Projects Update

New Canberra Airport Terminal

The new Canberra International Airport is one of the largest building projects in the ACT since Parliament House. Rudds Consulting Engineers is working closely with architects Guida Moseley Brown (GMB) and construction managers Construction Control to deliver this class-leading project to the people of Canberra on behalf of the owners Capital Airport Group (CAG). The design brief is to make it Australia’s greenest airport.

Rudds is producing the Electrical, Communications, and Mechanical services for the base building and the multi-user development. We have incorporated into the design the state-of-the-art trigeneration energy plant to serve both an environmental role in reducing carbon emissions, and a power back-up role to ensure continuous operation even if the grid power supply fails.

This system also includes using the gas fired generators in tandem with the emergency diesel backup generators. With trigeneration being a part of this new facility’s systems, a significant amount of cooling can be maintained during an external power failure.

Design Services provided by Rudds Consulting Engineers:

Key facts:

 

 

The main distribution room, including distribution boards colour coded by priority level and an underfloor space housing multiple busways and multi-teared cable ladders.

Santos Place , Brisbane

Santos Place is a 36-level commercial office building located in Brisbane’s CBD. When Rudds were asked to come on board as part of the design and construction team, the building was already fully designed and 50% constructed.

Hutchinson builders asked us to integrate a trigeneration system into the design. The integration of trigeneration at such a late stage of the project came because the existing design had fallen short of the energy efficiency benchmarks set for the building.

Rudds designed and successfully integrated the trigeneration system into the building. With this and other ESD initiatives we recommended the builder take, the building became the largest in Australia to have been awarded a 6-star As Built Green Star rating and is on target to achieve a 5-Star NABERS Energy design rating.

Integration of the trigeneration system required that we make modifications to the existing mechanical and electrical designs. The brief to us included ensuring minimal impact to the electrical and HVAC infrastructure already installed in the building. It was also requested that we make redundant the smallest amount possible of the installed infrastructure so as not to waste funds already expended during early stages of construction. All of this was achieved.

We undertook significant work with the local power utility to meet their requirements for embedding the generation system into the electricity grid. Rudds was also specifically tasked with on-site management of the installation and we acted as an adjunct to the builder’s project management team. As such we were able to ensure that the integration of the system was performed by the various sub-contractors in a manner that achieved its proper and intended operation.

Key facts:

50 Marcus Clarke Street City West, DEEWR,Canberra
City West achieves 6 STARS for the Green Star Office.

50 Marcus Clarke DEEWR

The electrical and mechanical services for the new DEEWR building were designed by Rudds Consulting Engineers. This building is designed to achieve a 5-Star NABERS energy rating and has achieved a 6-Star Green Star design rating.

This building incorporates a 1.1 megawatt trigeneration system designed for efficient cooling, heating and power. The trigen system incorporates a natural gas generator that operates in parallel with the grid and the standby diesel generator and is thus available for use during external power outages.

It is valid to note that all of Rudds’ trigeneration projects required comprehensive modelling of not only system performance but also system viability. We believe that this gives us the experience and basis to be able to research and advise upon the best financial options for the integration of trigeneration at other facilities.

Key facts:

Majura Office Park, Canberra:

Rudds Consulting Engineers designed a Central Energy Facility to service the four buildings that comprise this office park. This facility includes conventional plant (electric chillers and gas fired boilers) as well as a 1 MW trigeneration plant which is designed to provide base load combined heating cooling and power (CHCP) for the connected buildings.

This was the first plant of its type to be commissioned in the ACT.

Significant advancement was made through close liaison with ActewAGL, the local regulatory utility, to enable the generation aspects of the system to be embedded in the utility’s network; the generator runs in parallel with the grid.

Prior to our work on this system, embedded generation had never been achieved before in the ACT and there were very few similar installations nationally at the time of its completion. Embedded generation enables the natural gas fired generator to be used at its optimum while also being able to seamlessly import power from the grid when needed.

