Official magazine of the Facility Management Association of Australia Ltd Print Post Approved 340742 00155 $9.

$9.95 inc GST

facility
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 4, 2008 DECEMBER–FEBRUARY integrating people – process – place

Sustainable Cities
Interview with SB08 Co-Chair Dr Greg Foliente
FMA Australia: Emissions Trading in Australia
Future Cities: An Integrated Urbanism approach to master planning

BFSR 2008:
A wave of change
in Queensland
FM at UN House – Sarajevo
CLIENT FEATURE
Optimising energy efficiency, availability
and high-density cooling in facility design
During the last five years, virtually every size
business has experienced growth in the
number and density of its IT systems as day-
to-day operations become more dependent
on server, storage and communications
technology. As a result, today’s data centre
facilities must support more devices,
consuming more power and generating more
heat. This is becoming increasingly difficult as
the availability of power – especially in
metropolitan areas – diminishes, and the price
of power continues to rise.
In many cases, large organisations with
mature facilities have been forced to deal with
these changes by overhauling their
infrastructure or developing new facilities
sooner than expected. For smaller, fast-
growing businesses, these same issues pose
an even greater challenge. Not only must they
accommodate the same growth in technology
utilisation as larger companies, but also plan
for technology growth dictated by the growth
of the business.
A recent survey of more than 2,000
professionals across Asia identified availability
and energy efficiency as the top two
challenges the facility management industry
faces in the region. This closely matched the
findings in Australia, where high-density
cooling was also cited as a major priority. The
survey was conducted by data centre
infrastructure specialist Emerson Network
Power in 15 Asian cities as part of its Energy
Logic Symposium Series from April to July this
year.
Achieving efficiency
Approximately 50 per cent of the power to a
computer room or large data centre facility is
for the IT load, with the remainder being for
the support infrastructure (cooling, UPS,
power distribution, lighting, etc). This is for a
well-designed and maintained computer room
using typical IT equipment and power/cooling
infrastructure.
However, the average IT server power supply
is 80 per cent efficient but the typical server
utilisation is only 15 per cent. Using this
example, if a server draws six megawatts from
the utility, three megawatts is for the IT load.
At $0.10 per kilowatt-hour the electricity bill is
more than $5 million per year.
An improvement in the server utilisation rate
via virtualisation to 30 per cent will result in an
annual savings of over $2 million per year
provided the unused servers are turned off. A
10 per cent improvement in the average
server power supply to 88 per cent (92 per
cent efficient power supplies are available)
results in over $500,000 per year in savings.
To attain the same savings by improving the
cooling system efficiency requires a 30 per
cent efficiency improvement, which can be
achieved with a next-generation supplemental
cooling system.
Solutions for now and tomorrow
Emerson Network Power is the global leader
in enabling business-critical continuity from
grid to chip for telecommunication networks,
data centres, health care and industrial
facilities. Emerson provides innovative
solutions and expertise in areas including AC
and DC power and precision cooling systems,
embedded computing and power, integrated
racks and enclosures, power switching and
controls, monitoring, and connectivity.
To achieve the optimal balance of energy
efficiency, availability and high-density cooling,
Emerson complements its extensive solutions
portfolio with business-critical service
capabilities that include site monitoring,
precision environmental control systems,
water treatment programs, 24 hour
emergency service, project design and
installation services, performance reviews, life
cycle analysis, specialist cleaning solutions,
fire protection, thermographic photography
and tenancy fitouts.
While growing businesses manage a high
degree of change with limited resources, a
new generation of infrastructure technologies
has emerged that make it easier to achieve
energy consumption and efficiency targets,
reduce environmentally damaging emissions,
and improve the overall availability of a critical
facility.
Speak to Emerson today to find out just how
achievable your goals can be.
For more information visit Emerson
Network Power Australia at
www.emersonnetwork.com.au or call
1800 065 345
EDITOR’S COMMENT

Level 6, 313 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel: (03) 8641 6666 Fax: (03) 9640 0374
Email: info@fma.com.au Web: www.fma.com.au

Front Cover: Image courtesy Grimshaw Architects.

MAX WINTER

Interesting times Published by:

for FSM’s ABN 30 007 224 204

Editor-in-Chief: Ric Navarro
Layouts: Anthony Costin
National Sales Manager: Phil Haratsis
430 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Welcome to the December issue of Facility Perspectives. Tel: (03) 9274 4201 Fax: (03) 9329 5295
Email: media@executivemedia.com.au

T
he last two months has certainly seen a host of enlightening events commencing with the
ABSA (Association of Building Sustainability Assessors) Conference late August, the BSM
(Building Services & Maintenance) Expo and seminar (supported by FMA Australia), and the
SB08 (World Sustainable Building 2008) Conference in September, also supported by FMA
Australia.
SB08 in particular has seen a wealth of information provided on all manner of topics to do
with Sustainability in the Built Environment, and has reinforced the message that the worldwide
shift of populations to cities has created an unprecedented burden on increasingly strained and
dwindling resources, and that the challenges confronting us all, are only going to increase.
So what is our response?
They are many and varied, but several themes to emerge from SB08 include the move to
develop a greater understanding of the drivers that impact on how cities as a whole function
presently, the move to toward the planning and development of more integrated and sustainable
communities, and the accelerated research and development science being undertaken in creating
more sustainable and energy efficient commercial and domestic buildings.
These themes are somewhat mirrored in this issue with Sustainable Cities as the central theme,
and a host of supporting articles that range from the strategic, down to managerial and
operational issues at the facility level.
FMA Australia have also been active in engaging with government and other industry bodies,
and advocating for change on behalf of members and the facilities management industry (see the
article in this issue).
Part of this advocacy role has been to support initiatives to ensure facility managers are
provided with opportunities to add sustainability credentials to their existing skill sets, and events
such as the FMA Australia Green Retrofit seminar series have proven to be hugely popular.
As the Carbon footprint and Sustainability agendas gain traction at all levels of the economy,
corporations and government departments will inevitably see sustainability as a core competency
for facility managers, and as a consequence, this perception will provide an added (and integral)
criteria for how a facility manager’s performance is judged.
Sustainability is a term that is fast becoming deeply entrenched in the fabric of the Built
Environment and already there are job descriptions and titles that reflect this. Who knows, we
might even see Facility Sustainability Managers, or FSM’s.
Max Winter
Editor
Web: www.executivemedia.com.au
Offices also in Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney
Editorial: WinterComms
Director & Editor: Max Winter
Assistant Editor/National Communications Manager:
Melanie Drummond
Staff Writer/Communications Officer:
Bianca Frost
WinterComms Sydney Correspondent:
Marie Geissler, Geissler Communications
Editorial enquiries:
Tel: (02) 4471 1252 or (03) 8417 6577
Email: mrwinter@netspace.net.au
Stock Images: Photo Disc, Jupiter Images,
Digital Vision, Creatas.
Printed by Superprint Pty Ltd
The editor, publisher, printer and their staff and agents are not
responsible for the accuracy or correctness of the text of
contributions contained in this publication or for the
consequences of any use made of the products, and the
information referred to in this publication. The editor, publisher,
printer and their staff and agents expressly disclaim all liability of
whatsoever nature for any consequences arising from any errors
or omissions contained in this publication whether caused to a
purchaser of this publication or otherwise. The views expressed in
the articles and other material published herein do not
necessarily reflect the views of the editor and publisher or their
staff or agents. The responsibility for the accuracy of information
is that of the individual contributors and neither the publisher or
editors can accept responsibility for the accuracy of information
which is supplied by others. It is impossible for the publisher and
editors to ensure that the advertisements and other material
herein comply with the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). Readers
should make their own inquiries in making any decisions, and
where necessary, seek professional advice.
©2008 Executive Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or part, without written permission is strictly prohibited.

2 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 CARBON
A.G. COOMBS

ROADMAP
TM

REDUCE YOUR BUILDING’S CARBON FOOTPRINT

A.G. Coombs transform buildings A.G. Coombs offer:

for Star rated energy efficient ᔢ Single point of responsibility

ᔢ Warranted Star rated outcomes
performance. We work with you to
ᔢ Extensive experience in all aspects of building
develop a business plan which will energy efficiency

deliver the best path forward through
staged targets to reduce greenhouse
emissions. Along with the necessary
environmental benefits, we will
reduce your energy costs, and help
ᔢ Industry leading experts, accredited Green Star
and NABERS professionals
ᔢ Innovative management tools for assessment, project
management, tuning and performance management
ᔢ Energy efficiency maintenance and building
tuning programs
ᔢ Product independence – best of breed technology

improve the building’s value.

To Carbon Roadmap your building

contact A.G. Coombs Group.
Telephone John Cucé 03 9248 2700.
A.G. COOMBS GROUP
ADVISORY | PROJECTS | SERVICE | TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT agcoombs.com.au
DISEGNO COO2187

4VGGFSJOH
DBSFFS
DPOTUJQBUJPO
4BMBSZ
MFWFMT
MPX
5JSFE
EVMM

MJGFMFTT
PQUJPOT
8BOU
UP
TFF
SFTVMUT
GBTU

.BLF
BO
BQQPJOUNFOU
XJUI

+VEE
'BSSJT
BOE
XFMM
IFMQ

ZPV
HFU
UIJOHT
NPWJOH
BHBJO


XJMM
OPU
HJWF
ZPV
WFSCBM
EJBSSIPFB


4:%/&:



$BOEJDF
&HBO

DBOEJDFFHBO!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV
4BMMZ
4UFXBSU

TBMMZTUFXBSU!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV
.BUUIFX
%XZFS

NBUUIFXEXZFS!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV

.&-#063/&



3ZBO
1VSLJTT

SZBOQVSLJTT!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV
"MFY
4VMMJWBO

BMFYTVMMJWBO!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV
-PVJTF
3PXF

MPVJTFSPXF!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV

#3*4#"/&



4FBO
)BOSBIBO

TFBOIBOSBIBO!KVEEGBSSJTDPNBV
GPS
BMM
PVS
MBUFTU
WBDBODJFT
MPH
PO
UP
XXXKVEEGBSSJTDPN
 IN THIS EDITION

Sustainable Cities
COVER STORY

This issue explores the notion of sustainable cities –

developments in the CPRS, future cities, developments in
green infrastructure, moves toward carbon neutrality, and
a frank interview with SB08 Co-Chair Dr Greg Foliente.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Sustainable Cities
Time – the ultimate non-renewable resource.
SB08 Co-Chair Dr Greg Foliente talks about the big picture issues, and plans
for providing some solutions to the question of climate change.
Emissions Trading in Australia – the CPRS.
FMA Australia explains some of the more salient features of the proposed
CPRS framework.
Future Cities: An Integrated Urbanism approach to master planning.
Arup’s Jane Homewood talks about their Integrated Urbanism approach to
master planning and how it is setting benchmarks for cities like Dongtan,
China.
Facility Management in a Carbon Constrained Economy.
Umow Lai's Roger Kluske examines some of the key issues facing the property
sector in a carbon constrained economy.
Advancing Sustainability in Australian Infrastructure.
The Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) has been established as a
catalyst for the delivery and operation of more sustainable infrastructure in
Australia.
Going carbon neutral: The EPA Victoria strategy.
Organisations are now looking to carbon neutral models as the new
benchmark of sustainable practice.

14 MANAGING AN AUSTRALIAN 58 PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE 79 ASSET MANAGEMENT

FEATURES

ICON • Gold Coast Sustainable Waterfuture Implementation of AM

Tasmania's Museum & Art Gallery
18 DESIGN LEAD STORY
Education Facility Planning &
Management
48 ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT
Planning for Competitive Advantage.
Master Plan.
• Three Stations in three continents.
68 FM AROUND THE GLOBE
FM at UN House, Sarajevo.
70 ESSENTIAL SAFETY MEASURES
A wave of change in Queensland.
82 BUSINESS PROCESS
How to stay afloat in a thriving industry.
87 SECURITY & RISK MANAGEMENT
The rise in identity theft and your role in
its prevention.

51 EDUCATION & TRAINING 75 MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

The Role of VET in Facilities Maintenance in pre-loved buildings
Management.
REGULARS

02 Editors Comment
MAR‘09

06 FMA Chairman’s Message

FMA Australia – 20 Year Celebration
07 FMA CEO’s Address
08 Fast Facts & News Maintenance and Essential Services Feature
74 Building Update
SUBSCRIBE
SPONSOR
PROFILES

28 Valorem 57 Odour Control Systems

To subscribe to
32 Solatube 63 ARX
Facility Perspectives, logon to
40 Forbo 72 Active Air Rentals
www.isubscribe.com.au
54 Victorian University 86 SNP Security

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 5
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
ANDREW MCEWAN
Chairman’s Message
It seems 2008 is continuing to prove itself an eventful year. Not to be outdone by climate change
issues, the economy has returned as the big ticket media item over the last month. With the
financial crisis in the US and Europe dominating media reports and news of worldwide bail-outs and
our own government’s relief package, climate change issues are now competing with the economic
downturn for the attention of governments globally.
H
owever, as Climate Change Minister Penny Wong iterated from
Poland in October, “the financial turmoil does not provide a
justification for postponing action on climate change”.
Unfortunately, climate change will not wait for global banks to stabilise
and so it is important that when dealing with a tightening economy that
we do not sacrifice the gains we have made towards greater efficiency in
energy, water and waste and the use of natural resources. In particular,
with energy efficiency in the built environment being one way to achieve
cost effectiveness in business operating costs, this is one area that should
usually deliver a real financial return while still achieving improved
environmental outcomes.
With only a year to go until the talks begin in Copenhagen to try
and gain post-Kyoto agreements moving forward from 2012, as well as
the release of the somewhat gloomy Garnaut Review Final Paper, a
renewed focus on the positive action possible on climate change is
necessary.
For us in Australia, the Garnaut Climate Change Review final report
is the cornerstone for consideration of future government policy on
climate change issues.
It is a significant research document that also reminds us all to
ensure we pursue climate change initiatives with our eyes open. As the
Garnaut report states “energy efficiency does not always correspond to
economic efficiency, which involves maximising the efficiency of use of all
resources (Sutherland 1994). Where efforts to improve energy efficiency
require more input of capital, labour and other resources than is saved in
energy, economic efficiency would be reduced” (Garnaut, R., The
Garnaut Climate Change Review, p404).
The Garnaut report suggests considerations of improved building
standards. It goes further to state that reliable information about the
impacts of climate change will be needed for the continued
development of new adaptation technologies. For the built environment
this includes more resilient building materials, climate-appropriate
building design and more efficient heating, ventilation and air-
conditioning systems (Garnaut, R., The Garnaut Climate Change Review,
p424).
The report recognises the important need for innovation and
research. It recognises that various research organisations are already
undertaking work on improving our technological responses to the
effects of climate change, but better outcomes in the resilience of
buildings, energy efficiency and water efficiency will require greater
uptake of existing technologies rather than further research and
development of new technologies (Garnaut, R., The Garnaut Climate
Change Review, p429).
6 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
It also reinforces the need for improved long term planning, both in
terms of the built environment and education and training, to adequately
respond to the growing demand of climate change on all resources.
FMA Australia strongly supports the findings of the Garnaut Climate
Change Review report as they pertain to facility management and I am
happy to say the strategic direction set by the FMA Australia National
Board and its delivery by David Duncan as CEO aligns with the key
findings of the report, particularly our efforts on education and training
and energy efficiency.
The Rudd government’s commitment to energy efficiency was
recently reinforced, as the second plank of climate change action was
announced in New Zealand at the Climate Change and Business
Conference. This was reiterated by Environment Minister Peter Garrett at
Built Environment Meets Parliament on 2 September, then again at SB08
on 22 September and FMA Australia fully supports this commitment.
Retro-fitting existing buildings to meet future climate change targets
represents the greatest challenge for Australia and the rest of the world.
As has been demonstrated in a number of leading green buildings, even
with brilliantly efficient design, it is through effective management of the
performance of a building throughout its life cycle that the most optimal
savings are made.
It is exciting to see FMA Australia assisting its members to up-skill
and increase their knowledge in this crucial area, with the first in a series
of seminars which was held in Melbourne on 21 October, demonstrating
to facility managers how some of the leading green buildings have
managed the green retro-fitting process. It is through this essential
knowledge sharing process that the FM industry can cement itself as a
leader in the management of carbon-friendly buildings and ensure that a
focus on green design, procurement, construction, maintenance,
operations and renewal doesn’t outweigh the need for real performance.
The opportunity for facility managers to play a significant role in the
new carbon-friendly business environment, through improved life cycle
and supply chain management, is real and FMA Australia will continue to
work collaboratively with the Australian government and other
associations globally to realise this opportunity.
In the next issue of Facility Perspectives I look forward to updating
you on the release of treasury modelling of the economic impacts of the
government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and
the CPRS White Paper due at the end of 2008.
Andrew McEwan
Chairman
FMA Australia
 CEO’S MESSAGE

DAVID DUNCAN
CEO’s Address
As usual, things have been busy in the FMA Australia office and branches lately. Alongside our usual
branch events we have seen the first of our seminar series on managing green retro-fitting held on
21 October, as well as some exciting Melbourne Cup events and we are now gearing up for the
beginning of the Christmas season.

A
s the year draws to a close and I look over the events of 2008, I
am amazed by the level of activity we have seen both within FMA
Australia and of course, more broadly in the economic and
political arena. The furious level of activity that has characterised the first
year of the Rudd government has seen the introduction of Australia’s first
carbon reporting system (NGERS), the release of copious material from
the Garnaut Reports, a Green Paper (and soon a White Paper) discussing
the introduction of emissions trading in Australia, financial meltdown and
bail-outs in the US and Europe and some serious economic wobbles in
Australia. 2008 has certainly not been boring!
In September I attended the Built Environment Meets Parliament
(BEMP) event in Canberra, where over 200 industry delegates discussed
the policy initiatives that will be necessary to keep Australia’s built
environment strong and improve its green credentials in the years to
come. At that event, Innovation Minister Kim Carr announced the
establishment of an Industry Innovation Council for the Built
Environment, to be chaired by distinguished town planner, Sue Holliday.
This Council will provide both advice to the Minister and leadership to
the built environment industry and is welcomed by FMA Australia.
Also launched at BEMP, was the Australian Sustainable Built
Environment Council Climate Change Task Group’s (ASBEC CCTG)
Second Plank report, outlining a suite of policy options that the
government could introduce to unlock the abatement potential of the
built environment, in addition to the CPRS. FMA Australia was one of the
nine industry bodies to contribute to this report, which is the first report
to quantify the potential of the built environment in Australia in terms of
both greenhouse gases and financial savings.
The report found that from the price signals to be expected as a
result of the CPRS, the built environment would likely produce savings of
8Mt CO2-e annually on average. However, with the addition of a suite of
policies aimed at removing barriers to investment, this figure could be
increased dramatically to 60Mt CO2-e annually by 2030. In addition to
greenhouse gas savings, this investment in the built environment could
save the Australian economy $38 billion by 2050 by reducing the
economic adjustment costs foreshadowed in the Green Paper. FMA
Australia tabled this report as part of its submission to the Department of
Climate Change in response to the Green Paper.
In October I had the great fortune of attending the BIFM
International Investors in FM Excellence Awards in London, as well as
IFMA’s World Workplace conference in Dallas, Texas. As always, it is
exciting to see the successes of our sister organisations in the UK and US
and to share and gain knowledge. Both events were stimulating and well
attended and I have returned with many ideas and different perspectives
as a result of the trip.
As busy as things have been during 2008, there is plenty more to
come in 2009 as we continue to roll out our education initiatives, plan for
an even bigger and better ideaction and look forward to continuing this
year’s growth in membership.
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
David Duncan
Chief Executive Officer
FMA Australia

FMA Australia acknowledges its Premium sponsor for 2008/2009, ISS Facility Services

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 7
FAST FACTS & NEWS

Green Building goes industrial

W
arehouses and factories can now have a green
makeover with the release in October of the
Green Building Council of Australia’s new Green
Star — Industrial PILOT rating tool.
Joined by over 100 property professionals and tool
sponsors, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA)
announced the release of the new rating tool which will
assess the environmental attributes of new and refurbished
industrial facilities against the eight categories of Green
Star including energy, water, emissions, materials, indoor
environment quality, ecology, management and transport
plus innovation.
Romilly Madew, Chief Executive of GBCA believes the
release of this tool is significant for the property industry.
“We all recognise that this is a time of economic
change, even facing a slowdown, but we cannot stop
including environmentally sustainable initiatives in all of our
buildings,” said Ms Madew.
“In the past twelve months, more projects have
registered for, and achieved, a Green Star rating than the
previous four years combined. Now with the release of the
new Green Star - Industrial PILOT rating tool, we are taking
another step towards the creation of a truly sustainable
future for Australia.”
Expanding on the current Green Star tools available
for commercial offices, shopping centres, healthcare facilities, schools reducing the distance materials have to travel.
and universities, the Green Star - Industrial PILOT tool includes a number The development of the Green Star - Industrial rating tool was
of credits unique to the industrial sector. sponsored by Goodman Group, Australand, Investa, Landcorp, VicUrban,
Credits will address the indoor environment quality issues for workers ING Real Estate, Bluescope Buildings, Metroplex Management, St
in industrial facilities such as factories, with projects awarded for Hilliers, and Stockland.
designated breakout areas free of emissions. Transport emissions are also
considered with credits awarded for the proximity of the projects to The Green Star – Industrial PILOT tool is available to download from the
cargo facilities, such as airports, train stations and ports, therefore GBCA website at www.gbca.org.au.

