CSR’s Triniti Project awarded a 5 Star Green Star rating

When leading Australian manufacturer of building products and energy efficient materials, CSR, moved into its new Green Star premises in January 2010, the company was able to provide a ‘bricks and mortar’ demonstration of its commitment to sustainability.

CSR’s Triniti Project was awarded a 5 Star Green Star – Office Interiors v1.1 rating for the fitout of its new offices located in the Triniti III building in the Stockland Triniti campus at North Ryde. Stockland has registered the Triniti III building for a Green Star – Office As Built v2 rating which stands alongside the 5 Star Green Star – Office As Built v2 ratings it achieved for campus buildings I and II.

“The CSR Triniti Project is the first to achieve a 5 Star Green Star – Office Interiors v1.1 rating in the first round,” explains Chief Executive of the Green Building Council of Australia, Romilly Madew.

“This was the result of a very high quality submission, and the CSR Triniti Project joins just a handful of other projects that have achieved their Green Star ratings in the first round.”

Driving cultural change
CSR’s new development presented the unique opportunity to “bring together all our brands, with each of their innovative features and unique contributions, and apply them to create one outstanding building that says as much about our brands and products as it does about our company culture and values,” says Andrew MacKenzie, CSR’s General Manager Property.

CSR product is used throughout the Triniti III building including the fitout of CSR tenancy and includes Virdian Glass, Bradford Insulation, Gyprock Plasterboard, Cemintel Fibre Cement, Fricker Ceiling Systems, Hebel Aerated Concrete and Rockcore & Alturi Panel Systems.

The company’s vision for its new headquarters was for a sustainable workplace that encouraged innovation and collaboration between business units, and provided up-to-theminute facilities and technology.

According to CSR’s Chief Executive Officer of Building Products and Aluminium Division, Rob Sindel, the Green Star certification, together with CSR’s commitment to the environment, “helps us to attract good employees into the organisation and reflects CSR’s desire to improve our safety, health and environmental performance.”

“The standards achieved through the fitout have driven cultural change within the organisation. Our energy consumption cost are down, our staff have better breakout amenities and there is a much better level of communication with our new open plan working environment,” says Rob Sindel.

The fitout of the new premises has seen remarkable results when compared to the previous CSR premises, for example, a reduction of 23% in office space (from 8420 sqm to 6486 sqm) and a reduction of 60% in office storage space as a result of improvements to filing and other storage systems. Additionally, a survey carried out internally revealed that, on average, 45% of employees were leaving their computers on at night. CSR has implemented a power saving inititiative to put PC’s into hibernation mode after 2 hours, which will save approximately 45% of PC energy consumption.

Innovative ideas
CSR’s Triniti Project was awarded two innovation points for environmental design initiatives. One innovation point was awarded for the inclusion of internal stairs, which have been designed to reduce the environmental impact of the building and improve the indoor environmental quality of the fitout.

A further innovation point was awarded for the acoustic design initiative, which features Ecophon floating acoustic panels for optimal acoustic performance. When combined with education and planning of the office space, the acoustic panels deliver a better indoor environment quality for workers. Further acoustic benefits are delivered by the use of Fricker ceiling systems and Ecophon wall panels used in meeting rooms and breakout areas.

Smart design features such as energy efficient lighting controlled by time switches, movement sensors and perimeter sensors, and use of LED lighting of the staircase and the sky signage will all contribute significantly to lower energy usage and a smaller carbon footprint.

Environmentally friendly and energy efficient products
CSR Gyprock EC08™ Fire plasterboard, a fire grade board with high acoustic properties was used throughout the building and fitout. EC08 was the first Australian-made plasterboard to be certified by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) and therefore assisted by reducing the documentation required to contribute to the Green Star certification points. Bradford™ Glasswool Partition Batts, used for the ceilings and partitions, assisted with further improving the acoustics of the building and also contributed to improving the building’s energy efficiency and level of comfort.

The use of Viridian’s EVantage SuperBlue™ glass for the façade, with a vertical glaze, offers good light transmission and reduced the need for artificial lighting within the building. Performance of this glass was enhanced by using it in the Viridian ThermoTech™ Double Low E insulating glass units. This minimises variations in office temperature, which ultimately improves comfort and reduces the running costs of the building: an important green star contribution.

Clearing the air
The indoor environment quality of the office space was also carefully considered, with the placement of workspaces designed to optimise the provision of natural light provided from floor to ceiling glazing.

The majority of workstations are positioned within 8 metres of the windows to allow long distance views and a visual connection to the outdoors. All staff members – including management – are in open plan workspaces which encourages collaboration.

The indoor environment quality is further enhanced through indoor plants, the use of materials with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and separately enclosed and exhausted print and photocopy rooms. The use of Gyprock compounds, adhesives and sealants, all of which have low VOCs and are CETEC approved, also had a positive impact on Green Star credits.

Embracing the three Rs
CSR has embraced the ‘three Rs’ of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ – for example, the number of printers, copiers, scanners and fax machines has been reduced from 129 to 22 machines; 17 of which are large multi-function machines located in central utility rooms.

These initiatives, together with the smart green building features, will deliver a carbon emissions reduction of around 50 per cent in the first year for the head office premises.

With the move to more sustainable head quarters, CSR “welcomed in a new phase of our long history that will enable better business performance and contribute further to environmental and community sustainability,” Andrew MacKenzie says.