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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
FEBRUARY
2015
C STR CTI
RLD
EBR ARY
015
PROJECT PROFILE
IO W
F
2
is based on leading global concentrated
photovoltaic technology that uses multiple
Fresnel lenses to focus a beam of sunlight
onto a small section of silicone at up to 500
times the original intensity.
Efficient water management
The building will utilise 30% less water than
a conventional building through dedicated
recycled water systems. This is achieved
through the use of rain water collectors
which collect all roof rainwater runoff,
which is stored in storage tanks and used
to feed evaporative coolers and irrigation
systems. Grey water systems were utilised to
further minimalise demand for fresh water
consumption. Grey water was designed to be
collected from wash-hand-basins and sinks
and fed through water treatment plant and
reused for toilet flushing.
Off-shutter concrete finish
Grade 1 off-shutter finish green concrete
which consists of reduced natural resources
and increased fly-ash content, dominates
most of the buildings external face.
Design Integration & Building
Information Modelling (BIM)
A key imperative for the design and construc-
tion of the DEA project was to ensure that
performance was optimised and any poten-
tial waste was minimised while ensuring
all opportunities to maximise the building
performance were explored. The entire
project team across all disciplines adopted
the Autodesk REVIT platform as the basis for
undertaking the design as a building infor-
mation model (BIM) rather than a collection
of independent 2D drawings. The project
team reaped the benefits that began to
emerge and this painted a clear picture of
progress and the validity of BIM as an appro-
priate tool in support of sustainable design.
The BIM process has provided a visual
platform to optimise the building structure,
fabric and services in such a way that mate-
rial wastage and the inherent environmental
impacts of this wastage have to date been
limited, as well as recorded in a visually
accessible three dimensional communi-
cation medium furthering the integrated
design approach.
As the building will be operated by the
development consortium for a period of
25 years the BIM benefits have provided
the ability, on completion of construction,
to hand over to the operator a fully docu-
mented 3D model and database of the
building to assist with the optimal manage-
ment and lifecycle cost optimisation of the
building over time.