SolarGard
• Solar Gard ® Window
®
Window Film will significantly
Film reduce thereduce
will significantly transmission
heat gain through glazing. of solar heat through glass windows.
Solar Gard helps cut energy costs associated with air conditioning
in homes and commercial buildings.
• Solar Gard® Window Film can
– Reduce air conditioning Solar
costs Gard Reduces Energy Costs
– Increase worker comfort and • Up to 81% solar energy reduction
productivity
• Up to 93% glare reduction
– Decrease fade of furnishings
Improve internal living and working conditions by reducing heat and
• Solar Gard
glare Window
®
Film
and let Solar Gardisshow
the most
you how cost
it will pay for itself.
effective way of improving the solar
performance of existing glazing.

For quotations and energy assessments

Free quotations - phone (02) 8825 6677
phone (02) 8825 6677 for your local installer
ADworks 10850

www.solargard.com.au ®
Registered trademark of Bekaert Specialty Films Australia

8 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
FAST FACTS & NEWS

Garnaut releases framework for low emissions future

O
n September 30,
Professor Ross Garnaut
released the Final Report
of his Climate Change Review,
concluding that the costs of
Australia playing its proportionate
part in an effective global effort are
manageable.
“There is a path to Australia
being a low-emissions economy
within around 40 years, consistent
with continuing strong growth in
material living standards,” said
Professor Garnaut.
“The Review has
recommended a necessary and
sufficient mitigation policy
package that will facilitate the
effective, efficient and equitable
transformation for Australia to a
low-emissions economy.
“Without strong, effective and
early action by all major
economies, it is probable that
Australians, over the 21st century
and beyond, will experience
disruption in their enjoyment of life
and increasingly of their prosperity.
“The case for strong
mitigation is a conservative one.
Of all developed countries,
Australia probably has the most to lose from inaction and the most to The report recommends that the emissions trading system – the
gain from global mitigation. Australia should throw its full weight behind centrepiece of Australia’s mitigation policy – should be established at the
securing an effective international agreement from 2013,” he said. earliest possible date, in 2010.
The report states that an international agreement for the post-Kyoto The report says that the integrity, efficiency and effectiveness of the
period from 2013 must include all the major economies if there is to be a emissions trading scheme will be helped by the following design
chance of containing emissions to necessary levels. It suggests an features:
allocation of the international mitigation effort that could be managed by 3 establishment of an independent carbon bank with all the necessary
developed and developing countries, without being a threat to rising powers to oversee the long-term stability of the scheme
standards of living. 3 implementation of a transition period from scheme commencement
“It is crucial that an agreement is practical. There is no value in an in 2010 to the conclusion of the Kyoto period (end 2012) involving
agreement that is not backed up by substance,” said Professor Garnaut. fixed price permits
“There are reasonable chances of a practical agreement adding up 3 payments to trade-exposed, emissions-intensive industries (TEEIIs)
to 550 parts per million (ppm) concentrations in the atmosphere. designed to address the failure of our trading partners to adopt
Australia’s fair share of such an agreement would be to reduce emissions similar policies to constrain emissions, rather than to compensate for
from 2000 levels by 10 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. Australia having an emissions trading scheme.
Australia should offer to play its full part in such an agreement. 3 all permits to be auctioned with about half the resulting revenue
“Australia should also offer to play its full part in an ambitious going into support households in the bottom half of the income
agreement. Its fair share of a 450ppm agreement would be to reduce distribution, and about 20 per cent for research, development and
emissions by 25 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020 and by 90 per cent commercialisation to support low-emissions technologies.
by 2050,” said Professor Garnaut. 3 no ceilings or floors on the price of permits (beyond the transition
“Such an agreement, aimed at 450ppm would not be easy to reach. period)
It would place constraints on emissions from both developed and 3 intertemporal use of permits through ‘hoarding’ and ‘lending’ from
developing countries that go beyond what is being discussed and, more 2013 onwards
importantly, planned, for any but a few countries. 3 a judicious and calibrated approach to linking with international
“The achievement of the 550ppm mitigation task involves a major schemes
change in the structure of our economy. Australia’s total emissions 3 strict compliance with appropriately punitive penalties and ‘make
entitlement would be up to 35 per cent below what they would have good’ provisions
been in 2020 and 90 per cent by 2050,” he said. 3 scheme coverage that is as broad as possible, within practical
Professor Garnaut said that the overall cost to the Australian constraints
economy of tackling climate change under both the 450ppm and 3 the existing, non-indexed shortfall penalty in the Mandatory
550ppm scenarios was manageable and in the order of 0.1-0.2 per cent Renewable Energy Target (MRET) to remain unchanged in the
of annual economic growth to 2020. expanded scheme, as a way of phasing out the MRET over time.
In the absence of a comprehensive global agreement that adds up
and in the context of another limited, Kyoto-style agreement, the report “The cost to consumers of rising energy and petrol prices can be
recommends that Australia’s first step between 2013-2020 should be balanced through payments to households, while preserving price
along the linear path to a 60 per cent cut in emissions by 2050. This incentives to reduce emissions,” said Professor Garnaut
would be a five per cent reduction by 2020.
Any effort prior to an effective, comprehensive global agreement Full details of the Garnaut Climate Change Review Final Report are available
should be short, transitional and directed at achievement of a global at www.garnautreview.org.au.
agreement.

10 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 FAST FACTS & NEWS

Slips, trips and falls in buildings

T
he Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is seeking to reduce people in 2056. By then, people
the number of fatalities and injuries in buildings every year as a aged 85 years or over will make
result of slipping and tripping on floors and stairs, and falling from up 5% to 7% of Australia’s
balconies, verandahs and through windows. Many of the fall victims are population, compared to only
elderly, sick or children. The Board is currently reviewing Australia’s 1.6% in 2007 meaning that
national Building Code of Australia (BCA) to make buildings safer. building and facility planning for
The Board recently commissioned the Monash University Accident the needs of elderly people will
Research Centre (MUARC) to study the incidence of slips, trips and falls become increasingly important.
and their relationship to the design and construction of buildings. That The MUARC report
study is now complete and the findings show the problem is significant. recommendations include
In Australia each year there are over 500 fatal falls and over 110,000 consideration of tougher standards
hospital admissions resulting from falls in buildings and these numbers for balustrades, guards for
are increasing as the population ages. The study also shows the annual windows in the second storey of
cost due to slips, trips and falls is around $1.3 billion per annum. dwellings and above, slip resistant
However, the study does not identify precisely what contribution the floors at building entries and
design and construction of buildings makes to these injuries and deaths. handrails for stairs in dwellings.
Nevertheless, even if the contribution is conservatively estimated at 20%, “The report is a very
improvements to the building code to reduce slips, trips and falls in worthwhile first step in the Board’s
buildings could also reduce the burden on our health system by around bid to reduce deaths and injuries
$250 million per year. from an often overlooked injury
“It is clear from this report that slips, trips and falls result in significant area, one that will provide a valuable framework for future Board
levels of deaths and injuries and I applaud the Board for investigating the initiatives in this area,” says the Board Chairman, Mr Graham Huxley.
role that building design and construction plays in this problem,” “As is the case for any proposed change to the BCA, there will need
MUARC’s Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith says. to be a proper assessment of the benefits that would be achieved and
“The report contains a range of practical measures, especially the costs to the community. The ABCB has already started work on this
around hard surfaces, stairs and balconies, which I look forward to the and will consult with industry and the community on any proposed
ABCB considering and hopefully implementing.” changes. Therefore, it is too early to speculate on what changes to the
According to the latest population projections released in October BCA are likely. Nevertheless, cost-effective improvements may be
by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia’s population is set possible to further improve safety and reduce accidents and deaths due
to change substantially over the next 50 years, with around one in four to slips, trips and falls in buildings and further work in this area is
Australians being 65 years or older by 2056. The number of people aged desirable in the public interest.”
85 years or over is also likely to increase rapidly over the next 50 years,
from 344,000 people in 2007 to between 1.7 million and 3.1 million Go to the ABCB website for more details.

Why names you

know rely on us...
We provide them with
innovative records
management solutions

Whether you are planning

a move, upgrading existing
premises, want to improve
productivity or save floor space,
you can rely on Codafile to
provide you with an innovative
records management solution.
Call Codafile toll free today on
1800 263 234 (Australia) or
0800 263 234 (New Zealand) or
visit www.codafile.com

QRECORDS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

QFILETRAK SOFTWARE
QCODAPRINT LABEL SOFTWARE
QCABINETS
QCODAFILE LATERAL FILES
QCUSTOMISED FILES
QFILING STORAGE PACKAGES

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 11
FAST FACTS & NEWS

Hot air rising fast: Emissions grow four times faster this decade than last

T
he latest figures on the global carbon budget released in
Washington and Paris on September 26 indicate a four-fold
increase in the growth rate of human-generated carbon dioxide
emissions since 2000.
“This is a concerning trend in light of global efforts to curb
emissions,” says Global Carbon Project (GCP) Executive-Director, Dr Pep
Canadell, a carbon specialist based at CSIRO in Canberra.
Releasing the 2007 data, Dr Canadell said emissions from the
combustion of fossil fuel and land use change almost reached the mark
of 10 billion tonnes of carbon in 2007.
Using research findings published last year in peer-reviewed journals
such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature and
Science, Dr Canadell said atmospheric carbon dioxide growth has been
outstripping the growth of natural carbon dioxide sinks such as forests
and oceans.
The new results were released simultaneously in Washington by Dr
Canadell and in Paris by Dr Michael Raupach, GCP co-Chair and a
CSIRO scientist.
Dr Raupach said Australia’s position remains unique as a developed
country with rapidly growing emissions.
“Since 2000, Australian fossil-fuel emissions have grown by two per
cent per year. For Australia to achieve a 2020 fossil-fuel emissions target
10 per cent lower than 2000 levels, the target referred to by Professor
Garnaut, we would require a reduction in emissions from where they are
now by 1.5 per cent per year. Every year of continuing growth makes the
future reduction requirement even steeper.”
The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is a joint international project on
the global carbon cycle sponsored by the International Geosphere-
Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions
Programme on Global Environmental Research (IHDP), and the World
Emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities have been growing about four times
Climate Research Program. faster since 2000 than during the previous decade.

Keep everyone in the loop with ARCHIBUS Move Management

Streamline the entire process from day to
day churn to major relocations.
At ARCHIBUS Solution Centers - Australia, we understand that
managing moves is a complex business activity and reducing
down-time saves you money and improves team satisfaction.
ARCHIBUS has specialist modules that include:
• Move Management
• Space Management
• Room Reservations
• Project Management
• Capital Budgeting
• Condition Assessment
• Asset Management and Maintenance
• Service Desk / On Demand Work
• Real Property and Lease Management
• Environmental Sustainability Assessment
• Overlay for AutoCAD and Revit
• ESRI Geospatial Extension

Sydney Office Melbourne Office Brisbane Office The # 1 Solution for Total
Suite 3B Level 3 Suite 4 Level 10 Level 24
Infrastructure and Facilities
61- 63 Market Street 55 Swanston Street 10 Eagle Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Melbourne VIC 3000 Brisbane QLD 4000 Management in the World...
Australia Australia Australia
t +61 2 9267 8215 t +61 3 9662 3144 t +61 7 3503 9270
Over 3 Million users managing
f +61 2 8915 1322 f +61 3 9445 9227 f +61 7 3503 9269
1.6 Billion square meters
archibus@asc-a.com | www.asc-a.com | +61 2 9267 8215 prove it daily!

12 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
fa• cil• i• ties [fe sil et ies] n. pl.
man• age •ment [man ij ment] n.
An establishment made up of people collectively charged
to run an organisation’s infrastructure and assets.

We know where Facilities Management starts,

we also understand it doesn’t finish there:

: HVAC, Security & Fire Controls Technicians : Electrical/Mechanical Engineer

: Engineering Manager
: Sustainability Engineer
: Installation & Commissioning Engineer
: Project Manager
: Contract Manager/Team Leader
: Compliance Manager
: Building Services Engineer
: Facilities Manager
: Building Automation Technician

: POWER

: PROPERTY

: ARCHITECTURE

: RESOURCES & MINING

: CONSTRUCTION & CIVIL

: FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

: CONSULTING ENGINEERING

: PROJECT MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT

For specialist recruitment expertise contact:

Marc Owen on 0414 204 106
Richard Gross on 0414 197 554

www.dmgroup.com.au

B R I S B A N E : S Y D N E Y : M E L B O U R N E : P E R T H
FM IN ICONS

Aerial view of theTasmanian Museum and Art Gallery precinct (2008). Photographer: Mark Merton. Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

The apple of Australia’s

Hobart is home to one of the

T
he Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) was officially
Tasmania’s most revered cultural established by Australia’s oldest scientific society, the Royal Society
treasures. Built in the early 1800s, of Australia, in 1848. Before long, the rapidly growing collection
was open for public viewing and in 1852 the Royal Society leased rooms
the Tasmanian Museum and Art in Harrington Street to accommodate its growing visitor numbers.
Gallery (TMAG) is Australia’s second Throughout the 1850s the society remained active in lobbying
oldest museum and remains one of government for a permanent site for the museum and in 1860 the
current site, on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Street, was granted.
the most important archaeological An additional government grant contributed to the museum’s further
sites in the country. expansion and incorporation of an art gallery, and the museum was
officially coined the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 1889.
Behind the scenes at TMAG is multi- The Great Depression and outbreak of the Second World War
tasker extraordinaire Trudy further delayed expansion and maintenance during the first half of the
1900s, but by 1966 the long awaited construction of the Argyle Street
Woodcock who serves as the extension was complete, providing significantly improved work and
museum’s Executive Officer of storage facilities for the time.
Facilities, Security and Perhaps the most noteworthy expansion to the museum’s facilities
occurred in 1977 when three of Hobart’s most historically important
Administration. Since taking on the buildings, the Commissariat Store (1808 – 1810), the Bond Store (1823-
role at TMAG, Trudy has been 26) and the adjacent Queen’s Warehouse (1867) were purchased back
working towards transforming the from the Commonwealth by the State Government and made available
to the museum.
museum’s maintenance management Today, the growth of TMAG’s unique collections and visitor numbers,
program, occupational health and combined with its location in the hub of the arts and cultural precinct on
safety practices and the security the Hobart waterfront, has underpinned its importance to the Tasmanian
community and the State’s cultural tourism industry. In order to continue
processes across TMAG’s four sites. improving its delivery of art and culture to its local, national and
Facility Perspectives’ Melanie international visitors, the museum is in negotiations with Government for
Drummond spoke to Trudy about redevelopment funding which will enable the transformation and
integration of the multi-layered site, buildings and collections - creating a
how she juggles improvement benchmark for museums in Australia and overseas.
projects while keeping on top of Trudy Woodcock, who has been working as the Executive Officer of
daily maintenance issues. Facilities, Security and Administration for TMAG since October 2007 has

14 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

Colonial Gallery (2008). Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
brought her expertise in project management to the role - something
she says helps immensely with managing the requirements of four very
different sites.
“Before working at the museum, the other large project I worked on
was an interior design construction project in Ireland for a Georgian
House that had over 100 rooms. The project ran for over two years and
that meant managing painters, plasterers, carpenters, framers, curtain
makers and crafts people most of whom came from England. It was a
heritage project so they were all specialist contractors as well.”
Trudy’s training in project management was enhanced by her
experiences managing offices and other ad-hoc projects earlier on her
career. Despite not receiving any technical trades training, Trudy’s
upbringing and work experience has also provided her with a good
overview of the technical aspects pertaining to her role.
“My father was a valve engineer so I grew up with quite a lot of
technical information around me. I’m quite fortunate that for a few years I
Courtyard and Bond Store (2007). Photographer: Melinda Clarke. Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
FM IN ICONS
worked part-time with a furniture maker so I have a good knowledge of
workshop tools and how to use them, and that’s where I gained a lot of
my OH&S knowledge from. Working on the Irish project I learnt a great
deal about electrics and building functionality because you’re constantly
having fixtures and fittings installed. It’s been a learning curve as far as
security systems are concerned as I had not had much experience in that
area so I’ve had to come up to par on that one. With plant and
maintenance sometimes you just have to ask the contractors to explain
the problem to you in plain English!”
Each day, Trudy’s role as Executive Officer of Facilities, Security and
Administration involves co-ordinating two maintenance officers, a vast
array of contractors, essential maintenance contracts plus site security
and OH&S for TMAG’s four key sites.
“The city site is the largest and is open to the public, and contains
some back-of-house areas for conservation, design, exhibition,
administration, and the redevelopment team. Then you have the
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 15
FM IN ICONS
museum’s art gallery which is open to the public and a café which is
outsourced. Because it’s such a complex site and we have so many
buildings of different ages, just finding where electrical switches are for
different parts of the building can be a real challenge.
“We’re putting a lot of work in to get our records updated. A site
like this just has so many intricacies that I will be conducting a plant and
infrastructure review so we are aware of what needs to be replaced
across all four sites over the coming years.”
Responsible for managing the essential maintenance requirements of
the museum, Trudy must ensure all fire, electrical and mechanical
services are consistently operating at optimum performance, which
means engaging with a broad range of outsourced contractors.
“At the moment I’m working towards rolling together all of the
essential maintenance contracts so we have one contract for each service
that covers all four sites. That involves re-tendering and there are a lot of
contracts involved. There are specifications for each discipline that are
over a hundred pages long. We do have an outsourced contract
supervisor that works on that for us and they have written the specs for
us, but you always need to check those specifications are correct prior to
issue.”
“Being a cultural institution, we can’t allow contractors back of house
and in some of the gallery areas without being escorted. It is a bit time-
consuming so that’s why I’ve had to make sure they book in to come on
site. Even if they’re coming on site for essential maintenance to do
something as simple as change a filter, they need to book as they’ll need
access to rooms that we need to open for them.”
Streamlining the induction process for contractors also means Trudy
can further reduce the risk of any OH&S incidents occurring on site,
another priority a the top of her already sizeable list.
“Since commencing, I’ve streamlined all of the contractors coming
on site. I’ve written an induction manual so they’re aware of their
responsibilities when they’re on site. We’re only just starting to roll it out
now and we’ve written it with the redevelopment in mind, thinking that
at some stage we could have up to 100 contractors on site at any one
time.”
Security is another significant issue at TMAG and Trudy is already
Custom House façade. Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
16 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
well on her way to ensuring a tight system is in place across all the four
sites.
“We’re rolling out some security streamlining as well so that all of the
sites can speak to each other through software and I can access all sites
from one area. I have registers for what access type each person has and
I can monitor who has accessed where. I have tightened the accessibility
to certain areas and approval protocols for all security areas.”
With significant numbers of the public passing through the museum
and art gallery spaces every week for tours, exhibitions and functions,
Trudy is well aware that smoothing out OH&S procedures is just another
way to ensure TMAG operates like a well-oiled machine.
“We’ve just rolled out at a new safety management plan and we are
trying to have zero incidents on all sites. I run OH&S competitions in the
newsletter each week and TMAG tries to ensure that all staff are
adequately trained and have all the appropriate equipment they need to
perform their tasks properly. We also try and identify when they need
specialist training in any area - I recently had 10 staff trained in height
safety management to remove paintings from a staircase. We actively
manage our OH&S and have monthly meetings regarding issues at each
site.”
For Trudy, dealing with the immediate problems which often occur
proves the most challenging part of her diverse role at the museum.
“We had a situation where the contractors involved in the
archaeological dig went through the plumbing at half past three in the
afternoon when we had a function of 200 people arriving at 6.30pm. It
meant that half of the bathrooms available to the public were out. I’m
really lucky that we live in a small capital city and people are really
responsive to the museum. It’s important to take the time to speak to
your contractors and get to know them so that when you are in a fix
they’re happy enough to respond to you. When they know it’s urgent
they will drop things and come out and give you a temporary solution
until the next morning.”
Trudy is also grateful for the support of her two maintenance officers
who assist her in delivering contractor inductions and meeting daily
maintenance requirements across the four sites.
“We’ve all been on a steep learning curve together and we’re slowly
but surely ironing out all of the bumps. They’re great guys and have a
really large variety of skills. One is really good at building and the other is
excellent at problem solving.
“We have some maintenance registers for our front of house who
will let us know when lights have blown and that sort of thing. That gives
the maintenance officers the autonomy to look through the registers and
consolidate jobs in each area of the museum’s premises when they have
the time. I go through and review the registers every week to check that
everything has been done. The registers are assisting us to improve the
maintenance history of each site as well. With the registers we can go
back and see where we have consistent problems.”
While her role sounds like a difficult juggling act and negotiation of
priorities, Trudy says not taking on too much at any given time is the
secret to her success.
“I have a lot of paper on my desk! I try not to overload myself with
projects and try to ensure that I only have a couple of projects on the go
at one time. My background in project management really helps with the
logistics of running any project by knowing how much any one person
has on their plate and what’s happening on site at any one time. I work
heavily with my calendars and, because I’ve got so much on, I insist
contractors book times for coming on site.”
When discussing the future of her role at TMAG, Trudy foresees an
increased workload with the anticipated redevelopment and overhaul of
the museum’s facilities.
“If we are redeveloped we’ll need to work towards a six star energy
rating which is hard for heritage buildings as you don’t have the space to
put in wiring, electrics and things like that. Because the heritage
restrictions often won’t let you put fixtures on walls, we’ll have to be
really creative with achieving the rating but that will be a good
challenge.”
Despite the obvious pressures facing the maintenance team at the
museum, Trudy looks forward to continually improving processes at
TMAG.
“It’s a really great place to work. Even though what I’m doing can be
a bit dry sometimes, with all of the OH&S and policy work requirements,
just to walk through and see the art and different historical items on
display is absolutely amazing.”
>cii]Zh
>ci]ZhZjcXZgiV^ci^bZh!
] ZjccXZ
c ZggiiV^c
^ci^b
c i^bZh!
^
cdll^hi]ZZi^bZidd[dXjh
cdl^hi]Zi^bZid[dXjh
dc
dc [jcYVb
bZciVah#
dc[jcYVbZciVah#
LZeggdk^YZXdhiZ[[ZXi^kkZ[VX^a^i^ZhbVcVV\ZbZciVcYVhhZii
LZegdk^YZXdhiZ[[ZXi^kZ[VX^a^i^ZhbVcV\ZbZciVcYVhhZi
bV^ciZcVcXZhZgk^XZhiV^adgZYidndjgjc^fjZhZgk^XZheZX^ÒXVi^dch#
bV^ciZcVcXZhZgk^XZhiV^adgZYidndjgjc^fjZhZgk^XZheZX^ÒXVi^dch#

