ANZ Headquarters, Melbourne

06 May 2014

"As we continue our focused expansion into Asia, the ANZ Centre serves as a very important benchmark for environmental efficiency and great workspaces, and will play a major role in helping us achieve our business and sustainability objectives."

ALISTAIR CURRIE

ANZ Group Chief Operating Officer

The project at a glance

  • Largest single-tenanted 6 Star Green Star rated office fitout in Australia
  • Second building in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star certification ‘trifecta’ of Design, As Built and Interiors ratings
  • The building has achieved an annual reduction in electricity demand of more then 12 per cent since the building’s opening


Project achievements

For a bank that has been recognised as the most sustainable in the world no less than five times in six years by the global Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), it is perhaps unsurprising that ANZ should have one of the most sustainable office fitouts in Australia. What is surprising is the scale at which ‘World Leadership’ sustainable office design has been achieved at the ANZ Centre in Melbourne’s Docklands.

The 83,796 square metre office achieved 6 Star Green Star – Office Interiors v1.1 certification in July 2012, making it the largest single-tenanted 6 Star Green Star rated office fitout in the country, and only the second building in Australia to have achieved the 6 Star Green Star certification ‘trifecta’ of Design, As Built and Interiors ratings.
The ANZ Centre is a campus-style office development comprised of two interlocking built forms of five and ten storeys, arranged around two central atria. The design of the office emphasises and facilitates teamwork, offering a range of interconnected spaces to support individual and group working styles.

According to ANZ Group General Manager for Property, Kate Langan, ANZ is reaping the rewards of its investment in the Green Star initiatives at its global headquarters.

“The implementation of ongoing operational efficiencies, made possible by the ANZ Centre’s Green Star-certified environmental design, has reduced our annual electricity demand by over 12 per cent since the building’s opening. This has translated into energy cost savings of around $200,000 per annum, a ‘good news story’ in a time when energy costs are rising,” she says.

ANZ Group Chief Operating Officer, Alistair Currie, is full of praise for the value that Green Star sustainability measures are adding to the operational efficiencies of the ANZ Centre, and to ANZ as a business.

“As we continue our focused expansion into Asia, the ANZ Centre serves as a very important benchmark for environmental efficiency and great workspaces, and will play a major role in helping us achieve our business and sustainability objectives,” he explains.

“Not only has the Centre helped ANZ reduce the size of its carbon footprint, it has also helped deliver energy cost savings by using less energy during peak times when energy is at its most expensive. This is money that can be re-directed into the business to support our super-regional strategy,” Currie concludes.


Water

The ANZ Centre has been designed for maximum efficiency when it comes to potable water use. Water from taps, toilets and showers across the tenancy is reticulated to the Centre’s onsite blackwater treatment plant, saving thousands of litres of potable water annually and generating significant cost savings.



Energy

The ANZ Centre project was awarded Green Star ‘Innovation’ points for its Green Star – Office Interiors assessment, which recognises the tenancy fitout initiative that has a significant, measurable environmental benefit and that is not otherwise awarded points by Green Star - Office Interiors v1.1. The ANZ Centre building reduces its peak load energy demand with their tenancy tri-generation cogeneration system. While tri-generation cogeneration technology has become relatively common for powering base building loads, it is rarely used to provide direct supply to tenancies. Energy modelling conducted for the ANZ Centre has determined that peak electricity demand for the building has been reduced by 20 per cent as a result of the tri-generated supply.


IEQ

The ANZ Centre’s focus on water and energy efficiency has not come at the cost of occupant comfort, with indoor environment quality and user amenity core aspects of the design brief. The central atria allow for ample natural light to penetrate into the workspaces and facilitate visual connectivity between floors. The fitout was also awarded a Green Star ‘Innovation’ point for the use of underfloor air-ventilation. While the provision of underfloor heating and cooling is not uncommon, particularly in Europe, the scale at which individual comfort control has been provided to every workstation through the system is as yet a rarity within the Australian market.

The quality of internal air is further enhanced at ANZ through the presence of a green wall at the base of the main atrium and the distribution of indoor plants across the upper floors. Carbon dioxide levels are constantly monitored across the workspaces and additional outside air introduced as necessary. These IEQ measures, in addition to the specification of low-emissions carpets, paints, glues and sealants across the building, combine to make the ANZ Centre a healthy and productive place to work.


Transport

The ANZ Centre delivers a number of significant environmental benefits as a result of sustainable transport initiatives. The building’s close proximity to public transport including trains, trams, buses and cycleways, coupled with the provision of 560 bicycle racks, change-rooms, showering facilities and  974 lockers, means that ANZ employees are supported in their choice of less carbon-intensive modes of transport. The number of car parking spaces allocated to the ANZ tenancy is 94 per cent lower than the maximum allowed under local planning standards, and was awarded an ‘Innovation’ point for exceeding Green Star benchmarks.

Modelling undertaken by building developer, Lend Lease, suggests that the decision not to build the extra car parking spaces equates to an embodied carbon saving of 5,681 tonnes (tCO2-e) - the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off our roads for a year. By providing less parking, ANZ is also leaving a sustainable legacy for the Docklands community, through reductions in fossil fuel consumption attributable to private vehicle use by ANZ employees, and

the consequent minimisation of city congestion.
“We are proud to cater for the growing number of staff who choose to cycle to work, particularly given the rising popularity of cycling across the wider community,” says Langan. “This was a deliberate strategy from the outset and we are very proud that it continues to be so well utilised and appreciated by our staff.”