more than 60 water meters and more than 800 electrical meters.
   

These strategies help enable automated responses and alerts to changing conditions, supporting operational efficiency and providing a safer and more comfortable environment for staff, audiences and visitors.

Louise Herron AM, Sydney Opera House CEO, said sustainability is in the DNA of the building, which is now working smarter and harder than before to embed sustainability into its operations.

According to Billal Hammoud, President and CEO of Honeywell Building Technologies, the Sydney Opera House requires a “careful balance” as it takes a thoughtful and deliberate approach to minimise its impact on the environment.

The Sydney Opera House leverages new technology to further its sustainability initiatives, including piloting solutions like the Honeywell Buildings Sustainability Manger, a software platform that provides better visibility of energy use and Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

The 6 Star Green Star rating centres on innovation and a long-lasting commitment to sustainability. Honeywell, in collaboration with the Sydney Opera House’s engineering team, has tailored the system to the requirements of a performing arts building while leveraging existing systems such as the building’s seawater cooling system. Building operations at the Sydney Opera House are anchored by the Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI), a comprehensive solution that monitors and controls the building management system (BMS), as well as hardware and equipment throughout the building’s ecosystem.

Using the system as a point of data analysis, the teams can effectively monitor and control systems to support peak performance. For example, information on ticket sales to enable efficient temperature scheduling in performance venues; switching heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment on and off; and calculating baseline energy consumption. When there is high demand, the BMS alerts the building to respond by selectively shedding electricity loads. The air circulation system also automatically shuts down outside air intakes during bushfire smoke events.

The GBCA Green Star Building rating tool is similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system from the U.S. Green Buildings Council (USGBC).