DjgXa^ZcihWZcZÒi[gdbdjg[dXjhdc/
DjgXa^ZcihWZcZÒi[gddbdjg[[ddXjhdc
c/
™ gZYjX^c\
™gZYjX^c\deZgVi^c\Xdhih
\deZgVi^c\Xdhih IIdÒcYdjibdgZXdciVXi
dÒcYdjibdgZXdciVXi
™jh^c\iZX]cdad\nidhigZVba^cZegdXZhhZh
™jh^c\iZ ]cdad\nid higZVba^cZegdXZhhZh
ZX
CHL
CHL
™djihdjgX^c\cdc"XdgZhZgk^XZhhdi]Vi
™djih djgXX^c\cdc"XdgZhZgk^XZhhdi]Vi H]^gdbdcYZH^akV"%)&%%%(&&.
H]^gdbdcYZH^akV"%)&%%%(&&.
 nndjXVc[dXjhdcl]VindjYdWZhi
djXVc[dXjhdcl]VindjYdWZhi
FA9$CI
FA9$CI
™^beaZbZci^c\hnhiZbhVcYegdXZhhZhi]ViZcVWaZg^h`
™^beaZbZ Zci^c\hnhiZbhVcYegdXZhhZZhi]ViZcVWaZg^h` 7g^Vc8j[[Z"%)&%%%(&%*
7g ^Vc8j[[Z"%)&%%%(&%*
 b^c^b^h
b^c^b^hVi^dcVcYbVcV\ZbZci
hVi^dcVcYbVcV\ZbZci
™bVcV\^c\[dgl]daZ"d["a^[ZÄcdhjgeg^hZh
™bVcV\^c c\[dg l]daZ"d[""a^[ZÄcdhjgeg^hZh H6$L6
H6$L6
8]g^h8dd`"%))..%))&.
8]g ^h8dd`"%))..%))&.
™™VXXjgViZgZedgi^c\#
VXXjgViZ gZedgi^c\#
K>8
K>8
9ZgZ`HlZZcZn"%)&%%%)%*'
9ZgZ`HlZZcZn"%)&%%%)%*'
BVcV\^c\dkZg)(!%%%YlZaa^c\hVcYdkZg))!%%%XdbbZgX^Va
BVcV\^c\ \dkZg)(!%%%YlZaa^c\hVcYdkZg))!%%%XdbbZgX^Va  BVgadc<^ja^Vc^"%)%%&&(&*-
B Vgaddc<^ja^Vc^"%)%%&&(&*-
^chiVaaVi^dch^c6jhigVa^VVcYCZlOZVaVcY!HediaZhh]Vhi]ZZmeZgi^hZ
^chiVaaVi^d
dch ^c 6jhigVa^V VcY CZl OZVaVcY!HediaZhh]Vhi]ZZ
V meZgi^hZ
iidYZh^\cVhdaji^dc[dgndj#
dYZh^\cVhdaji^dc [dgndj# lll#hediaZhh#Xdb
lll#hediaZhh#Xdb
 FACILITY DESIGN & PLANNING

An education in perspective:
Image: Bigstock

Education facility planning

and management
Education facility planning and management represent two sides of the same coin when it comes to
creating optimal environments for learning outcomes. Bianca Frost spoke to an education facility
manager and an education facility planner to discover more about how these two important
perspectives impact on the design and operation of our learning institutions.

The education facility manager

Andrew Frowd is President of the Australasian
Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association
(TEFMA), an independent association of facilities
managers operating in the tertiary education sector
of Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and
Singapore. Frowd originally qualified as a civil
engineer before taking a facility management post in
the Royal Australian Air Force. For the past 13 years
he has worked in facilities management in the university sector. He has
been employed at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for
the last eight years where he is QUT’s Director of Facilities Management.
FP: How, and in what ways, are education facilities unique?
AF: In many ways, tertiary institutions are like small towns. They have a
wide range of facilities such as accommodation for students, offices for
staff, shops, sport, cultural and community facilities not to mention the
research and learning spaces which are really what make educational
facilities unique.
FP: What are learning spaces like to manage?
AF: In terms of learning spaces, the big jumps that have been made in
the use of technology mean that specialised learning spaces are
becoming less so. Nowadays anywhere can be a learning space. Three
or four students can sit out under a tree connected to the wireless
network and be working on a project in a collaborative way, so we would
now consider this to be a learning space. Of course, we’ve still got the
large, traditional tiered lecture theatres with the lecturer down the front
speaking to 600 or 1000 students, but more and more teaching
academics are embracing different ways of using spaces to engage with
their students. One of the reasons for this is that younger students

18 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
What's hanging over your head?
Ecolinx -
the new structured wiring system by Dynalite.
It's got you covered.
Saving the environment, saving time and saving money;
three of the biggest concerns in today's world.
The new Ecolinx structured wiring lighting control system by
Dynalite is the perfect energy management solution.

Designed for direct installation into the ceiling cavity, the Ecolinx DBC905 provides individual control
of high frequency fluorescent ballasts and supports 1-10V, DSI and DALI broadcast protocols.

The device design provides easy connection without the use of tools. Simple integration with
building management systems makes Ecolinx the ideal solution in commercial office installations,
where cost effective control is required.

If you, or your tenants, want to save energy, time and money, let Dynalite help… use Ecolinx.
For more information on Ecolinx, visit dynalite-online.com or phone 1300 554 178.
FACILITY DESIGN & PLANNING
coming through the tertiary system are demanding a more exciting
presentation of the teaching material which is at odds with the old model
of having a lecturer standing at the front of a room delivering information
to a class. As a result, we have to create different kinds of learning spaces
that can facilitate new kinds of exchanges between student and teachers.
FP: How does that impact on the management of those facilities?
AF: The biggest problem we face is with future proofing our educational
facilities. One of the things tertiary institutions have found is that while
they design and build some really interesting and functional spaces, they
don’t know whether in five years they will still be considered current.
Even facilities that were built in the early 2000s are now considered quite
humdrum by today’s standards. In the design and implementation phase
you might have thought, great, this is really cutting edge, worthy of
investment and everyone is going to love this, and yes, these spaces are
considered great for a couple of years and then people start wanting
something more.
FP: What has driven this change?
AF: This has really driven by the rapid rate of technological change and
the different things that people expect from spaces as a consequence.
For example, students now have PDA’s and have become accustomed
to receiving information where and when they want it. The ability to
provide facilities that can meet and deliver those expectations as they
evolve presents a real challenge for education facility planners and
managers. The idea that we will put up a building and that it will have a
life of forty years with perhaps a mid-life re-fit simply isn’t current
anymore. We are now looking at mid-life re-fits just three or four years
into a building’s life.
FP: How do you address future proofing?
AF: First of all, it is really important to engage with your key
stakeholders. Most university’s have a teaching and learning department
that is made up of people who are real experts in the field of pedagogy.
Facility managers work closely with these people who tell us what future
trends are likely to occur in the way education is delivered and we tap
into that knowledge to try and build facilities that will be able to
accommodate those trends. An added difficulty with future proofing is
that while planning for new buildings is one thing, they only represent a
small proportion of your total building stock, so you still have the
problem of up-dating the remaining bulk of buildings which already exist.
Trying to keep your facilities up-to-date is a little like trying to paint the
Sydney Harbour Bridge – you have to work fast because by the time you
finish painting it once over, the end you started on requires another coat.
In the case of education facilities, you simply can’t afford to not update
The education facility planner
Prakash Nair, Partner at Fielding Nair International in
the United States, is a futurist, visionary planner and
architect with Fielding Nair International, one of the
world’s leading change agents in school design. He
is also the Managing Editor of DesignShare.com
which attracts over one million visitors each year. He
is the recipient of several international awards
including the prestigious CEFPI MacConnell Award,
the top honour worldwide for school design, for his work on the Reece
Community High School in Devonport, Tasmania.
FP: What are the fundamental principles of education facility
planning?
PN: It is absolutely vital that the experience of each learner and each
teacher is at the heart of the education facility planning process. Poor
planning results when schools are seen as places that ‘do things to’
children – like arrange them in groups of uniform size and age and
allocate them specific textbooks and teachers. Good planning comes
from a starting point of the community’s ambitions for their learners and,
in the end, grants learners and teachers a great range of opportunities
for teaching and learning. It also pays great respect to the users of the
space – it doesn’t assume or patronise.
20 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
quickly because there are high expectations from both students and staff
in terms of how their buildings should operate.
FP: Are there any significant differences in managing a tertiary facility
as compared to any other kind of facility?
AF: One of the main differences is that we have students on campus
24/7. Many have paid jobs to support themselves through university so
they’re a lot more flexible in terms of their studying habits. Running a
university campus out of normal business hours brings up basic issues
like toilet cleaning which needs to happen both at night and over
weekends.
Another difference in managing a tertiary facility is the fact that
universities experience quite a tension between their educational and
commercial charters. There are things that a university will do that won’t
turn a profit and other things that will. Universities are charged with a
mission driven around teaching, learning and research, but they also
have to be commercially viable. Achieving a balance between these
different goals raises challenges for everyone involved.
FP: What are the challenges of working in a tertiary environment?
AF: One of the key challenges many tertiary facility managers face is the
level of deferred maintenance and capital renewal needs in older
buildings. While universities are reasonably successful in attracting grants
to build bright new shining buildings to undertake research in, if we have
an old decrepit building or some of the engineering services around the
university are failing, we generally don’t have too many benefactors
lining up to say we’ll give you a million dollars to reline the sewer.
Other challenges include heritage, BCA compliance, equity of access,
funding and the management of stakeholder expectations from both a
staff and student point of view.
FP: How important is pedagogy to managing education facilities?
AF: Many tertiary facility managers will have a well developed
partnership between themselves and the university’s teaching and
learning departments. Part of this partnership might include regular
meetings with the department and other academics who are passionate
about teaching to talk about which teaching spaces need upgrading and
how we can best go about doing that. Discussion might range from the
mundane, such as which are the most comfortable chairs and do we put
wheels on the chairs and tables so people can reconfigure spaces, right
up to debates about whether or not we should still have lecture theatres.
It is for this reason that you will find most education facility managers
have quite a good understanding of pedagogy. They have to.
FP: How does this differ from other commercial or institutional facility
planning considerations?
PN: One of the greatest challenges for education facilities planners is the
world’s ingrained assumptions about what school is. Most people have
never considered the possibility of a school without classrooms, or where
classrooms are only used on an as-needed basis – this is often based on
their own experiences of school. Yet increasingly traditional classrooms
make little sense for allowing children and young adults to develop the
kinds of skills and attributes that are required for the emerging roles of 21st
century citizens.If anything, we would like for school planning to be more
like the planning of other commercial and residential spaces where the
actual activities of the users (or in this case, learners) determine the design
of the space as opposed to the sole activity of ‘managing students’.
FP: What are the current trends in education facility planning in the
United States?
PN: There are some great examples of innovative environments
scattered throughout the country, most often in charter and independent
schools. Mainstream innovation is hamstrung, even where communities
want it to occur, by bureaucracies and standards that do not think
broadly enough about what wellbeing and rich learning actually look like,
away from our old assumptions about schools.
 FACILITY DESIGN & PLANNING

Reece High School

Reece High School in Devonport,
Tasmania, is a world class facility
designed to meet the needs of
teaching and learning in the 21st
century.
Tasmanian architects Glenn
Smith and Associates and
internationally renowned architect
Prakash Nair worked together to
design the $10 million school,
which reflects 21st century
learning approaches.
The school integrates
education with architecture,
providing learning spaces which
complement the Tasmanian
Curriculum. All of the nine
buildings are designed to provide
a flexible and stimulating learning
environment which is welcoming
for staff and students
Part of the philosophy of the
school is that learning should be
able to take place anywhere,
anytime.
Information technology is
integrated into everyday learning
with all classrooms having access
to computers. Students have the
latest facilities in ICT including
wireless laptops which can be
easily transported around the
school and borrowed to take
home.
New technology in the school
includes a closed circuit television
network that can transmit
messages and DVDs to
classrooms from a central
location.
In 2002 the innovative design
and construction of Reece High
won one of 10 merit awards in the
School Construction News and
Design Share Awards program
based in the United States.
In 2003 Reece High School
became the first school outside
North America to win a
prestigious school planning
award. The school won the
Council of Educational Facility
Planners International 2003 James
D MacConnell Award. The award
recognises educational facility
planning excellence from the
planning stages right through to
occupancy, taking into account
the effectiveness of planning,
design and construction.

FP: With regards to your work on the Reece High School project,
what was unique about the planning process for this facility?
PN: Great leadership on the school’s part and a huge excitement about
the possibilities for the school’s future meant that the school community
was hungry for new challenges to their traditional modes of operation.
The old facility had been unloved for many years until eventually it was
burned down in an arson attack – it had been a shell for warehousing
students rather than inspiring learning. Instead of building higher walls to
keep the community out, instead of seeking greater control of students,
the school happily changed the paradigm to one that empowered its
users – primarily teachers and students. The new facility is now open into
the evenings and is treasured by the whole community.
FP: How did this approach impact on the final design?
PN: The relationship between the members of the school community,
especially teachers and students, was the key in achieving this paradigm
change and the new school building reflects this in a very active sense.
Students have a home room and home teacher, more like that in a
primary school, and the teachers work in small teams to make the best
use of their varied skills, knowledge and interests. The facility enables
them to make their spaces larger or smaller depending on the kinds of
activities occurring, and to grant students a ‘home base’. Planning and
teaching is able to occur by autonomous group of teachers. It makes it
easier for the teachers to collectively take advantage of learning
opportunities in the community without the restraints of a traditionally
time-tabled ‘cells and bells’ school.
FP: What, in your opinion, is the standout feature of this facility?
PN: The two most powerful features are not great architectural feats by
any stretch of the imagination. One is the improved ability for teachers to
work together when required, which in this case has been facilitated
mainly by use of retractable walls, but also by extensive use of
transparency to enable passive supervision across separate spaces. The
other is the almost unremarkable integration of ICT into the life of the
school community. The school’s virtual spaces are used by all members
of the school community every day – not for their own sake but for
administration, assessment & reporting, and most importantly to support
learning. Architecturally, the most exciting part is probably Building 8 –
the multipurpose, extremely flexible facility for performing arts, food
technology and textiles as well as a huge number of community events.
FP: How, or in what ways, is Reece a model for other education
facilities of this kind?
PN: While the architecture supports many of the school’s initiatives, the
best thing about Reece is those initiatives themselves. Architecture alone
will change little if anything within a school. By focusing on the
importance of each learner and providing them with the resources they
need for their own personal growth and learning, the Reece community
has effectively re-defined the school experience.
FP: What is required to ensure that the Reece facility maintains this
edge in the future?
PN: Reece will need to continually engage in a process of participatory
action research with the same open mind to change that it has already
demonstrated. Now that the first great leap into the 21st century has
been made, continual reflection and refinement of practice in small
teaching groups will ensure that culture of change becomes the school’s
‘new normal’.
FP: What do you think the stand-out lesson or key learning was to
arise from the Reece project?
NP: Great things can happen when whole communities are empowered
to think critically and truly engage with the challenges laid down by their
own hopes and visions for the future.
FP: Finally, on your website you make the comment that “good
school buildings are really about good schools”. Briefly, can you
elaborate on this observation?
NP: Reece is actually the ideal example with which to illustrate this
observation. It was the tenacity, openness and hard work of the school
community and particularly its leadership that enabled a ‘new normal’ to
emerge – one in which teachers were not limited in their practice by
boxes of time, space and isolated subject content. This is an initiative
that could have been made even in an old building – the new building
simply supports the practice and helps to establish it as normal.
Conversely, a brilliant campus with opportunities that are unused by
teachers is a waste – it isn’t helping anybody and may as well not exist.
Co-evolution of teaching practice, and administration of space and time,
is vital to make the most of any new or old facility for learning.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 21
SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Time – the ultimate

non-renewable resource
AN INTERVIEW WITH DR GREG FOLIENTE
BY FACILITY PERSPECTIVES’ MAX WINTER

Dr Greg Foliente1, Co-Chair of the World

Sustainable Building Conference (SB08) held in
Melbourne recently, took some time out of his
hectic schedule during the event to speak to
Facility Perspectives’ Max Winter about the big
picture issues for the built environment, and his
work on finding solutions to the challenges
posed by climate change.