As a result of its set up the facility is inherently capable of exporting power to the network however this is not its purpose. It is important to understand that a natural gas fired reciprocating engine operates most efficiently when it is running at 70% capacity or better. The grid is used to help it “soak up” shifts in load. That is the primary reason for running it in parallel with the grid.

With the inclusion of the trigeneration system the buildings at Majura Office Park are all designed to operate at a level which is 50% better than a 5-star NABERS energy rating and as 5-star Green Star buildings.

 

Canberra International Airport Fuel Farm

This new Aviation facility was officially opened in March 2006 and replaced the previous facility which consisted of mainly above ground fuel tanks. This facility was both unsightly and was potentially dangerous. Placing fuel tanks underground makes sense because it's safer, more aesthetically pleasing and involves better use of land. A major benefits of the new facility is the removal of the requirement for fuel tankers to travel air-side of the airport boundary.Keeping fuel tankers off the tarmac makes for a safer and more secure airport.
Rudds Consulting Engineers undertook the electrical and mechanical services design for the new facility. The electrical design was specially catered to suit the hazardous nature of the fuel transportation. This included specific cable protections and reticulation as well as a specific lighting controls for night time fuel deliveries.

The fuel farm employs advanced technologies and adheres to the most stringent environmental controls.

Majura Office Park - Airport and Brand Depot

Rudds Consulting Engineers are proud to have worked on the mechanical and electrical systems for this exciting retail development. Rudds have drawn on their past experience in retail developments and worked closely with CAG and the other parties involved with the project to provide an integrated services solution improving the whole shopping experience.

Rudds have used some innovative design concepts to significantly improve on other factory outlet centres in other states. The cooling for the air conditioning is provided by ultra high efficiency levitating magnetic bearing chillers that are connected to load sensing variable speed drives. The cooled air is distributed throughout the building in high level visually appealing fabric ductwork that diffuses the air gently allowing a more even temperature throughout the building and a less intrusive means of air conditioning reticulation. Power factor correction has been added to the mechanical services supply to reduce the maximum demand minimising the strain on the electrical infrastructure and is also more economical for the building owner.

Rudds have also employed the use of lights with the new long life high output pulse start metal halide lamps to minimize energy consumption of the lighting systems.The luminaires throughout the building were chosen specifically for the high vertical illuminance they provide, creating a highly illuminated display thereby ensuring a more appealing shopping experience. These design innovations will improve the efficiency of the building and minimise the ongoing maintenance costs whilst providing a more appealing shopping environment focused on drawing business into the Majura Business Park.


The demand for retail spaces within the Brand Depot has been so high that the building was extended shortly after the first stage opened.

Further developments within the Majura Business Park are already underway, with Rudds also providing key building services, street lighting and infrastructure planning design work.

Number One National Circuit

The building located at Number One National Circuit replaces the old Hinkler Building and will become the new location for the offices of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2007. The building consists of two under ground basements and five levels of office space boasting over 17,000mē of lettable area. Rudds Consulting Engineers have been involved with the design of the electrical, communications and fire services for both the base building and fitout. Security and vertical transportation services were also undertaken by Rudds for the base building.

The base building design posed a number of challenges, including the external lighting due to the building's proximity to Parliament House. Specific measures were undertaken to ensure that the new building was not brighter than Parliament House. The internal and external lighting of the building is controlled by using the DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) system. This system allows for monitoring of all luminaires within the building, control of those luminaire as well as standard operation for the luminaires after working hours. This fine control improves maintenance of the system and provides energy saving potential.

The fitout design for the Prime Minister and Cabinet posed further challenges due to the nature of the installation. The communications design required special consideration to ensure that all sensitive information remained secure. Backup generator power was provided to specific areas with the building allowing for critical operations to continue in event of loss of mains power. A number of areas required special consideration due to the secure nature of operations within.

Birrigai Outdoor School

Rudds Consulting Engineers was involved with the rebuilding of this educational facility after its destruction in the Canberra bush fires of 2003. Birrigai Brochure