The new BHP Billiton global headquarters occupies approximately 15,000 m² of office space and comprises activity based work areas, offices, meeting and conference spaces, breakout areas and business lounges.
The building has been designed to achieve a 5 Star NABERS Energy, 6 Star Gold LEED rating and 6 Star Green Star rating. The area is made up of office tower levels 12-18 inclusive, ground floor business centre and basement.
The fitout services performance parameters are monitored via the Building Management System (BMS). Together with the incorporation of alarmed limit points and the BMS system, the programming provides valuable feedback to allow comparative analysis between operation and design objective. One key parameter is energy usage monitoring for the fitout services system.
Efficient and engineered services systems along with components associated with the fitout were adopted to supplement the base building systems. This project presented an opportunity to consider sustainable engineering and architectural solutions such as:
- Energy efficient and intelligent lighting and lighting control systems
- Energy efficient supplementary air conditioning equipment fitted with timer control where appropriate
- Low emission paints, sealants and carpets and environmentally certified furniture
- Work environment layouts to maximise the benefits of natural lighting and external views with internal plants/green walls.
The lighting control system ensures energy efficiency and user friendly controls in instances where user interface is required. Use of motion sensors in open offices spaces and breakout areas, coupled with natural light sensors, make full benefit of daylight contribution. The lighting control is also integrated with audio visual systems to provide easily controlled preset settings that suit specific audio visual modes. This includes video conferencing without staff needing to make manual adjustments.
NDY was actively involved from the outset of the project collaborating with key BHP Billiton stakeholders to identify possible solutions and make recommendations on options available. Our team then worked closely with the architect and interior designer to integrate technology including audio visual systems into the built environment.
These audio visual systems included:
- Integrated teleconference and video conference meeting rooms
- High end immersive telepresence rooms
- Informal collaborative work areas
- Video walls and digital signage boards
- IP Television (IPTV) distribution system
- Facility-wide asset monitoring and management system
- Integrated meeting room beverage ordering system
- Control of room lighting, motorised blinds & HVAC.
BHP Billiton required highly integrated technology solutions that are robust, reliable and capable of meeting the high availability and reliability demands that would be placed on them. Through years of experience in the industry and through regular training and product research NDY was able to identify innovative solutions that were fully operational from day one, able to be used safely and easily maintained.