FP: Greg, we are only half way through the conference and so far
there has been an awesome amount of scientific research, papers,
and case studies presented on the challenges identified and the
progress being made in various sectors of the built environment. The
standout presentation for me from a strategic perspective however,
was Professor Bill Rees presentation, where he argues that there is
no use in talking about increasing energy efficiency in the newly
constructed built environment if we don’t accept that our existing
energy usage already exceeds this planet’s capacity to support it. In a
nutshell, he argued that unless we reduce our existing carbon
Dr Greg Foliente
footprint, we are already deluding ourselves by thinking we can
provide answers with energy efficiency.
What are your thoughts on the contention? research and scientific community is to provide the domain knowledge
GF: In support of my own personal observation, Professor Bill Rees and models required as the basis for this kind of tool, integrate them to
quoted the French philosopher, who wrote, more than 100 years ago, “it represent realistic situations, and make them user-friendly. Of course it is
is a common human trait to deny an impending catastrophe”, even going to be one step at a time, over a period of time, before we can
when the best information we have show a high likelihood of occurrence. have a nice simulation tool-game used for different purposes, and that
Recognising this, we can resign ourselves to the fact that we are will have different inputs and enhanced capability. They should be user-
doomed anyway, or we can change our ways and make an effort. friendly enough to be used by the general public or children, so that all
Identifying the problem is the first step, and then the question becomes can realise the consequences of action, inaction, indecision or bad
“How can we address that”. This trait of denial is the reason I was decisions, and have a better chance in the future.
proposing to use visualisation or virtualisation tools to make us think and We will also need similar tools for academics and researchers, and
act. one for the policy makers, so that if they intend to make policy or
It is good to have movies like “The Day After Tomorrow” (where regulatory changes, they will have a sense of the likely impacts across the
global warming triggers the end of the Gulf Stream, and a new ice-age). economic, social, environmental and other domains.
When they show us graphically the consequences of inaction and its
impact on humanity, it could change our belief system or perspective,
and compel us to act.
I mentioned in my address that the ultimate R&D challenge is to be
able to develop the tools that can visually demonstrate the
consequences of the actions and decisions that we make now, and also
the consequences of what we don’t do now, in ten to fifteen years time.
But instead of the “SimCity” video/computer game that is out there,
which is based on simplified or assumed rules of behaviours,
relationships and impacts, the proposal is to develop a tool set based on
similar concept but based on sound science. This would be built on the
knowledge and models that have gone through the validation and
verification processes in the areas of economics, human and social
behaviour, engineering and environment, and then interconnected across
those domains. The scientists in the National Academy of Science in the
U.S have correctly identified this approach as the ultimate challenge in
sustainability science. For us, in research and development, this kind of
mega-challenge motivates our efforts.
For us the objective is to find out where we can push the frontiers of
ABOVE: Professor Bill Rees
knowledge and the capability of tools so that we can address these
seemingly intractable problems.
With that long answer, if I can summarise, the challenge for us in the CONTINUED PAGE 24

22 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Dr Greg Foliente representing CSIRO, and representatives from Henley Property Group and Delfin Lend Lease, the consortium for the Australian Zero
Emission House (AusZEH) project.

FP: If we follow Professor Bill Rees2 argument of the existing building and building houses as we speak
stock already contributing more carbon emissions than the planet can To make an impact, we need to address both new and existing
handle, then the sorts of communities that we put together now housing. There are a number of opportunities, particularly for new
should in effect not only be carbon neutral, but carbon positive. buildings, because we know it is relatively much easier to build in
GF: Yes. Because the damage of our existing carbon footprint is sustainability measures than to retrofit existing buildings,
compounded almost daily, Bill was advocating radical approaches, We have done research in five different climate regions in Australia,
especially for the so-called developing countries that are following the from North Queensland to Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne,
same pathway of development that we have pursued, not knowing any and we know that by maximising our existing knowledge in the
better their long-term adverse impacts. We know now it was a mistake. application of the housing building envelope, the choice of heating and
The developing countries can justify current activities that ignore the cooling systems, and appliances that plug into the system, the common
carbon challenge by noting that the developed countries were findings across all these regions tell us that we can reduce the energy
responsible for current GHG emissions in the atmosphere, and they requirements for given households by 60-80%. Not five years from now,
should not be denied to pursue their developmental goals. While the but changing practices right now.
developed countries are now doing incremental changes at the fringes of The opportunities that this reduction in energy use allows us means
the problem, they are simply not enough. that the remaining energy requirement needed would only be between
We are drawing on depleting resources and may be on borrowed 20-40%, and the use of renewable or zero emission energy sources
time. becomes realistic.
In the developed countries, efficiencies and economic development If we then multiply that with all the new houses to be built, we have
only bring increased consumption and unsustainable habits. In the first a chance to make significant impacts. After we’ve demonstrated
instance, these consumption habits need to be stopped and reversed. achieving zero emission in new houses, the next steps will include
Part of what Bill was proposing (and what I was saying in my own addressing existing houses and clusters of houses where we can share or
presentation as well) is that the developed world shares the responsibility optimise peak load distribution in terms of energy usage, and lowering
to help the developing world – provide aid, assistance and knowledge – the cost of common items such as inverters and even battery storage.
to take an alternative pathway to economic development that is
sustainable.
Because a majority of the world is still in various stages of economic
development, there is still a good chance that we can influence this. The
hope is that the developing nations would short-circuit the process, avoid
the mistakes of the developed world and go directly toward a more
sustainable alternative of one-planet living...
For those countries and regions like India, China and the Middle
East, where the majority of the world’s construction activities are
happening at the moment, they need an alternative pathway. The
developed nations should lead by example in greening their own
construction and asset management activities.
The building industry’s contribution toward greenhouse gas
emissions in Australia, estimated to be around 23% in terms of
operational carbon (this does not include embodied carbon in the
building materials) needs to be reduced. If we look at the housing sector
alone in Australia, the greenhouse gas emissions are projected to double
(given a business as usual scenario) between now and 2050. It is that
trend that needs to be arrested, and reversed. People are buying, selling
ABOVE: Joe Van Belleghem

24 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

FP: Joe Van Belleghem3 gave a fantastic keynote address on what
was basically a self sustained community at Dockside Green in
Victoria BC, do you see these developments as the way of the
future?
GF: Definitely. His approach is a very good model that optimises across
the domain, and incorporates a host of dimensions in sustainability. The
more we think about these multiple facets in our planning and
implementation, the better the outcome for the environment, outcomes
for community, and in his case, better outcomes economically as well.
The kind of radical improvements developed by Joe are the ones that
need to be duplicated and multiplied across projects and regions around
the world.
FP: Do you see a role for government in mandating for the sort of
sustainability improvements instigated at Dockside Green, such as
their infrastructure investment in co-generation facilities for
generating their own power?
GF: Government has a number of roles, such as the development of
policy and regulations, and in other respects they are also procurers and
consumers, in that they need to provide public housing and other types
of development to support their constituents. In other respects they
oversee the implementation of, and adherence, to planning, building
and other regulations.
Joe seemed to be surprised to know that a few of the innovative
features in Dockside Green cannot be done in an Australia because of
legal limitations. I think we need to properly review what the full range of
constraints are, and ask ourselves what we need to change to facilitate
innovation and more sustainable outcomes in our urban development
projects.
FP: The Australian Capital Territory has recently legislated for
mandatory energy reporting requirements on the sale of a house.
Can you see this being adopted by other States and Territories?
GF: I cannot say what the position will be in other Australian States and
Territories, but I thin that it is a requirement in the EU and in Germany in
particular, and it’s been very successful in distributing the costs,
requirements and the benefits of being energy efficient in a real sense,
not just the intent.
Thus when they are audited the certificate is issued and it stays with
the house.
ABOVE: Peter Newton
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
FP: Do you see any new technologies on the horizon through your
work with CSIRO that you think show promise?
GF: There are many technology experts in CSIRO more qualified than
me to comment on very specific matters. Many have contributed
chapters to a new book edited by Peter Newton4. The book is called
Transitions - Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development in
Australia.
FP: Is there anything you would like to add?
GF: Only emphasising what I stated in my presentation: That there is a
real need for vision and leadership, and when I talk about vision and
leadership, I’m not just talking about institutional vision and leadership,
because we all look to government for leadership. Government has
short-term and long-term goals, but communities and individuals,
wherever we may be or whatever we do, need to also have vision and
leadership. Somehow at some point, someone has to gather that vision
and harness that goodwill and desire for the common good and the
common goal so that we are all working toward a sustainable future. One
of the recommendations of a House of Representatives enquiry on
Sustainable Cities several years ago is the development of an ‘Urban
Sustainability Charter’ for all Australian Cities. This is still a great idea and
will be a step in the right direction.
Secondly, we are headed toward the big crunch. For example in
CSIRO we have set up a Flagship called Climate Adaptation, because
the consequences of our mistakes made decades years ago are already
in process, and so while mitigation will have its role, we also need
adaptation strategies.
We need adaptation strategies, but we also need to not lose any
more time, because as I have said, time is the ultimate non-renewable
resource. What we do not do now, we lose forever.
Rapid transitions are required, both in demand which includes social
behaviour and expectations, and consumption patterns, and also in
supply, which means we need technology to allow us not be just
efficient, but effective, at reducing or carbon footprint to sustainable
levels.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Dr Greg Foliente is the Conference Co-Chair of the World Sustainable Building
Conference, SB08, recently held in Melbourne 21 – 25 September. Greg is also a Senior
Science Leader at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and is considered one of the world’s
leading experts in the performance approach in Architecture, Engineering and
Construction (AEC).
2. Professor William (Bill) Rees is a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School
of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). His teaching and research focus on the
public policy and planning implications of global environmental trends and the necessary
ecological conditions for sustainable socioeconomic development. His current book
project asks: “Is Humanity Inherently Unsustainable?”
3. Joe Van Beleghem is the President of BuildGreen Developments Inc, and a Partner of
the Windmill Development Group Ltd, a triple bottom line development company that
focuses solely on green building developments. Joe is a pioneer of the green building
movement, and is on the board of directors for the U.S Green Building Council, the
Canadian Brownfield Network Board, and an Advisory Board Member to the BC
Sustainable Energy Association. He is also the Vice Chair and one of the founders of the
Canada Green Building Council. Joe’s keynote presentation concerned his work as co-
developer of Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia – a 15 acre waterfront urban
redevelopment project that envisages having 26 LEED Platinum buildings, and self
sustainable in every sense of the word, including generating its own power. For more
information go to:
http://docksidegreen.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
4. Peter Newton is currently Professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria,
Australia, and holds a research appointment in the Cities, Housing and Environment
Program in the institute for Social Research at the University. He was previously Chief
Research Scientist at CSIR’s Urban Systems Program, and Program Director,
Sustainability, in the CRC for Construction Innovation. Peter, along with Keith Hampson
(CEO, CRC for Construction Innovation) and CSIRO’s Robin Drogemuller have also
edited a book entitled “Technology, Design and Process Innovation in the Built
Environment” and we hope to review this book in a future issue of Facility Perspectives.
Thought piece -
When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have
been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to
breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
~ Cree Prophecy ~
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 25
ISS FACILITY SERVICES:
A GLOBAL COMPANY WITH A LOCAL ETHOS
ISS Facility Services is one of the world’s largest facility services
companies. It has a global workforce of over 460,000 personnel in
50 countries and annual revenue in excess of AU$15 billion.
The rapid growth of the company over the past 20 years largely
stems from its ability to draw upon its global experience to deliver
high quality services in the many countries where it operates.
More recently, its success has been driven by its ability to provide
integrated facility services that provides its clients with service
solutions that are even more efficient through process and labour
optimisation.
ISS Facility Services entered the Australian market in 2002 through
the acquisition of Flick Pest Control, an Australian-renowned brand
name. Since then, ISS has purchased a broad range of companies
and has extended its capacity to provide a full scope of Facility
Services. In Australia, ISS is a multi-service organisation employing
over 22,000 people in the provision of facility management,
maintenance, cleaning, security, non-clinical support services for the
health industry, grounds maintenance and washroom services. It has
a customer base of more than 50,000 clients and annual revenue
of more than AU$725 million.
3%26)#%3¬/&&%2%$
s )NTEGRATED¬&ACILITY¬3ERVICES
ISS is one of a handful of companies globally that offers a wide
range of service solutions that can be combined to meet all
of a customer’s service and support functions into one single
solution.
s ¬
#LEANING¬3ERVICES
ISS is the largest provider of cleaning services globally and in
Australia. For more than 70 years, ISS has continually raised the
standard for cleaning services throughout the world.
s 3ECURITY¬3ERVICES
ISS Security is the second largest provider of security services
in Australia. Core Services for the Security division include
general security guarding, emergency response, consulting
services, operational risk management, development and
implementation of safety plans and a focus on service supply to
the Australian Aviation and Maritime Security Sector.
s &ACILITIES¬-ANAGEMENT¬3ERVICES
ISS Facilities Management Services is a division which provides
a management structure and operational solutions with a
management team to cater for any facility service requirement
a client might have.
s 'ROUNDS¬-AINTENANCE¬3ERVICES
ISS Grounds and Maintenance Services is a growing division
within the company and currently has 160 staff operating in
NSW and Victoria.
s 0EST¬#ONTROL¬3ERVICES
As part of Route Based Services, ISS Pest Control enjoys
national coverage and provides preventative and reactionary
services for a large commercial and domestic base.
s 7ASHROOM¬3ERVICES
ISS Washroom Services is one of only two national providers for
this service in Australia. With a business-to-business customer
base of 28,000, ISS is continually looking for a more advanced
product range and now proudly introduces ISS Pure Water.
 Keepit
Keep
Focused
Simple

Innovative small site management

A majority of the buildings that facilities managers oversee are
smaller sites – anything from regional shopping centres, to
smaller office buildings, to single sites such as bank branches.
These sites often come with greater problems in managing and
supervising contractors and ensuring that the service and
maintenance is delivered as planned. Additionally, contracts for
these smaller sites often include 100’s of locations with a wide
geographic spread. How do you manage these sites and still Valorem’s collaboration solutions
make a margin? unite people and information in the
The Praxeo Remote Token Service is a new extension to the
award winning Praxeo solution for larger sites from Valorem FM space. Our Interactive systems
Systems. The Praxeo Remote Token Service (RTS for short), improve up-front coordination, linking
allows contractors to use their mobile phones to SMS in their
arrival and departure time. The unique and patent pending owners, contractors and tenants when
approach of Praxeo RTS ensures that contractors are physically
and where action takes place.
present at the site when they send the SMS. Praxeo RTS
includes a web-based interface – allowing you to see
immediately remote activity on your sites, and run a number of Valorem empowers FM players with
reports. You can also set notification alarms to identify if
contractors have not arrived – with the alert as either an email or
real-time information from sites.
SMS. You can also use Praxeo RTS to meet your OHS duty of Developing efficient systems as
care for these isolated contractors ensuring that they have all
logged out (and of course, receiving an SMS if they have not!). activity happens creates streamlined,
Praxeo RTS is the quickest and easiest site management automated processes further down the
solution to deploy. Just fix the token in place at a site, and
contractors can be added either via SMS or via the web-based
communications chain.
Praxeo Manager. You can really be up and running in minutes.
You can also use Praxeo RTS to enforce site induction rules, For more information, please call us
and manage contractor compliance.
“Our clients are embracing Praxeo RTS as a cost-effective way
on 1300 665 818 or check out our
to guarantee service delivery and maintain margins on these website www.valoremsystems.com
hard to supervise sites,” stated Jon Tinberg, Managing Director
of Valorem. “Interest is equally strong from contractor
companies requiring time-and-attendance and welfare checks
for their staff.”
Praxeo RTS is available from Valorem Systems, 1300 665 818.
www.valoremsystems.com

28 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Emissions Trading in Australia:

the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
FMA Australia has received many enquiries regarding the myriad of papers being released by the
Government on Climate Change. This article untangles the web and explains the Government’s
current Climate Change strategies.

