Canberra offers plenty of challenges when it comes to constructing energy efficient buildings, with its climate ranging from the sleety sub-zeros to the baking dry forties. Doma Group have succeeded admirably with the Sirius Building, a five Green Star commercial office building for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, developed by Doma in joint venture with Mirvac.
Not only have they achieved the Five Green Star rating for design and will be submitting the as-built submission this month, the building has also been designed to achieve a 4.5 star NABERS rating for the base building and a 5 Star NABERS rating for the fitout, with an environmentally responsive façade and energy efficient services. The $200,000,000 project comprises 45,000 m2 of flexible office accommodation over ten floors with two levels of basement car parking. Doma worked under a D&C contract and also completed an integrated fitout, including workstations and loose furniture.
“The Sirius Building was delivered significantly under budget and approximately four months ahead of program,” said Doma Project Manager Drew Mathias. “This is a testament to the team’s commitment to managing the construction program and time on site. There were approximately a million man hours worked during the project, which was completed with safety as the highest priority. Our low number of non-conformances recorded under the OFSC Government Accreditation Scheme during the project is a testament to this fact.”
Extensive energy modelling was carried out as part of the design process, and the results informed the design of the facade, which was custom manufactured in China by Yuanda. The facade takes into account natural light levels and thermal energy patterns throughout the building. Energy modelling was also used to estimate energy consumption for services. Another Green Star feature of the Sirius Building is an Aerocycle Aquatherm water recycling system, which has 98 per cent recovery of energy used in the water treatment process.
Before commencing construction, an existing building had to be demolished, and a 90 per cent materials recycling rate achieved. The site also posed a challenge in the form of inground contaminants, which required a two month remediation effort before the excavation for the two level basement carpark could be completed.
A crew of 9 Doma Management worked with 127 subcontractors and a team of consultants led by Peter Russell, Director of May and Russell Architects, to complete the project. All up, approximately 2,500 workers were inducted on site over the 3 month demolition and 21 month construction program. Doma Group are currently embarked on a range of other developments in the ACT, including a $40 million mixed-use commercial and residential development, and a second residential and hotel development, both in Barton. Doma Hotels, another arm of Doma Group, developed and operates a range of high end short and long term apartment accommodation in Canberra and also Bateman’s Bay, in addition to Hotel Realm, Canberra’s newest five star hotel.
The company has also recently purchased land on a man-made island in Lake Burley Griffin near the Kingston Foreshore, with plans to construct high-end luxury apartments. One of Doma’s strengths in the ACT development arena is the group’s ability to take on every aspect of a new development in the residential, commercial, retail or hospitality sectors, from site acquisition through to ongoing management.
For DOHA, the overall level of responsibility and detailed follow through being in the hands of the one lead contractor meant a much earlier and trouble-free handover of new offices, with environmentally responsible systems and spaces which have been tailored to the clients needs.