16 Oct 2007
Arup will be providing structural, civil traffic and fire engineering services for the schematic design of the second stage of the A$70M State Government Offices project in Cairns. This project is aiming to be the most advanced sustainable commercial office building in Tropical Australia.
Arup provided similar services for the first stage government building three years ago. Stage two will have three times the net floor area of stage one and the design team are currently exploring the possibility of achieving a six Green Star rating for this building as part of the schematic design brief.
Robert Donnan, Arup's structural engineering group leader in Cairns, said, “If this can be achieved, it will be only the third building in Australia to achieve this rating level, the highest under this system and the first in tropical Australia.”
The first stage building achieved an ABGR 5-star rating (Australian Building Greenhouse Rating), which considers energy usage and can only be verified after a year’s use of the building.
The Green Star rating has a holistic assessment process. Assessments can be carried out at various stages in a buildings life including As Designed and As Built. It is expected that upon completion of the schematic design stage the project will move to a design and construct format.
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