W
ith the introduction of the National
Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System
(NGERS) Act on 1 July 2008, corporations
that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases, or
consume or produce large quantities of energy will be
required to report their consumption or emissions to
the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer. For the
2008/2009 financial year the requirements are only to
register and report, but there will be no penalties
linked to emissions levels. From 2009/10, the
government is hoping to have an emissions trading
scheme in place which will assign financial value to
the reported emissions.
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS)
is Australia’s version of an emissions trading scheme.
The proposal for the CPRS was set out by the Rudd
Government in the Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme Green Paper (the Green Paper), released on
16 July 2008.
NGERS and the CPRS work together. NGERS
provides the mechanism for liable parties to register
and report their emissions, and the CPRS provides the
method for commoditising those emissions and
allowing trade in emissions permits. To determine whether registration may be required for a facility, the
first step is to define what constitutes a facility under the Act. The
THE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE AND ENERGY REPORTING NGERS Guidelines outline four criteria that a facility must satisfy to be
SYSTEM deemed a facility under the Act:
In developing this policy, the Government’s stated aim was to 3 Activities must produce greenhouse gas emissions or produce or
capture emissions data from approximately 700 of Australia’s largest consume energy
corporate emitters in the first year, growing to 1000 by 2012. 3 Activities are part of a production process
The Government proposes that emissions from stationary energy, 3 Activities occur at a ‘single site’
transport, industrial processes, waste, and fugitive emissions from oil and 3 Activities are attributable to a single industry sector
gas production could be covered from scheme commencement. Initially If a facility meets these four criteria, and exceeds the thresholds, then
agriculture will be excluded from the scheme, with a view to include it by the facility must register and report under the Act.
2012. Forestry is proposed to be included on an opt-in basis to begin Who is responsible for reporting for a facility?
with. From 1 July 2008, all controlling corporations must apply for In the case of a facility that is used or operated by multiple
registration with the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer if their corporations, it may not be clear which corporation is responsible for
corporate group emits greenhouse gases or produces/consumes energy reporting for the facility. In such cases, the Guidelines state that the
at or above the specified thresholds for a financial (reporting) year. If a corporation which is deemed to have ‘operational control’ of the facility
corporation does not meet the required thresholds, but wishes to report is responsible for reporting.
anyway, it may do so.
There are two types of thresholds which apply under NGERS: OPERATIONAL CONTROL
corporate group thresholds and facility thresholds. From 2008-09 A corporation is deemed to have operational control of a facility if it
corporate groups that emit more than 125kt of greenhouse gases, or either:
produce or consume more than 500TJ of energy; or facilities that emit 1. has the authority to introduce and implement any or all of the
more than 25kt of greenhouse gases, or produce or consume more than following for the facility:
100TJ of energy must register to report under NGERS. i) operating policies;
In determining if your corporation is likely to be required to register ii) health and safety policies;
and report, there are two issues which must be considered: iii) environmental policies;
3 Does your corporation (or group) meet the thresholds? and meets the requirements of the regulations; OR
3 Does a facility under the operational control of your corporation 2. the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer declares the
meet the thresholds? corporation or member to have operational control of the facility.
If either a facility under your operational control, or your corporate
group, meet the thresholds, then registration and reporting will be EMISSIONS TRADING IN AUSTRALIA
required.
The Carbon Pollution reduction Scheme model
WHAT IS A FACILITY UNDER THE ACT? The model proposed in the CPRS Green Paper is a cap and trade
The definition of facility under the Act is included largely to capture system, similar to the system that has been operating in the European
those sites that may be significant emitters or producers or consumers of Union (EU) since 2005. Cap and trade systems operate by setting a limit
energy, but which may be operated by multiple entities, or entities which (or cap) on the level of emissions allowed to be produced (nation-wide),
might not reach the corporate thresholds. and then offering permits that allow emissions to be produced by a firm.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 29
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
In order for a firm to legally produce emissions, they must hold enough
permits to cover their level of emissions. Permits must be surrendered at
the end of a reporting period to account for the level of emissions
reported by that firm.
If a firm produces LESS emissions than it has permits to cover, then it
may sell those permits to other firms. Likewise, if a firm produces MORE
emissions than it has permits to cover, then it must purchase permits
from other firms. The cap sets a finite limit on the number of permits
released by the Government in a given year.
There has been a great deal of discussion around the pricing
structure for pollution permits under the CPRS. The price of the permit
will have significant impacts from corporate level to the wider economy.
In particular, for those firms who are high polluting, but with minimal
short term flexibility to adjust their production methods, (referred to in
the Green Paper as Strongly Affected Industries [or SAI’s] such as the
coal fired power industry) the costs associated with purchasing permits
could be high. These organisations will need to absorb these costs to
some degree, and will pass on some of the costs to consumers. Hence,
the price of permits will have a significant effect on a range of goods
across the economy, particularly the cost of electricity, gas and fuel.
The Green Paper proposed to provide permits free to some
categories of industry such as SAIs, in the initial phases of the CPRS to
help mitigate the impact and give firms time to adjust and alter
production processes.
CAP LEVELS AND PERMIT PRICES
The level at which the cap is set under the CPRS will also be a crucial
element of the system, as it will set a limit on the production of emissions
for a given year. The cap will act as a target level to which the
government would like to limit emissions to (in aggregate). Proposed
levels of the cap under the CPRS have not yet been announced by the
Government, but levels are likely to reflect the Government’s
commitments under the Kyoto protocol for the first few years of the
scheme. In theory, the lower the level of the Cap, the higher the price of
emissions permits will be, as the cap sets a finite limit on the supply of
permits.
The Government is due to announce the indicative national
emissions trajectory for the period 2010–11 to 2012–13 in the CPRS
White Paper due out at the end of 2008. In 2010 the Government has
suggested it will announce a further two years of the trajectory up to and
including 2014–15, or to the end of any international commitment
period, whichever is longer.
The Final Garnaut Report, released 30 September 2008, suggested
that Australia’s long term interests would be served best by global
agreement that aimed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at
450ppm or less, but that agreement was more likely to be gained with a
550ppm target. Under the modelling done by the Garnaut review a
fixed price permit system is introduced in 2010 at $20 per tonne of CO2-
e rising at 4 per cent per annum until 2013. It is expected that the
permit price in Australia will be somewhere in the $20-40 range.
It is still relatively unclear what impact these suggested limits and
prices would have on the Australian economy. Treasury modelling of the
economy wide effects is due out in October 2008, but was not yet
available at the time of writing.
CPRS, NGERS AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
A 2008 report commissioned by the Australian Sustainable Built
Environment Council’s Climate Change Taskforce (ASBEC CCTG), of
which FMA Australia is a member, estimated that the built environment
had great capacity to reduce the economy wide costs of transition to a
low carbon economy.
Numerous international research reports such as those by McKinsey
and Global, the IPCC, Stern Review and the Garnaut review have stated
that the built environment offers the lowest cost greenhouse gas
abatement opportunities worldwide. This is due to the high level of
energy consumed by the built environment, the relatively inefficient use
of that energy, and the well developed technologies and processes
available to improve energy efficiency.
The ASBEC CCTG report found that the introduction of the CPRS
alone would be unlikely to unlock the full abatement potential of the
built environment. The report found that increased energy costs as a
result of the CPRS would encourage improved energy efficiency in the
built environment, resulting in greenhouse gas savings of approximately
8MTt per annum. This represents only about 2-3% of the built
30 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
environment’s total emissions under a Business As Usual (BAU) approach.
However, the ASBEC CCTG report found that with the introduction
of policy measures specifically targeted at improving energy efficiency in
the built environment, far greater savings will be possible. Modelling
suggests that savings in the order of 60Mt per annum on average are
possible in the longer term (by 2030). This represents abatement of 27-
31% against a BAU approach.
FMA Australia submitted the ASBEC CCTG report as part of its
submission to the Department of Climate Change in response to the
Green Paper. The FMA Australia submission supported the findings of
the report and recommended that the government introduce the policy
measures outlined in the report as soon as possible. The policy
measures outlined in the report are:
3 a national electricity retailer efficiency requirement or ‘white
certificates’ scheme
3 Accelerated ‘green depreciation’ for energy efficiency in
buildings
3 Public funding for building retrofits – aimed at both the retail
and wholesale sectors
3 Support for higher minimum standards in the Minimum Energy
Performance Standards and the building code.
EMISSIONS TRADING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has been
operating since January 2005, following the adoption of a deal in the
European Parliament in 2003.The EU ETS presently covers over 40% of
all greenhouse gas emissions from the 27 Member States.
The initial trading period ran until the end of 2007, with the current
system beginning January 2008. Following the end of the initial trading
period at the end of 2007, the European Commission proposed
amendments to the EU ETS. These amendments will be discussed by the
EU governments and the European Parliament during 2008 and 2009.
The amended EU ETS will start operating as of January 2013.
The EU ETS provides a framework for the member states to
participate in emissions trading, but does not set a definitive number of
permits that each state can allocate. Each member must set their own
allocations in accordance with 12 criteria agreed on by all member
states, including a criteria outlining that national allocations must be in
line with each member state’s Kyoto Protocol commitments.
A review of the EU system in Review of Environmental Economics
and Policy journal, May 2007, by seven leading European and American
environmental economists concluded that the EU ETS was “by far the
most significant accomplishment in climate policy to date”. The review
analysed emissions data for the first year of implementation (2005) and
discovered that only six of the 25 EU countries had exceeded their
allowances, resulting in the EU exceeding its intended maximum
allowance by 4% or 80 million tonnes of CO2. This was considered a
good result in the initial phase of the system.
Between July 2005 and April 2006, the allowance price consistently
traded over the €21-€30 range, a price that surpassed the expectations
of market analysts and was considered strong evidence that emissions
abatement is taking place.
An analysis of historical emissions data by Professors Convery and
Redmond (University College, Dublin), suggests that, after allowing for
the growth in emissions that accompanies growth in GDP, abatement of
about 7% may have been achieved. The Commission intends to
encourage further abatement by making the 2008-12 allowance totals
lower than the 2005-07 totals, and it has decided to reduce the
allowance totals proposed by 10 Member States to a level that is more
than 12% lower than their trial-period totals.
The success of the EU ETS indicates that emissions trading may
indeed be useful in arresting the rise in emissions in Australia and helping
to address climate change.
The introduction of an emissions trading scheme in conjunction with
policies to more directly assist with green retro-fitting of existing building
stock will be crucial in unlocking the substantial abatement potential of
the built environment. With such significant abatement potential
available at no cost to the Australian economy, the built environment
could play a key role in limiting the cost of adjustment to a carbon
constrained economy. FMA Australia supports the Government’s CPRS
proposal while drawing attention to the importance of unlocking the
potential of the built environment through more directly targeted
initiatives.
Urban Maintenance Systems is a
specialist provider of Facilities and
Infrastructure Maintenance Services
to Private and Government sectors
throughout Australia.
UMS Facilities Services specialises
in the following:
• Essential service compliance management
• Programmed & reactive building maintenance
• Building condition auditing & life cycle costing
• Trade services – carpentry, plumbing, electrical,
painting, gutter cleaning, mechanical plant
maintenance
• Capital improvement works planning & delivery
• 24 /7 emergency response contact centre
• Modern/functional information management
system
Urban Maintenance Systems
352 Ferntree Gully Road Notting Hill VIC 3168
Phone: (03) 9265 5811 Fax: (03) 9265 5899
Email: info@ums.com.au Web: www.ums.com.au
PROVIDING SERVICES NATIONALLY
Enduring Partnerships Driven by Service Excellence

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 31
CLIENT FEATURE
 GDP Property Services is a unique company offering real solutions for works over the side of any
building. We install, repair, test and certify building access equipment and in most cases can provide the
technical expertise and staff to perform the specific works that are required.
Some of our more specialist services include; building maintenance units, high-rise window cleaning, sign
maintenance, window resealing, window replacements, installation of air intake grills, general cleaning
and façade inspections. We have developed our business as the one stop shop for façade access and
works.
GDP has years of experience in managing projects that co-ordinate building access and carrying out
works at heights. Our reputation has been built on solving problems and carrying out works efficiently.
Our in house knowledge and expertise is highly regarded in the industry as proven through contracts held
for maintenance services to the three moving roofs in Melbourne at the Telstra Dome, Rod Laver and
Hisense Arena’s plus access equipment on many of Melbourne’s landmark buildings in the CBD such as
ANZ Bank, AON Building and Commonwealth Bank.
We place great emphasis on the thorough training and multi-skilling of our staff. In an industry that has
many dangers for those not properly skilled and disciplined, our safety record speaks volumes.

Summary of our services:

Building Maintenance Units (BMU’s),
Cranes and Hoists
Maintenance works
Repairs and upgrades
Hazard and risk assessments
High-rise Window Cleaning
High-rise
Industrial cleans
Industrial rope access
Height Safety, Anchor Points, Static Lines,
Walkways and Ladders
Installation
Testing & Certification
Sign repairs & maintenance

So for all your building access equipment needs; be it a Building Maintenance Unit, purpose Anchor
Points or providing professional high-rise Window Cleaning services look no further than GDP Property
Services.
CONTACT
PHONE: 03 9376 7000
WEB: www.gdppropertyservices.com.au
EMAIL: enquiries@gdppropertyservices.com.au
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Facility Management in a Carbon

In this issue of Facility Perspectives, Roger Kluske, Senior Sustainability

Consultant at Umow Lai P/L examines some of the key issues facing the
property sector in a carbon constrained economy, including the benefits
of green building, an overview of rating tools and finally an outline of a
structured approach to achieving superior environmental outcomes for
managed properties as they move toward zero carbon status.

B
uildings contribute 23 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) Still sceptical about climate change? Grab yourself a
emissions and consume up to 40 per cent of energy use in beer and read these headlines.
Australia. Commercial buildings, in particular, account for around
11 per cent of Australia’s GHG emissions and this figure is growing at an
alarming 1.9 per cent per year. Buildings use a large percentage of our
precious water and contribute to the waste stream from the construction,
operational and demolition stages of their life cycle.
Buildings are seen as a “quick win” in the war against GHG
emissions and the professionals that manage Australia’s portfolio of
With the weather heating up, it’s possible that our beer
commercial buildings are at the front line of carbon emission mitigation. might dry up too according to research which states
At their command is an almost a bewildering array of weaponry to assist that climate change is likely to cause a decline in
them in achieving energy cuts as government, portfolio and institutional the production of malting barley, one of the
owners ask not only how can facility managers improve an organisations key ingredients in beer production.
environmental footprint but how they can assist them in becoming zero
Climate of fear on beer
carbon or carbon neutral operations.
Herald Sun, 8 Apr 2008

CURRENT ISSUES FOR THE PROPERTY SECTOR Carbon Pricing To Cost SME’s Dearly
There are a number of issues that will affect the property sector over
The Australian Financial Review, 7 October 2008
the next few years:
3 Climate change is a critical shaping force for the property sector. Climate still the burning issue: Garnaut
A Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will affect the cost of The Australian Financial Review, 1 October 2008
materials, energy, labour, water and the cost to move waste to
landfill. Rising fuel prices will continue to increase transport costs Huge sheet breaks off Canada ice shelf
ensuring that location (the one stable in property) will remain as The Age, 30 June 2008
critical as ever.
3 Widespread shortages in human resources capacity will see Deep climate cuts urged
more time pressures across the property industry. Herald Sun, 30 May 2008
3 Business strategies are inevitability intertwined with
environmental performance. To win new business, or even to Perma-frost melting in Alaska will cause relocation
maintain existing customers, most organisations will need to of towns at a cost of $US 140,000 per person.
have, at the very least, an environmental management system OECD report
and a detailed strategy in place to reduce their carbon footprint.
For a majority of companies, the operation of buildings will form Our hot, dry future
a large part of their environmental performance. The Age, 6 October 2008
3 Demand for Green Buildings is increasing as tenants are
demand better performance from their facilities. In the 2006 Drink up, while you can.
Office Tenant Survey from Colliers International, it was revealed
that tenants were demanding high indoor environmental and
quality workplace design that facilitates high levels of teamwork,
communication and overall high levels of amenity.
3 Strong links have been established between green buildings and
productivity. A number of well managed green buildings around
Australia are showing increases in productivity of between 9 and
12 per cent. A rule of thumb suggests that the ratio of the
relative cost of employees, building costs and the cost of energy
varies 100:10:1. This means the cost of even a small gain in
productivity in an office can significantly outweigh the rental cost among the top five environmental risks to public health.
and the cost of energy (even after increases from carbon trading 3 A recent report from Jones Lang La Salle Building Refurbishment
is factored in), entitled Repositioning Your Asset for Success found that across
3 On average Australians spend 90 to 95 per cent of their time Australia, 85 per cent of buildings are older than 10 years.1 The
indoors. Poor indoor environment quality (IEQ), noise, air quality, majority of these older buildings operate at 1 Star or less using
high levels of glare and poor temperature control are all the rating scheme NABERS (energy) and struggle to achieve a
associated with badly performing buildings and poor staff base building three star rating when only adopting energy
productivity. The United State’s EPA ranks indoor air pollution efficiency improvements.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 35
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

3 Building owners, institutions and tenants are demanding their

portfolios achieve a “zero carbon” or even a “carbon negative”
status.
Faced with these issues building owners, tenants, investors and
shareholders are demanding improved environmental performance from
their property portfolios and will be turning to facilities managers,
services organisations and consulting engineers to drive improvements.

BENEFITS OF GREEN BUILDING

A green building is more likely to produce benefits to owners and
tenants alike. Reducing energy and water consumption will reduce the
environmental footprint of buildings by reducing the associated
greenhouse gas emissions. Under a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
a well performing/well maintained green building will reduce both the
short and long term operating costs. A green building tends to reduce
the reliance on external energy supplies. For example, a well designed
natural ventilation system will maintain comfort conditions during “brown
outs”.
Green buildings are more attractive to tenants and investors as they
have the potential to deliver improved return on investment, potentially
higher rental income and increase an organisation’s reputation and
corporate reporting results.
The alternative to owning a green building is owning a building with
diminishing returns, short term tenancies and limited future potential.
The simple advice is for building owners to ensure that the building
is performing well – with a high NABERS and/or Green Star rating.

THE RATING TOOLS

Rating tools are a popular method of setting minimum standards –
they also can be used to provide leadership and assistance to the
industry. They can use either a design based approach, which seeks to

Image: Bigstock
predict the performance of a building based on an analysis of the design
features or an outcome-based approach, which measures the actual
consumption of resources and environmental impacts of the building in
operation.
Rating tools allow building owners and managers to benchmark
performance between similar facilities with the knowledge that the ratings are equitable and fair. The two main rating tools used in Australia
are Green Star and NABERS.

Green Star
The Green Star Environmental Rating System is designed to
recognise and reward environmental leadership in buildings. The Green
Star Environmental Rating System for buildings is applied to
management, indoor air quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land
use, site selection and ecology, and emissions. It also provides credit for
innovation. Green Star has rating tools for various phases of a building’s
life cycle.
The two relevant tools within the suit of tools from the Green
Building Council of Australia (GBCA) are Green Star as Built and Green
Star Office Existing Building PILOT. The latter is designed to rate the
environmental attributes of existing office buildings that are at least two
years old and is currently undergoing an extended stakeholder feedback
process.
Green Star is developed and managed by GBCA – a national, not-
for-profit organisation that is committed to developing a sustainable
property industry for Australia by encouraging the adoption of green
building practices.

NABERS
NABERS (the National Australian Built Environment Rating System) is
an initiative to help building owners and tenants across Australia
benchmark building greenhouse performance. NABERS is a
performance-based rating system for existing buildings. NABERS rates a
building on the basis of its measured operational impacts on the
environment. NABERS (energy) replaces the Australian Building
Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) Scheme.
NABERS is a national initiative of all State and Federal Governments,
developed and managed by the Department of the Environment and
Climate Change in NSW.

UPGRADING FOR ESD SUCCESS

Image: Bigstock

Upgrading to achieve ecologically sustainable design (ESD) requires

a program of well planned actions. The program should be aimed at
reducing the portfolio greenhouse gas emissions, costs, energy

36 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

consumption and demand while offering improvements in comfort for

users. There are two central strategies:
Conservation – avoidance of wasteful practices and reduction in
demand for energy and water related services which means, simply put, innovation
that if you don’t need it, then turn it off. Often one of the most visible
signs that a building or tenant is performing poorly in terms of
conservation is when lights are on at night even though the building’s
occupiers have gone home.
Efficiency – reduction in the consumption of energy and water for
current operations. That is, if you need it, then do it more efficiently.
A zero carbon building can be achieved by offsetting the remainder
of energy consumption by installing renewable energy technology into
the building. Purchasing carbon credits or planting trees are another
method but ensure the credentials of your supplier are reputable.
When planning for ESD, a continual improvement process should be
considered:
3 Identify a corporate approach. Appoint a responsible senior
officer to guide the process and ensure that a written
environmental management policy is available to all the
building’s stakeholders including tenants and owners.
3 Conduct energy/water audits or building improvement plans.
Ensure that you obtain an “existing condition” NABERS and Urquhart Park Primary School Ballarat
Green Star rating.
3 Set up an energy/water management system. This may
involve installation of smart meters and a metering/monitoring
system. Remember the old maxim: If you can’t measure it, you
can’t manage it.
3 Implement the “quick wins”. Most buildings will have low
hanging fruit that will show the finance group you are on the
money and allow you to fund further work. For example, low
hanging fruit could include air-conditioning and lighting systems
operating late at night and on weekends, repairing leaking taps,
poor tenant awareness and inefficient office equipment.
3 Implement a series of planned actions to either tune up or
refurbish the buildings such as upgrades to mechanical plant
(improvements to chillers, boilers, pumps & motors, heat
rejection equipment and fans), improvements to lighting
systems, upgrading control systems and the like.
3 To achieve a “zero carbon” outcome offset the remainder of Moe (South Street) Primary School Moe
the building’s energy consumption by installing renewable
energy technology into the buildings. These might include
natural gas powered tri-generation, wind arrays, photovoltaic
(PV) systems or other technologies. At the 2008 CEFPI Australasia Educational Facilities Awards,
3 Ensure that a program of staff awareness and training is Gray Puksand received an award for each project submitted.
commenced. This can be as simple as lunch time seminars and
Commendations were given to both Moe (South Street) Primary
an environmental briefing during induction or as detailed as a
fully accredited environmental management system. School and Urquhart Park Primary School in the New School /
3 Carry out annual reviews and report. Detailed sustainability Major Facility Construction category.
reporting that meets the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will
help achieve long term success. Both projects address contemporary education pedagogy
We know that 98 per cent of the built environment is already built. in their design. Flexible learning environments have been
Sustainability in existing building stock is generally not “sexy” and the created to facilitate individual and group learning. Both projects
implementation of measures is quite slow. However, implementing a emphasise the connection of the buildings to their external
process of continuous improvement in environmental sustainability into environment and incorporate a series of sustainable energy
both the day-to-day operations and long term planning of property
efficient design principles.
portfolios will help the industry meet the challenges ahead. Our industry
is at the front line and we all need to take up the challenge.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND UMOW LAI

Roger Kluske was recently appointed as a Senior Sustainability architecture
Consultant for Umow Lai. Umow Lai is a leading Engineering Services interiors
and ESD consultancy and is committed to the high standards that have workspace
earned the firm its enviable reputation. retail
His previous position was Manager, Built Environment, Sustainability
graphics
Victoria and Manager, Sustainability, Department of Treasury & Finance.
Roger has worked in the field of engineering and building project
sydney scott moylan (02) 9247 9422
management for most of his career, always striving for good energy and
melbourne robert puksand (03) 9221 0999
environmental outcomes.
brisbane - gray puksand mbs kevin miles (07) 3839 5600
He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Graduate
or visit our web site www.graypuksand.com.au
Diploma in Building Services Engineering from Victoria University. His
base degree is in Mechanical Engineering from RMIT. associated offices adelaide darwin hobart perth hong kong
1 Jones Lang La Salle Report, Building Refurbishment – Repositioning your asset for
success, 2008.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 37
SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Advancing sustainability in
While much of recent attention regarding sustainability has focused on the role of
buildings in the built environment, the future development of Australia’s
infrastructure will also play a vital role in ensuring the ongoing sustainability of our
road, transport, energy, water and communication networks. To address this issue,
the Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) has been established as a catalyst
for the delivery and operation of more sustainable infrastructure in Australia. Robert
Turk, AGIC Board Director and Arup Sustainability Leader in Victoria outlines the
rationale for the development of the AGICs specialised infrastructure rating tool
due for release in April 2009.

