44 Market St - Refurbishment of a Dual Duct Building

Abstract

44 Market St is a high profile, A-grade, 27-storey, 28,000m2 office building constructed in the 1970s. In common with many other buildings of its era, it was equipped with a dual duct air-conditioning system, and its highest NABERS Rating at full occupancy was 2 stars without Green Power. This paper describes the process of refurbishing the building including: Modifications to convert the air conditioning system to a variable volume dual duct system, re-using many of the components of the original system. BMS replacement including control modifications throughout the system. Separation of domestic hot water from the space heating boilers. NABERS compliance modifications to the building. The refurbishment works were completed in April 2012, and since then the monthly electricity consumption has halved and gas consumption reduced by 40% relative to weather corrected benchmarks. Using an average tariff of 24.8c/kWh for electricity and 1.75c/MJ for gas, that equates to a $340,000 annual cost saving. A 4.5 Star NABERS rating was awarded to the building in January 2013.