I
Figure 1 Ratios of total and public infrastructure investment to GDP, 1901 - 2005 1
nfrastructure has a significant impact on the natural, social and
economic capital of local communities and Australian society, both
during its construction and for generations during operation.
As a consequence of the continued strength of the economy there is
currently an unprecedented level of spending across Australia on
infrastructure1. While recent economic events may dampen the
availability of funds for private investment there is still a significant level
of demand for new infrastructure across Australia associated with
burgeoning urban populations2 and demand from the resource sector.
This period of infrastructure investment has coincided with an emerging
public appreciation of sustainability issues and in particular climate
change.
There is no national approach or standard to assist the infrastructure
industry recognise, incorporate or guide sustainability into the whole
lifecycle of infrastructure across the planning, procurement, design,
construction, operation, maintenance and decommission stages.
The increasing popularity and voluntary adoption of reward and 1 Commonwealth Department of Treasury (2007) Economic Roundup – Summer 2007. Accessed
rating schemes that advance sustainable development is apparent in from http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/1221/PDF/combined.pdf
Australia and many other parts of the world3. This is evident in Australia On 7 October 2008.
through the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star rating
Table 1 Infrastructure types included within the scheme scheme and in other parts of the world through schemes such as the
United Kingdom’s Building Research Establishment Environmental
Included Examples and inclusions Assessment Method (BREEAM) and the United State’s Leadership in
Engineering and Environmental Design (LEED). These rating schemes
only address a component of the built environment and do not consider
Roads Freeways, motorways, local roads.
the sustainability of the (non-building) infrastructure that underpins the
communities in which we live.
Cycle and pedestrian ways Paths, networks, extensions from existing roads.
AUSTRALIAN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE COUNCIL
Heavy rail, light rail, passenger, freight, stations, The Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) was formed in
Rail infrastructure
maintenance yards.
June 2007 in recognition of the need for a national standardised
approach to assessing the sustainability of infrastructure within Australia.
Bridges and tunnels Viaducts.
On this basis, AGIC defined the following vision for it as an
organisation, to:
Loading and unloading facilities, container, bulk,
Ports, wharfs or boating 3 be the catalyst for the delivery and operation of more
commercial, recreational.
sustainable infrastructure in Australia; and
Airport facilities Military, civil. 3 drive market transformation through education, training,
advocacy and by recognising leading sustainable practice via a
Distribution grids (pipes, poles Gas, electricity, water, fuels, wastes, material sustainability rating scheme.
and wires) conveyors, landline telecoms.
Table 2 Infrastructure types excluded from the scheme
Telecommunication and other
Towers.
communication facilities Excluded Examples and reasons
Waste or resource
Transfer stations, landfills, remediation sites.
management Buildings Covered by Green Star/NABERS rating tools.
Dams, water and wastewater/sewage treatment
plants, groundwater extraction, flood mitigation Covered by UDIA enviro-Development tool. e.g.
Water infrastructure Suburban developments
works. soil conservation works, stormwater housing developments.
management, groundwater extraction.
Too difficult to benchmark; would need to develop
Canals, docks, bank management, Industrial processes benchmarks for large number of industrial
Waterway or foreshore
erosion/sedimentation control, in-stream processes.
management
management, coastal and beach nourishment.
Civil components are dynamic over time (e.g. pits,
Headworks (preparatory works Mines (at this stage) ramps). Also wish to avoid production processes
Power generation facilities, housing estates.
for other types) (e.g. washplant efficiency).

38 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

Table 3 Existing Schemes Reviewed
Australian
Infrastructure, Civil Engineering and Major Developments
(a) Sustainable Road Manual (VicRoads)
(b) Arup’s SPeAR®
(c) Parson Brinckerhoff Infrastructure Sustainability Manual
(d) CCF Earth Awards
(e) DESAT (Defence)
Buildings
(l) Green Star
(m) NABERS and ABGR
The Council itself is an independent, national, not-for-profit
organisation managed by a Board of Directors and is supported by both
industry and governments engaged in infrastructure development across
Australia.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGIC RATING SCHEME
AGIC’s primary method of achieving its vision of industry catalyst
and lead body will be through the formation and operation of a
sustainability rating scheme and supporting rating tool, both of which are
currently in development.
The rating scheme will measure the extent of sustainability elements
(across environmental, social and economic dimensions) against
sustainability benchmarks in infrastructure design, construction and
operation. The rating scheme will include the governance mechanisms of
verification and certification for the application of a rating tool.
Once released the rating tool will comprise a technical manual and
scoring spreadsheet. The relationship between AGIC, the rating scheme
and rating tool is presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2 AGIC rating scheme and tool relationships and components
The range of infrastructure types that will be covered by the scheme
are listed in Table 1. Conscious effort has been made to avoid
duplication of existing national schemes and as such a range of
developments are excluded from the scheme, Table 2.4
Development of the rating scheme commenced in June 2007 at an
Industry Stakeholder Workshop in Brisbane. Discussion between
workshop participants and subsequently with industry, led to the
determination of 15 key success criteria ranging from ‘support from those
who would use it (client, financiers, contractors, designers and operators)
to ‘flexibility for a range of infrastructure project types’.
These criteria then formed the basis for assessing the existing
schemes, tools and awards within Australia and internationally (Table 3) to
determine whether any could be adopted (wholly or in part) or
hybridised to suit AGICs objectives.
From the assessment process, it was determined that none of the
existing schemes or tools fulfilled all of AGICs criteria though there were
elements from some schemes that were considered desirable to be
reflected in the rating scheme.
Following this process a second Industry Stakeholder Workshop was
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
International
(f) O’Hare Airport Sustainability Manual (US)
(g) CEEQUAL (UK)
(h) LEED Infrastructure (US)
(i) FIDIC’s Project Sustainability Method (PSM)
(j) NEAT (UK)
(k) DREAM (US Defence)
(n) BREEAM (UK)
(p) LEED (US)
held in Sydney in April 2008. Organisations were invited to attend from
a range of backgrounds both within the infrastructure industry and from
the field of sustainability. The focus of the workshop was to devise and
recommend topic categories for inclusion in the rating scheme. While
there were differing opinions, the following list of categories was distilled:
3 Embed sustainability in project management and governance
3 Maximise efficiency of natural resource use
3 Minimise pollution and waste
3 Protect the health of ecosystems
3 Engage and partner with stakeholders
3 Minimise community impacts
3 Address economic efficiency, impact and equity; and
3 Deliver innovative and adaptable solutions.5
This list of categories is being further developed into sub-categories
and criteria that will form the basis of the rating scheme. The pilot
version of the rating scheme will be trialled on a series of projects in the
first half of 2009. Following refinement of the scheme, a public launch is
expected in April 2009.
ABOUT AGIC
Robert Turk is a Board Director of the Australian Green Infrastructure
Council and the Sustainability Leader for Arup, Victoria.
AGIC is open for organisations to join as members. Approximately
twenty organisations and individuals have become AGIC members.
Further information is available at: www.agic.net.au.
REFERENCES
1 An estimated $200 billion has been allocated to constructing and maintaining roads, rail,
ports, water and broadband. Source: Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (2007),
Australia’s Infrastructure Priorities – Securing Our Prosperity, Accessed from:
http://www.infrastructure.org.au/ on 7 January 2008.
2 Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet (2008) Final Report to the Council of
Australian Governments Infrastructure Working Group and Infrastructure Australia –
National Infrastructure Audit, Victoria, June 2008, pp 2. Access on 7 October 2008 from
http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/CA256D800027B102/Lookup/NationalInfrastructureAuditWho
leDoc/$file/National%20Infrastructure%20Audit.PDF
3 Green Building Council of Australia (2007), Green Building Council Celebrates 5 Years,
Media Release 22 November 2007. Accessed on 1 February 2008 from
http://www.gbcaus.org/gbca.asp?sectionid=6anddocid=1384 and CEEQUAL (2008)
Number of CEEQUAL assessment soars, Accessed on 1 February 2008, from
http://www.ceequal.com/
4 Australian Green Infrastructure Council (2008) Interim Business Case (unpublished) March
2008.
5 Maunsell Australia (2008) AGIC Product Design and Development Rating Scheme
Framework Workshop - Facilitator’s Report (Australian Green Infrastructure Council:
Brisbane), 25 July 2008.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 39
8096FP

CLIENT FEATURE

New Sarlon Quartz –

Performance with Style from Forbo
'PSCP
BDPVTUJD
Forbo Flooring has released an innovative new

QSPKFDU
WJOZM
DPMMFDUJPO collection of acoustic Sarlon Quartz, the extremely

wear resistant cushion vinyl that is quiet underfoot, low

5VSO
EPXO
maintenance, easy and cost-effective to clean and

visually pleasing.

UIF
WPMVNF A range within Forbo’s Acoustic Project Vinyl

Collection, Sarlon Quartz has a dense PVC foam
backing offering up to 17dB impact sound reduction.

High durability and efficiency of stain and indentation

resistance is achieved with the thickest wear layer of
0.9mm and its new PUR+ lacquer which is resistant to
bethadine. A compact layer of non woven glass fibre
8JUI
B
DIPJDF
PG

DPMPVST
BOE
EFTJHOT
JO

carrier gives Sarlon Quartz exceptional dimensional
POF
DPMMFDUJPO
PG
BDPVTUJD
QSPKFDU
WJOZM
¿
PPS

DPWFSJOHT
'PSCP
PGGFST
UIF
XPSMEµT
NPTU
stability.
DPNQSFIFOTJWF
PGGFS
GPS
BOZ
DPNNFSDJBM
Silver ion anti-bacterial technology has been used in
FOWJSPONFOU

the production of its protective PU coating and wear
"T
B
SFTVMU
PG
EFDBEFT
PG
BDPVTUJDBM
FYQFSJFODF
layer, offering lifelong protection against germs and
FBDI
QSPEVDU
SBOHF
PGGFST
B
HSBEF
PG
BDPVTUJDBM

DPNGPSU
BOE
VOJRVF
EFTJHOT
DPNCJOFE
XJUI
bacteria - an obvious benefit in health and aged care
DPOTJTUFOU
IJHI
RVBMJUZ
BOE
PQUJNBM
SFTJTUBODF
surrounds.
UP
JOEFOUBUJPO
The environmentally conscious Forbo Flooring has
'PSCP
GFFM
HPPE
¿
PPSJOH
XBOU
UP
¾
OE
PVU
NPSF
produced Sarlon Quartz with eco-friendly water based
TJNQMZ
WJTJU
VT
BU
XXXGPSCP¿
PPSJOHDPNBV
PS

inks
QIPOF



Available in 14 inviting colours and a matte finish,
Sarlon Quartz is perfect for high traffic areas that need
$SFBUJOH
CFUUFS
FOWJSPONFOUT
a warm, welcoming look and feel while withstanding
the rigours of a hardworking commercial setting.

For more information on Sarlon Quartz by Forbo,

visit www.forbo-flooring.com.au
or call 1800 224 471.

40 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Futurism, sustainability
& the built environment
An Integrated Urbanism
approach to master planning

From the futuristic designs of Sydney Opera House to the Watercube and Dongtan, urban design
and planning firm Arup has been at the forefront of technical innovation in the built environment for
decades. Bianca Frost speaks with Arup’s Jane Homewood to find out more about their Integrated
Urbanism approach to master planning and how it is setting benchmarks for best practice in
sustainable design both now and into the future.

Image: Inside the Beijing Watercube

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 41
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
“
Total architecture” was a term coined by Ove Arup, founder of Arup,
a global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business
consultants, to describe a process of integrated design, planning
and consultation that seeks to ensure “all relevant design decisions have
been considered together” in order to produce optimal social, technical,
economic and environmental outcomes.
Jane Homewood, head of Arup’s Australasian Placemaking business,
says that Integrated Urbanism is an example of total architecture at work.
In essence, Integrated Urbanism proposes that significant advantages can
be gained by bringing together all the key people involved in the design
and implementation of a project at its inception to simultaneously address
the broad range of issues integral to successful place making.
“We want to create environments that are self-sustaining by adopting
a holistic approach to the ways in which people use spaces to go about
their daily lives and make that experience the best it can be. This is
particularly important today when our ecological footprint is greater than
the world can easily support,” she explains.
“Arup has found that by removing the distinctions between
disciplines and integrating the design team, creativity flourishes. The
involvement of appropriate people and the application of their skills
allows us to realise our objectives and as such is pivotal to the success of
the Integrated Urbanism model,” says Homewood.
This initial bringing together of all the technical expertise required for
a given project is the main difference between Arup’s Integrated
Urbanism approach to master planning and more traditional master
planning processes.
“Rather than having one master architect, we engage a team of
planners, designers, engineers and other professionals with specialised
skill-sets in the areas of transport, economics, environment, energy, waste
management, social objectives and political influences, all of whom are
empowered to use their technical skills and knowledge to add value to
the project from its very beginning,” she explains.
“By adopting a streamlined approach, from design development
through to implementation, all elements of a development can be
assessed for their effectiveness at the beginning rather than at the end of
a project,” says Homewood.
“This can mean big savings in terms of time, money and resources in
both the development and occupancy stages of a projects life cycle.
Often in master planning you will find that once a project begins to be
implemented, there will be problems and delays and sections requiring
rework. We would also argue that bringing your technical expertise
together in an integrated team at the beginning of a project will deliver
more integrated outcomes and therefore bigger cost savings over the
longer term,” suggests Homewood.
The Integrated Urbanism model is made up of three key components
1. The Integrated Brief, which identifies the key parameters of the
project early in the design process including, the physical, social,
economic and temporal conditions that need to be considered.
2. The Integrated Team, which empowers all disciplines associated
with the project to participate in the design process from the
beginning.
3. Integrated Solutions, where the outcomes that arise from the
Integrated Urbanism model are evaluated using all project
parameters simultaneously as a mechanism to achieve
sustainable, balanced development.
Homewood says that a critical part of the Integrated Urbanism model
is benchmarking against existing urban models to assist the design team
in finding ways to advance development performance in areas such as
energy and water use.
“With each project we set benchmarks to understand best practice
and what is achievable in the current environment. We then set targets,
for example, in relation to areas of open space, sustainable transport,
water use or energy, and they will be constantly checked back and forth
throughout the master planning process to work out how we can best
achieve them.”
Arup uses statistics on climate, waste energy, water, urbanisation and
demographics to better understand urban environments and then uses
that information to develop a range of tools that allows them to plan for
possible future scenarios. One of those tools is Drivers of Change, a set of
cards developed by Arup’s Foresight Team that contain in-depth research
data about the key factors that will have an influence on the world’s future
development.
“Drivers of Change is a great tool for working with clients,” says
Homewood. “Our most recent Drivers of Change series covers energy,
42 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
waste, water, climate change, demographics and urbanisation. The
material offers a range of social, technological, economic, environmental
and political facts about the current status of the world and how our world
might be in the future due to various impacts, such as the effects of
climate change on rising sea levels. By understanding these impacts we
can then factor them into the design of our projects to future-proof our
cities and other urban developments.”
Setting sustainable benchmarks from both an economic and
environmental point of view are essential to future urban developments.
“In terms of master planning, it is important to set benchmarks that
not only reflect best practice but that represent what is achievable in
whatever particular climatic, social and political environment you are
working. These can then be used to set targets across the key elements of
the project, such as landscape, water and energy use, social and cultural
aspects like employment and so on.
“SPeAR is a tool developed by Arup to enable just such a qualitative
assessment and comparison of largely non-quantifiable project
parameters,” says Homewood. “When illustrated relative to each other in
a single diagram, the general trend of sustainable performance can be
established, specifically in relation to a particular master plan and in
comparison to other projects. The tool assists us in creating places that
people want to be in, can afford to live in and where people want to
stay.”
The key underpinning assumption of Integrated Urbanism is that built
environments can only be truly sustainable if they effectively co-exist with
the natural environment and its systems. Arup’s contract with the
Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC) to design and master
plan an eco-city called Dongtan, near Shanghai in China, is just one such
example of Arup’s commitment to this kind of sustainable development.
“Our work on Dongtan is all about how we can master plan a system
for a self-sustaining city,” says Homewood.
“Like all systematic approaches, this is based on the observation of
natural systems where all the elements of those systems are interrelated.
Dongtan is all about using that knowledge to create places that minimise
resource use while maximising amenity.”
With the world’s population projected to rise to over nine billion
people by the year 20401 and an increasing proportion of those expected
to reside in urban locations, Homewood sees designing and developing
sustainable, liveable cities as a growing challenge for master planners.
An Integrated Urbanism approach to this problem is to develop what
Homewood calls integrated or compact cities, where the ability of people
to live, work and access locally produced food is not only about
minimising resource use but of maximising the capacity of those
resources.
“Our designs help promote triple bottom line solutions, which are
really about making cities as self-sufficient as possible. If people can walk,
cycle or catch public transport to work, school and other amenities, and
they can buy locally grown produce, together these can reduce our
reliance on bringing people and products in and out from other places,
which is a significant life cycle issue in terms of the way that we use our
resources.
“Clearly this is not going to work for all developments, but it is an
example of the kind of principles that Dongtan was based on, as was Rim
City in Malaysia. A key issue in both of these projects was addressing the
growing demand for housing, infrastructure and resources at a time when
we clearly need to be using less.”
While Integrated Urbanism is most broadly applied to new
developments, Homewood believes the same principles can be applied
to improve the quality of existing buildings and communities.
“We have just released a document with the Property Council of
Australia which details the many ways you can retrofit buildings so that
they are greener. This is really important because a huge percentage of
our current buildings are going to persist into the future, so finding ways
to retrofit them to achieve the best environmental outcomes is imperative
to our future,” she says.
At the moment we are seeing a lot more of this work happening in
other countries, such as the UK, than we are in Australia. However, we are
currently working on a redevelopment of a civic and cultural precinct on
the Bass Coast near Philip Island in Victoria. In this project, our first
question was to ask what the likely future of this area is going to be and
then consider how we can use our skills and expertise to make this
development the best it can possibly be while still retaining the unique
and special qualities of what already exists. As we move into the detailed
design phase, we are starting to look at how we can maximise sunlight,

A master plan for the future:
Dongtan eco-city
FAST FACTS:
Compared to a ‘business as usual’
development model, Dongtan eco-city
aims to have:
3 60% smaller ecological footprint
3 66% reduction in energy demand
3 40% energy from bio-energy
3 100% renewable energy for in-use
buildings & on-site transport
3 Waste to landfill down by 83%
3 Almost no carbon emissions
In August 2005, Arup was contracted by
the Shanghai Industrial Investment
Corporation (SIIC) to design and master
plan an eco-city called Dongtan, located
near Shanghai, for a population of
500,000 people. Dongtan is planned be a
city of three villages that meet to form a
city centre.
The city is designed to run entirely on
renewable energy for its buildings, its
infrastructure and its transport needs.
Dongtan is designed to recover, recycle
and reuse 90% of all waste in the city, with the eventual aim of becoming
a zero waste city.
The plans for Dongtan eco-city incorporate many traditional Chinese
design features and combine them with a sustainable approach to
modern living, but not at the expense of creating a recognisably Chinese
city.
ENVIRONMENT:
3 The delicate nature of the Dongtan wetlands adjacent to the site has
been one of the driving factors of the city’s design.
3 Existing wetlands will be protected and enhanced by returning
agricultural land to a wetland state creating a buffer zone between
the city and the mudflats.
3 The Dongtan master plan is designed so that only around 40% of
the land area of the site will be dedicated to urban areas and the
city’s design aims to prevent pollutants (light, sound, emissions and
water discharges) reaching the adjacent wetland areas.
SUSTAINABILITY:
3 To be truly sustainable, the city must not only be environmentally
sustainable, but socially, economically and culturally sustainable too.
To accommodate these aims, the master plan includes a combination
of traditional and innovative building technologies that will reduce
energy requirements of buildings by around 66%, saving 350,000
tonnes of CO2 per year.
3 The city is designed so that all housing will be within seven minutes
walk of public transport and easy access to social infrastructure such
as hospitals, schools and work.
3 Although some may choose to commute to Shanghai for work, SIIC
intends for there to be employment for the majority of people who
live in Dongtan across all social and economic demographics. With
time and by effective policy incentives, companies will be attracted
to Dongtan and people will choose to live and work in the city.
3 Dongtan will produce sufficient electricity and heat for its own use,
entirely from renewable sources. Within the city, there will be
practically no emissions from vehicles. All vehicles will be battery or
fuel-cell powered and recharged from renewable resources.
3 Farmland within the Dongtan site will use organic farming methods
to grow food for the inhabitants of the city, where nutrients and soil
conditioning will be used together with processed city waste.
3 The development of techniques that increase the organic production
of vegetable crops will mean that no more farmland will be required
than is available within the boundaries of the site.
ENERGY:
3 Energy demand in Dongtan will be substantially lower than
comparable conventional new cities. When the city is completed, the
energy used within it will not add to the level of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere. Energy in the form of electricity, heat and fuel will
be provided entirely by renewable means.
3 In buildings, this will be achieved by specifying high thermal
performance and using energy efficient equipment and mechanisms
to encourage building users to save energy.
3 Transport energy demand will be reduced by eliminating the need
for a high proportion of motorized journeys, and judicious selection
of energy-efficient vehicles.
3 Energy supply will be via a local grid and electricity and heat
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Artist’s impression of Dongtan eco-city, designed by Arup
supplied by:
3 A combined heat and power (CHP) plant that runs on biomass
in the form of rice husks, which are the waste product of local
rice mills
3 A wind farm
3 Biogas extracted from the treatment of municipal solid waste
and sewage
3 Electricity will also be generated within buildings using
photovoltaic cells and micro wind turbines
3 Some of the electricity generated will be used to charge the
batteries of electric vehicles or to produce hydrogen for vehicle fuel
cells.
3 A key feature of energy management in Dongtan will be the level of
information provided to consumers to encourage them to conserve
energy by means such as smart metering and financial incentives. A
visitors’ centre located close to the energy centre will explain how
cities can be sustainable in terms of power generation.
RESOURCE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT:
3 Dongtan aims to collect 100% of waste within the city and to
recover up to 90% of collected waste.
3 Waste is considered to be a resource and most of the city’s waste
will be recycled. Organic waste will be used as biomass for energy
production.
3 There will be no landfill in the city and human sewage will be
processed for energy recovery, irrigation and composting.
BUILDINGS:
3 Where possible, labour and materials will be sourced locally to
reduce transport and embodied energy costs associated with
construction.
3 A combination of traditional and innovative building technologies
will reduce energy requirements of buildings by up to 70%.
3 Public transport with reduced air and noise pollution will enable
buildings to be naturally ventilated, and in turn reduce the demand
on energy.
3 Buildings with green roofs will improve insulation and water filtration
and provide potential storage for irrigation or waste disposal.
3 A compact city (made of three villages) reduces infrastructure costs
as well as improving amenity and energy efficiency of public
transport systems.
TRANSPORT:
3 The Dongtan master plan aims to create a city linked by a
combination of cycle paths, pedestrian routes and varied modes of
public transport, including buses and water taxis.
3 Improved accessibility in Dongtan will reduce annual travel distances
by 1.9 million kilometres, reducing CO2 emissions by 400,000 tonnes
per year.
3 Canals, lakes and marinas will permeate the city, providing a variety
of recreation and transport opportunities.
3 Public transport will use innovative technologies, which may include
solar powered water taxis or hydrogen fuel-cell buses.
3 Visitors will park their cars outside the city and use public transport
within the city.
3 Public transport with reduced air and noise pollution will enable
buildings to be naturally ventilated, and in turn reduce the demand
on energy.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 43
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
wind and other features of the natural habitat while reducing our resource
use through an array of sustainability techniques to meet the vision and
objectives of the existing community.”
Homewood attributes much of the success of Arup’s Integrated
Urbanism model to both its holistic approach to urban development and
the recognition that win-win outcomes are essential for the ongoing
sustainability of the built environment.
“Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all methodology to our projects,
we respond to the particular and varied needs of a place both in the
present and at future points in time.
“It is not simply about taking a balanced scorecard approach, but
about improving all project parameters from that of a ‘business as usual’
scenario,” she says.
“In terms of win-win, it is really about asking ‘What is the best we can
do with this particular project in each of those core value areas’.”
In terms of how our cities and urban environments will look and
operate in the future, Homewood believes they will gradually become
more compact, be better integrated and utilise more sustainable practices
in terms of both energy production and recycling.
“The old adage ’reduce, reuse, recycle‘ will become a mantra, as we
Brimming with possibility: Rim City, Malaysia
Arup’s Rim City development responds to the continuing need for
housing and economic growth in Malaysia. The development brief
recognised the need for a more managed approach to growth in order
to respond to the government’s new planning and environmental
agendas.
Working with the Integrated Urbanism Team in the UK, Arup’s
Melbourne office was commissioned to prepare a master plan and
sustainability framework for the development. The resulting design
44 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
realise that it is critical that we reduce our resource consumption. I
envisage a future where blackwater and greywater recycling are standard
and where we are using more solar and wind power. We will be living in
more compact cities with higher density development along our train and
tram lines. In an Australian context, where we have an aging population
and a high proportion of people living in urban environments, maximising
our infrastructure will be critical. This means higher density in inner and
well-resourced middle areas with extensions of public transport to people
living in the outer new suburb areas.”
Asked if she was optimistic about the future of our urban
environments, Homewood is ambivalent.
“I think we’ve left a heavy burden for our children. However,
according to the Stern report, if we redirect just 1% of GDP now to
address climate change and sustainability, then we can really start to
address the critical issues, whereas the longer we leave it, the far more
critical the situation the will become.”
REFERENCES
1 US Census Bureau, International Data Base (IDB),
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpop.html, Accessed October 23, 2008.
focuses on the unique natural qualities of the site by creating a
continuous network of green open spaces that traverse the
development.
One of the design team’s key objectives was to create a place that was
completely different to Singapore. The site had significant natural
qualities with valued Ramsar (wetland) areas and natural habitat, which
could provide an attractive alternative to Singapore’s highly developed
and predominantly man-made urban form.
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Going carbon neutral:

The EPA Victoria strategy
With the realisation among many that simply being energy efficient is no longer enough to combat
Australia’s growing carbon emissions, organisations are now looking to carbon neutral models as
the new benchmark of sustainable practice.
This issue, Facility Perspectives looks at the actions taken by the Environmental Protection Authority
(EPA) in Victoria as a case study in achieving best practice policy for carbon neutrality.

W
hen Victoria’s EPA went carbon neutral in 2006, it had entered
relatively unexplored territory. There was no agreed framework
for guiding carbon management decisions, the green power
marketplace was extremely volatile and the market for accredited carbon
offset products was in its infancy.
The whole process proved quite testing so, in order to help other
organisations develop their own carbon management strategies, EPA
published its Carbon Management Principles, jointly produced an
independent directory of Australian carbon offset providers and formed a
Carbon Innovators Network which has become a leader in carbon
management.
However, the climate change challenge has also grown considerably,
with the Federal Government due this month to put key numbers around
its emissions trading scheme (known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme) ready for commencement in 2010.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has
also stepped up the pressure, releasing two business guides, Green
Marketing and the Trade Practices Act which warns companies against
‘green washing’, and Carbon Claims and the Trade Practices Act which
cautions businesses about wrongly claiming that they or their products
are carbon neutral.
The latter guide highlights the confusion in the market place about
the terms ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘low carbon’, and acknowledges that there
are growing concerns about the provision and purchase of carbon
offsets.
It is hardly surprising that EPA is fielding an increasing number of
enquiries from businesses concerned about issues ranging from
emissions inventory compilation to the purchase of quality offsets.
The latter issue proved so challenging to EPA’s clients that, in
partnership with Global Sustainability at RMIT, it developed an
independent directory of Australian carbon offset providers. This
directory (located at www.carbonoffsetguide.com.au) complements EPA’s
eight-step Carbon Management Principles and extensive details on its
emissions inventory which can be found on the EPA website.

ASSESSING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT

EPA Director of Sustainable Development, Terry
A’Hearn, said that while carbon neutrality was
achieved two years ago, the process of updating
calculation methods, adding new emission sources to
the inventory and assessing new sources of green
power and offsets is ongoing.
“We think it’s very important for companies to
have an accurate assessment of their carbon
Terry A’Hearn
footprint,” he said. “As the Carbon Pollution
Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and emissions trading is likely to increase the
cost of everything in an inventory, businesses will need to understand
their exposure to this.
“We also expect the CPRS will markedly change the offset market,
so we organised a Carbon Innovators Network event on The Future of
the Voluntary Market in September.” (See box below)
When EPA first developed its carbon neutral strategy, Chairman Mick
Bourke and Terry A’Hearn oversaw a project team that drew on staff
expertise from the internal Environmental Committee as well as the
facilities, finance and greenhouse policy units.
Two staff members worked full time and an external auditor was
brought in to verify data sources and calculations to ultimately ensure the
integrity of EPA’s carbon neutral claims. Six weeks of research and
strategy development followed.
“Because this concept was relatively new, there was a real lack of
agreed strategies, tools and frameworks,” Mr A’Hearn said. “Everybody
had their own take on it and while the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol
seemed like the leader, there were a lot of different paths for reducing
and neutralising emissions.”
The EPA adopted, and still uses, the GHG Protocol that was
developed over a decade by the World Resources Institute and the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Its goal is a

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 45
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Carbon Management Principles

8IBU
BSF
ZPV
FNJUUJOH

D<8JLI<

J<KF9A<:K@M<J
F==J<K 8IBU
EP
ZPV
XBOU
UP
BDIJFWF
$BO
ZPV
PGGTFU
ZPVS
SFTJEVBM
()(
FNJTTJPOT

8MF@;
8JJ<JJ
$BO
ZPV
BWPJE
HFOFSBUJOH
FNJTTJPOT
8IBU
BSF
ZPVS
SFTJEVBM
()(
FNJTTJPOT

J<HL<JK<I I<;L:<DF;@=P›I<:FM<I
8IBU
PQUJPOT
BSF
BWBJMBCMF
UP
TFRVFTUFS
FNJTTJPOT $BO
ZPV
DIBOHF
ZPVS
BDUJWJUJFT
UP
SFEVDF
FNJTTJPOT

JN@K:?I<E<N›<O:?8E><
$BO
ZPV
TXJUDI
GVFM
TPVSDFT
TP
UIFZ
BSF
MFTT
HSFFOIPVTF
JOUFOTJWF

common standard for business reporting on GHG emissions and its
international endorsements include the EU Emissions Trading Scheme,
Chicago Climate Exchange, the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) and the Carbon Disclosure Project.
BUILDING A GHG INVENTORY
The GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards
provide methodologies for organisations to build inventories and report
on their GHG emissions. It features three scopes for inventories: 1. direct
emissions; 2. indirect emissions from purchased electricity; 3. indirect
optional emissions.
Scope 1 and 2 are clearly defined and should be included in any
corporate inventory. However, there is no clear agreement on which
common emission sources should be calculated as part of scope 3 of a
carbon neutral program because every organisation has a different set of
impacts on the atmosphere.
According to EPA, the Australian Greenhouse Office’s National
Greenhouse Accounts Factors developed for Australian conditions and
organisations is the best source of default emission factors.
EPA’s project team looked at the emissions sources which had been
included by best practice organisations then collected activity data like
facility electricity, natural gas, fleet fuel, tonnages of waste disposal and
expenditures and documentation related to business travel in planes,
taxis and trains.
Direct measurements were also made of refrigerant systems in
buildings and vehicles and EPA contacted landlords, travel agents and
taxi companies to obtain further information.
EPA is committed to including two new scope three indirect
emissions sources each year. In 2006-07, these were office paper and
mains water use and in 2007-08, they were emissions from staff
commuting and catering. While it is difficult to get accurate data on staff
commuting, EPA has been assisted by the government TravelSmart

Carbon Innovators Network

More than 800 businesses and climate change experts have now joined
the Carbon Innovators Network, an EPA Victoria initiative which
encourages strategic responses that can transform climate change from
a business cost to a business opportunity.
The Network has become a leader in carbon management, with the key
goals of stimulating debate and innovation in carbon management, and
providing the support and tools businesses require to develop
appropriate carbon management strategies.
Benefits of membership include discussion forums with key climate
change innovators, public recognition opportunities for highlighting
innovative carbon management strategies, tailored business support
and advice from EPA, opportunities to determine the tools and
resources EPA develops, and opportunities to partner with other
Network members on specific carbon innovation projects.
For more information, visit www.epa.vic.gov.au/climate-change/carbon-
innovators/default.asp
USEFUL WEB LINKS:
3 Climate change information: www.epa.vic.gov.au/climate-change
3 Carbon Management Principles resource page:
www.epa.vic.gov.au/climate-change/carbon-
management/resources.asp
3 EPA Victoria and RMIT’s independent guide for finding and
assessing carbon offsets: www.carbonoffsetguide.com.au
3 Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidelines for corporate inventories and
calculation tools: www.ghgprotocol.org
3 Australian Greenhouse Office National Greenhouse Accounts
Factors (lists default emissions factors):
www.climatechange.gov.au/workbook/index.html

46 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 SUSTAINABLE CITIES

program (which is also available to the business community) and has

used the latest tools to update its calculation methods for emissions from
flights.
EPA utilised its external assurer, Net Balance Management Group, to
assist in evaluating available data and emissions calculation
methodologies. However, as the GHG Protocol was never designed to
guide energy and GHG management decisions, EPA needed a
framework for improvement that gave the best environmental outcomes,
ideally at the lowest cost.
So it developed its own eight step Carbon Management Principles
(see below).
“We receive a lot of questions about the processes,” Mr A’Hearn
said. “Particularly in relation to setting up an inventory, our assurance
process, the avoidance strategies we implemented before purchasing
green power and offsets, and the offset market itself.
“EPA had done a lot of work over the preceding six years, and the
2005-06 inventory reflected the emissions avoidance and reduction
efforts. The final reduction option was to expand our purchase of green
power and offsets to cover 100 percent of our emissions.”

GREEN POWER PRICING VOLATILITY

EPA wanted only green electricity products approved by
GreenPower, the national quality accreditation body, but had not
factored in the volatility of the marketplace. By the time it settled on a
Victorian wind power project, demand had pushed up the price
considerably (all green power sources now used by EPA are listed on its
website).
Green power prices continue to rise, largely because demand has
outstripped supply. But when renewable energy targets are set by the
Federal Government, EPA expects that new green power facilities will be
built and prices will improve over time.
Purchasing offsets also proved very complex as offset products don’t
need certification and there is no single national accreditation system for Anyplace – in your
those that do seek it.
EPA wanted accredited, independently verified products backed up business, whether you need
by detailed credit calculation methodologies and assumptions. In 2005-
06, it finally purchased one product through the Gold Standard (a New Electrical, Air Conditioning,
Zealand wind power project), another through the NSW Government
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme (Easy Being Green’s energy
Refrigeration, Food
efficiency projects) and the third through Australian Greenhouse Office Equipment Services
Greenhouse Friendly program (National Recovery Systems’ in-vessel
composting project). or General Building
Since then, the proportion of providers selling certified offsets has
risen with RMIT Global Sustainability reporting a jump from 69 per cent Maintenance.
to 84 per cent between May 2007 and August 2008. The EPA now
purchases from a wider range of sources including the Kyoto Protocol’s
Clean Development Mechanism credits.
Anytime – 24 hours a
All offsets purchased by EPA are listed on its website. This makes its day, seven days a week,
claims of carbon neutrality transparent, an important element of the
ACCC’s guidelines on carbon neutral claims. However, offsetting is just our National Helpdesk
one step in EPA’s ongoing carbon neutral strategy and its project team
continues to evaluate and implement avoidance and reduction provides a single
strategies.
“This includes more monitoring of energy use, formal energy audits
point of contact
and evaluation of costs against a payback period of four years, which we and comprehensive
feel is realistic as a business case,” Mr A’Hearn said.
The most recent energy efficiency measures include green regional property service
office upgrades which include a wide range of environmentally
sustainable design features, green fleet initiatives (hybrid vehicles, smaller coverage.
cars, LPG dedicated vehicles, car pooling and promoting public transport
use instead of cars), cyclist facilities and an EPA bicycle users group, Anywhere –
video conferencing and teleconferencing facilities, ‘turn off’ campaigns,
energy efficient lighting systems, timers on electrical equipment, de- in Australia.
lamping and flat computer screens.
While there is a common perception that carbon neutral programs
can be expensive, Mr A’Hearn said that active carbon management
actually creates cost savings and better risk management by its focus on For more information,
internal business improvements.
“An analysis of costs of the carbon neutral program shows it please contact our
accounted for just 0.17 per cent of our annual expenditure in 2005-06.
However, at around $43 per tonne, the internal cost of carbon provides a 24-hour National Helpdesk:

1800 815 440

basis for EPA staff to make cost-benefit evaluations of proposed emission
reduction measures,” he said.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 47
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Planning for Competitive

Advantage
BY STEPHEN HENNESSY, DIRECTOR, STEENSEN VARMING

If you are a commercial property owner

you may be contemplating difficult times
ahead, with asset sales in the doldrums
and signs emerging of a rise in vacancies
in some areas. A key question at this
juncture is: how well are you positioned
to compete for tenants when things get
better?

48 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Thanks to climate change and the government responses to it, when
things do get better, the overall situation is going to be a whole lot
different.
This is an occasion for strategic thinking, to make sure you are ahead
of the competition, because, while it might not be apparent at present, a
period of lower tenant occupancy is an opportune time to think about
energy upgrades and lowering your existing building’s carbon footprint.
It is unfortunate that downturns are accompanied by less income,
but it is important that building owners plan now for when the market
picks up. A major refurbishment, for example, requires six to twelve
months of planning and documentation, so by starting the process
during a period of relatively low occupancy, a building owner can steal
the march on the competition.
KNOWLEDGE AND GOAL-SETTING
Effective preparation requires an understanding of the building and,
in particular, what it is capable of achieving in terms of energy
efficiency/low emissions performance, as a first step on the pathway to
overall sustainability.
The simplest and most effective way to gauge this performance in
the built environment is to conduct an audit of a building’s carbon
footprint, ideally using the NABERS Energy rating (previously known as
the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme), which measures the
greenhouse performance of the building or tenancy (or both) and awards
a star rating of 1 to 5, with a focus on CO2 emissions. While NABERS
Energy ratings can be done by self-assessment on the web, it is strongly
recommended that a certified assessor be commissioned for the task.
Those who already have such a rating will have the information to judge
where they currently stand.
This exercise will then allow the owner to better define their ultimate
strategy. For example if you were going to target Federal Government
tenants, your base building would now need to be audited and or
refurbished to rate at least 4.5 stars on the NABERS Energy scale. In
accordance with the government’s Energy Efficiency in Government
Operations directive of 2006, all of its own buildings and tenancies (over
2000 square metres) must have a minimum energy performance
standard of 4 5 stars NABERS Energy or equivalent by 2011, and this
rating must exclude the use of Green Power.
AN ENERGY ACTION PLAN
The next step is to prepare an energy action plan. This is a technical
review or investigation of all forms of energy use and identifying the
opportunities for improvement. The importance is two-fold – in general,
the planning process sharpens the focus on the issue of sustainability
and, more specifically, it maps out the steps for cutting energy use and
can deliver significant financial savings.
A NABERS Energy rating exercise will help provide much of the
information on energy use and it should also be noted that, with the
staged introduction of the full NABERS1 scheme underway, the rating can
also include a NABERS Water rating. There are also other rating tools
such as Green Star, which are now beginning to cater to the
measurement of a broader environmental or carbon footprint of existing
buildings.
ESTABLISHING THE ENERGY AND CARBON REDUCTION
STRATEGY
Once the baseline information is available and the owner
understands the limitations or possibilities for upgrading a building, in
terms of both financial and design constraints, a reduction strategy can
then be mapped out. What follows are some elements for consideration
in that strategy.
Improving the existing systems
Close inspection of the existing and traditional air-conditioning
systems, a major user of energy, often reveals a significant number of
opportunities to achieve results without any radical change. Quite often,
the system is found to be not performing to its full capability and may
only require adjustment to temperature settings to reduce energy use by
up to 10 per cent.
Also, a building may have inherent features that lend themselves to
energy efficiency, such as high performance glazing and good thermal
mass, which cuts down temperature/heat transfer.
Alternative cooling systems
Co-generation is an attractive option if the opportunity to generate
electricity on-site is available as it can be very efficient in reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. It involves using the recovered heat from in-
house electricity generation (such generators would typically use natural
gas fired engines) to provide heat for the building. Trigeneration takes
this process one step further and converts the waste heat to help cool
the building interior, via an absorption chiller. These systems are
particularly useful in areas where the power infrastructure is heavily
loaded, and they can negate the need to install diesel back-up
generators.
Energy minimisation through passive means
There are numerous passive means of cutting energy and one that is
gaining in popularity is mixed mode ventilation. This is an approach that
employs natural ventilation, with the strategic positioning of open-able
windows, during mid season periods to ventilate and cool the building
for a majority of the year, only switching to air conditioning during peak
summer and winter periods when ambient temperatures are hot or cold.
Of course, this retrofitting option could prove too expensive for many
existing buildings with sealed windows.
Another option here is the addition of external shading, which can
reduce high air-conditioning loads in summer months.
Heat recovery and other equipment
When ventilation rates are high it would be prudent to look at using
heat recovery equipment, which captures the energy from exhaust air
and transfers it to the incoming fresh air. In addition, consideration
should be given to high performance chillers, condensing boilers and
variable speed drives, all of which can dramatically reduce energy
demand and thus cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Water capture and reuse
While not directly a carbon issue, water conservation is a key
element in achieving an effective level of sustainability. Harvesting of
water is achievable in properties with large roofs or indirectly through the
use of green roofs featuring vegetation. The water can be used for toilet
flushing, car washing and other low quality (or grey) water usage. Other
options include recycling treated grey and black water and these systems
can be incorporated into the existing on-site wastewater management, in
conjunction with the rainwater collection.
Of course, these are just a small sample of the energy saving items
that might be adopted in an existing building to deliver significantly
more energy efficient and low carbon outcomes. Each building is unique
and good advice is essential to ensure an optimum outcome especially
since a low carbon profile is destined to be not only a marketable
advantage but also essential in the near future.
The likely downturn in the commercial property market may provide
a timely opportunity for owners to consider an upgrade that positions
their property for the future. Owners who ignore the challenges raised by
climate change run the risk of holding ‘stranded assets’. The time to act
is now, and to at least plan the necessary upgrades that will help ‘future
proof’ your property assets.
Stephen Hennessy is a carbon strategist for the built environment
and a Director of the building services engineering consultancy Steensen
Varming.
REFERENCES
1 NABERS (the National Australian Built Environment Rating System) is a performance-
based rating scheme for existing office buildings and homes and rates a building on the
basis of its measured operational impacts on the environment, including energy, water,
indoor air quality, occupant satisfaction, waste and toxic materials.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Hennessy is a carbon strategist for the built environment and a Director of
the building services engineering consultancy Steensen Varming, and Chair of the
Property Council of Australia's Building Services Committee. Stephen is also
Secretary of the Australian and New Zealand Region of the Chartered Institution of
Buildings Services Engineers, and has prepared a submission on behalf of CIBSE
ANZ to the Australian Government Carbon Pollution Reduction Trading Scheme
Green Paper.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 49
 Build your career at Sydney
Maximise your potential at The University of Sydney and choose from an array of
graduate and professional programs across all areas of the built environment including:
U Facilities Management (with Master of Commerce combined degree option)
U Sustainable Design UÊAudio and Acoustics U Building Services U Illumination
Design U Heritage Conservation U Urban Design U Urban and Regional Planning

Choose a course length to suit your needs:

U Individual units of study and CPD options
U 0.5 year full-time Graduate Certificates with no Bachelors
Degree required for entry
U 1 year full-time Graduate Diplomas
U 1.5 year full-time Masters Degrees
U Part time options and intensive block-mode delivery make
study easy for busy professionals

For information about our programs contact Jonathan Hulme on

+61 2 9351 2686 or j.hulme@arch.usyd.edu.au

Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning

www.arch.usyd.edu.au

50 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 EDUCATION & TRAINING

The Role of Vocational Education

and Training in Facilities
BY MEG MICHELL, DIRECTOR PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, UNE PARTNERSHIPS AND
MARTIN LEITCH, DIRECTOR, FMEDGE.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 51
EDUCATION & TRAINING

As an integral part of the Tertiary Education sector, Vocational Education and Training (VET)1
provides a range of opportunities to develop skills that are applied directly into the workplace,
through specific guidelines devised by a national body in consultation with industry, called the
National Skills Framework.
The national training system promotes quality and consistency across Australia to ensure relevance
and standardisation of qualifications. Through their Industry Skills Council2, each specific industry or
sector can develop a training package that identifies the required skills and knowledge to perform
effectively within that sector. The training package will define how these skills are developed
through specific Units of Competency that form the requirements of the training package. Skills
Councils are responsible for regularly reviewing and maintaining Training Packages to ensure that
they continue to reflect industry current best practice.

I
n Australia, the VET system is provided by Registered Training
Organisations (RTOs) that are accredited by State Government.
Accreditation of RTO’s is achieved by demonstrated compliance with
a comprehensive and rigorous national quality system, the Australian
Quality Training Framework (AQTF). The AQTF aims to achieve national
consistency in the quality of training delivery. This aim, combined with
the use of Training Packages, also results in consistent levels of student
competency. RTO’s include high schools, the TAFE network, private
training and education providers, adult and community education, and
universities. VET offers nationally recognised and respected
qualifications, from certificates through to diplomas and Vocational
Graduate Certificates.
The system enables students and industry practitioners to develop
new skills or enhance existing skills, and opens pathways to further study
at university or other higher educational institutions.
WHY VET?
The VET system’s greatest strength is its flexibility. VET students
have learning and study options not normally available to students
outside the sector. Programs are delivered through a wide variety of
study modes, including online, distance education, and in the workplace.
Programs may be customised to suit individual, industry or particular
workplace needs. They include apprenticeships and traineeships.
The flexible nature of VET programs extends to assessment methods
and study timetables, so that students can learn at a pace that suits their
workplace, family and personal demands. VET qualifications are
structured in a manner that progress through a course, and are
recognised by Statements of Attainment for relevant Units of
Competence. It is a requirement of the AQTF that such Statements of
Attainment must be recognised by all RTO’s. This means that students
can complete a qualification with more than one RTO.
The AQTF also ensures the integrity and reputation of VET awards.
Students who have acquired skills through previous workplace or other
training may be eligible for those skills or experience to be officially
acknowledged through a process known as Recognition of Prior Learning
(RPL). Prior experience or skills may then be credited towards current
VET studies.
Flexibility in program content and course delivery also extends to
flexibility of access. VET students enjoy an equality of access to VET
programs irrespective of location, employment status, or demographical
background.
Lastly, successful VET study opens defined pathways to university
awards, both undergraduate and postgraduate. These pathways
complement the acquisition and enhancement of workplace or
vocational skills, with the status of university degrees.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Competency based training is at the heart of VET programs.
Competency comprises three mutually dependent elements: knowledge,
skill and attitude. All three elements must be present before an individual
can be described as being “competent” in a particular activity. Knowing
how to do something does not mean that one can do it and similarly
being able carry out a task without appropriate knowledge and/or
attitude can be a very limiting, if not dangerous, scenario.
Competency based training requires students to demonstrate that
they have attained specific industry standards, which are current,
reviewed regularly, and workplace relevant. By meeting those standards
and achieving defined learning outcomes in training packages, VET
students obtain qualifications directly relevant to their particular industry
or profession. The range of industries or professions serviced by the VET
sector is huge, and includes such diverse areas such as practice
management, business, community services, mining and engineering,
facilities management, and the general construction and property service
sector.
The development of training packages in close consultation with
industry groups and employer organisations highlights the intimate inter-
connectivity and linkages between the VET provider, the relevant
industry group, employers, and the final content of the learning materials
delivered to VET students. Through achieving nationally recognised
competencies, the successful VET student acquires new skills and
knowledge or consolidates existing skills and knowledge that are
valuable and contemporary to the individual student and their current or
future employer.
AUSTRALIAN QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) details the
recognised levels of study within the post-compulsory education sector.
Awards under
CONTINUED PAGE 56

Your career can benefit from a formal qualification in Facilities Management

fmedge offers nationally recognised training specifically tailored Are you interested in gaining an FM edge?
to the needs of practicing facilities managers and those seeking If so, the Diploma of Property Services
to gain an edge as they enter the industry. Benefits of studying (Asset and Facility Management) CPP50507
with fmedge include flexibility and a fully interactive will deliver.
learning environment.
Contact us today to find out more.
The fmedge programme is
delivered on-line, using latest Level 8, 350 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
technologies, and presents T: 03 8605 4844 E: info@fmedge.com.au
industry current best practice. www.fmedge.com.au

52 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 EDUCATION & TRAINING

Case Study
fmedge facility management training is a private Registered Training Organisation
(RTO), registered in Victoria and authorised to deliver qualifications within the
Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The Diploma of Property Asset and
Facilities Management was first made available in 2004 as a result of the inclusion of
Facilities Management in the Property Development and Management Training
Package. fmedge was the first RTO in Australia to offer this qualification, and it was
the first training organisation in the industry to offer VTE qualifications on line, via a
flexible learning platform.
Whilst the Training Package provides the framework within which the qualifications
are required to be delivered, the development of the fmedge diploma involved the
creation of all the content, learning guides, trainer guides, references and assessment
exercises. This process drew on the resources of an extensive network of Subject
Matter Experts (SMEs) to ensure compliance with current best practice. This same
network of SMEs is retained for on-going review and maintenance of the programme
content.
The fmedge on-line diploma was first launched in April 2006 and the programme is
about to generate its first graduates during the next quarter. During the
development of the diploma programme, fmedge negotiated articulation to the
Bachelor of Facilities Management at Deakin University. This relationship is
strengthened by a common learning resource that was jointly developed by Deakin
University and fmedge. This learning resource is a hypothetical organisation that is
the subject of all assessments and assignments for both courses, meaning that
students progressing through the diploma-to-degree programme do so in a familiar
and comfortable environment.
fmedge has subsequently made similar arrangements with Bond University and the
University of Sydney, with plans to extend this type of relationship. The prospect of
these pathways from the VTE sector into the higher education system has proved to
be very popular with programme candidates in Australia and overseas.
Due to the recent review of the Training Package, fmedge is at the final stages of
updating their programme to the Diploma of Property Services (Asset and Facilities
Management) – this will be available around the time of publication of this case study.
Contact fmedge for more information:
Email: info@fmedge.com.au
Web: www.fmedge.com.au
Phone: 03 8605 4844

MAKE YOUR NEXT

PROJECT YOURSELF
Master of Project Management (Facilities)
If you’re already working in property or construction, > For more information contact
this is the ideal way to keep moving up. RMIT’s Ian McBean on 03 9925 2230 or
program allows you to specialise in engineering, email ian.mcbean@rmit.edu.au
information technology or facilities management, with
great opportunities to work in collaborative teams
and strengthen your professional knowledge. RMIT is
Victoria’s leading educator in property, construction
and project management, with great industry
S1101

connections and a strong research background.

www.rmit.edu.au/pcpm

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 53
CLIENT FEATURE
Project Management Education –
your path to a successful career
in project management
T
here’s no better time to upgrade your career with a move
into Project Management. Australian businesses are
facing a general shortage of skilled Project managers to
manage their capital works or business development projects.
In recruitment terms senior business managers are
increasingly looking for formal project management education
when recruiting for even entry level positions in project
management. One of Australia’s leading Project Directors
Michael Jackson of Incoll Management says “the correct skill
set is critical, in many cases project managers are responsible
for not only millions of dollars in capital investment but
primary business success for project sponsors. In short Project
Managers must know what they are doing”. In response to this
growing demand Victoria University has just expanded its Post
Graduate Project Management education program across all
higher education faculties – Business and Law, Health
Engineering and Science and Arts Education & Human
Development are jointly conducting project management
courses. It is the first time in Australia that PM Courses are
conducted by the whole of the University and not just by one
faculty. It provides students with a choice to specialise in
project management in a discipline of their choice, e.g. PM
Finance, PM Engineering or PM in Health or sports.
The new VU PM course expands on the significant value the
formal Project Management education has brought to
traditional project markets in the building and development
sector and is now bringing best practice Project Management
into a range of business streams. The Australian PM market
contrary to the US model which favors specialisation covers all
“Father” of Project Management in Australia
Compares EastLink Success with Myki Failure
Australian businesses and government are losing millions of
dollars on major projects – from infrastructure to IT, arts to
the health system – as the direct result of poor project
management. Though rarely recognised, project
management is a booming industry worldwide, with
Australian businesses currently facing a shortage of skilled
project managers to manage their capital works or business
development projects.
Chandra Bhuta, Associate Professor and Director of Project
Management Courses at Victoria University, is the ‘Father’ of
project management, having started the first course in
Australia in 1973. Mr Bhuta is an expert on project
management and has insight into a number of case studies
from major Australian projects, including Melbourne’s
EastLink and Myki.
EastLink: Success
On budget, 6 months early
EastLink used a ‘fast track’ project management delivery
system instead of the traditional one – Design, Document,
Specify, Tender and Award – so they were able to save time.
aspects of projects from concept, planning through
implementation to completion and often into the projects
operational life. Jackson who is also a VU PM graduate and now
a sessional lecturer in the program says, “In global terms most
Australian industrial sectors are small, so to maintain market
share Project Managers have had to be highly skilled across all
facets of the project delivery process”.
Australian Project Managers are considered some of the most
skilled project professionals in the world. In 2004 Jackson was
invited to visit and consult Beijing Government officials on
worlds best practice Project Management for implementation
into the Olympic development programme, in 2006 he was
sent to Atlanta Georgia to troubleshoot the development and
implementation of a Project delivery strategy on a troubled
US$120M greenfield industrial development for a major US
corporation. “The skills gained during my own Project
Management study at VU have been pivotal to my ability to
manage over 200 successful projects for approximately 100
clients in 15 market sectors.”
Project Managers in all markets are creating value and
controlling risk for project sponsors. Project managers are
increasingly strategic business advisers to client organisations
with the ability to significantly increase the value of project
within a business environment and impact on the bottom line.
The dynamic nature of changing project environments is
creating a new and interesting career path and in proportion to
the value a PM can generate for a business Australian PMs are
generally well rewarded.
According to a reliable source, some of the work was being
carried out before final designs and documentations were
complete. This could some times lead to ‘risks’; in this
instance they were lucky or have been more vigilant. As a
private project, this earlier completion provides faster and
better returns on investment. “Mr. Howard Humpherys,
Project Director, appears to have managed the team and
client relationship well,” said Mr Bhuta. “He should be
congratulated for the project’s success.”
Myki: Failure
$216 million extra, 3-5 years late
Some contributing factors: While a similar ticketing system
was highly successful in Hong Kong where there was only
one mode of transport, the need to align three transport
streams in Melbourne – bus, train and tram – has caused
major delays in the IT part of the system. The myki system
has been plagued with computer faults. “Myki was an ill-
designed and ill-advised project to begin with and they are
paying the cost of it now,” said Associate Professor Bhuta.
 PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
YOUR PASSPORT TO GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES
VU’s Project Management courses are unique in
Australia, in that they are delivered with the
participation of all Faculties i.e. Business, Arts and
Engineering & Science. This approach allows
Project Management specialisation in any discipline.
The VU Project Management course offers an
opportunity for an exciting career change, often
without leaving your industry and staying within your
area of expertise.
The courses are designed to meet the needs of current
and future managers in industry and will equip
professionals with advanced project management
principles and techniques. Using current case studies,
we teach the nine knowledge areas and five process
areas nominated by the Australian Institute of Project
Management (AIPM) and the Project Management
Institute (PMI), USA.
For more information, please contact:
Associate Professor Chandra Bhuta
Tel: 03 9919 4252. Email: Chandra.Bhuta@vu.edu.au
Vinayaga Sarma
Tel: 03 9688 4714. Email: Vinayaga.Sarma@vu.edu.au
WWW.VU.EDU.AU/PM
CRICOS Provider No. 00124K
Australian Project Managers are considered as some
of the most skilled and efficient professionals in the
world. Enrol in any of our courses and soon you could
be working on projects around the globe.
Applications are now open for the 2009 intake into
Project Management courses at the following levels:
• Graduate Certificate • Graduate Diploma
x Masters / Applied Master • PhD
Applications close on 15 February 2009.
Entry requirements: A degree or diploma and at least
two years’ experience at a professional level in a
relevant field. Formal qualification requirements may
be waived in exceptional circumstances. Courses are
full fee based and span across the following faculties:
• Arts, Education & Human Development
• Health, Engineering & Science
• Business & Law
Bob Stewart:
Tel: 03 9919 3263. Email: Bob.Stewart@vu.edu.au
Alex Manzoni
Tel: 03 9919 1042. Email: Alex.Manzoni@vu.edu.au
EDUCATION & TRAINING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 52
the AQF start at Certificate I and progress to Diploma, on to Bachelor
and through to Doctoral degrees. Whilst the study level increases with
each step there is no requirement for students to approach their studies
in a linear fashion, particularly where a different set of skills may be
required due to a change in job role.
For example a student who enters the university system after leaving
school may enrol in a Bachelor degree. Upon completion of this award
they may enter the workforce. At this point they have only limited skills
and experience in the ‘application’ of their knowledge. They may choose
to enrol in a Certificate IV or Diploma level course to provide them with a
vehicle to develop their skills in a workplace setting.
This is often seen in the engineering sector with graduate engineers
undertaking vocational training qualifications in project management. It is
also seen in other technical fields where professionals move into
supervisory or managerial roles with little or no prior management
experience. Such people may have a degree in information technology
and be enrolled in a Certificate IV in Frontline Management.
VET IN THE FM CONTEXT
As recently as 2004, a series of Facilities Management related
qualifications were introduced into the VET sector. These resulted from a
lengthy period of industry consultation in which the Facility Management
Association of Australia played a significant role. These new qualifications
range from a Certificate III to an Advanced Diploma and have already
been reviewed to ensure on-going alignment with current industry
requirements.3
These qualifications effectively close the gap between secondary
education and the higher education sector to create a vocational
pathway to university education. Selecting a relevant VET course can
also offer credit towards university courses, thus providing a cost effective
route to a university degree. This opens a whole new opportunity for FM
industry practitioners to works towards a university degree at a pace
The Sustainable FM program – By Meg Michell, Director Program Management, UNE Partnerships
Following acceptance of an Expression of Interest put forward to
the Facility Management Association of Australia in 2007 under
FM Action Agenda #9, UNE Partnerships, the Education &
Training arm of the University of New England (a VET provider)
and the University of Sydney (a tertiary provider) formed an
alliance to collaborate on the development and delivery of an
innovative training program for the FM sector.
UNE Partnerships and the University of Sydney paired with
Brookfield Multiplex as the client organisation and discussions
were held during March 2008 to identify and outline an innovative
training program for facilities managers and facilities supervisors.
A number of areas were canvassed during discussions, with
sustainable facilities management agreed as the most pressing
issue for FM organisations generally in both the short and long
term.
Sustainability is an issue of increasing and long-term importance
to society. Whilst it is a growing issue in the facilities management
sector, building users generally take a very immediate view of
operations, and still tend to view facilities as a cost. There are a
number of resources now available to assist with managing
sustainability in the FM sector, though awareness among
individual practitioners is low and there is no training program to
suit the operational level. With the impending introduction of
national greenhouse targets and a carbon trading system,
sustainability in facilities management is a skill that will need to be
embraced as core knowledge.
Brookfield Multiplex is passionate about sustainability and about
exploring and implementing new ways in which it can grow and
prosper into the future. In recognition of this and to make a
contribution to the industry, environment and their business,
Brookfield Multiplex agreed to fund the development of a short
course focused on sustainable facilities management.
The Sustainable FM program aims to develop the participant’s
56 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
commensurate with the demands of the “day job” and other financial
commitments.
They also offer graduates with non-FM degrees the opportunity to
overlay their current degree with a specific Facilities Management
qualification without the need to return to University for a second
degree.
Despite the recent training package review, there are still a number
of gaps in the competencies that the qualifications cover. To address this
and to complement the qualifications, VET sector providers also play an
invaluable role in offering non-accredited courses. Such courses cover
the more technical areas of FM, “soft” management skills and rapidly
developing aspects of the industry, such as environmental sustainability.
The development of such courses serves to support the industry where
the updating of qualifications can be a lengthy and bureaucratic process.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the VET sector plays an invaluable role in tertiary
education, either to provide a stand-alone qualification solution or a
route to university and higher qualifications. Its value also lies in its
competency based approach to education – it provides employers with
the confidence that VET qualified applicants have proved their
knowledge and demonstrated their ability to apply it in a workplace
based environment and that there is national consistency. Finally, it sets a
national benchmark for industry competency requirements to assist both
employers and employees in improving performance and to assist with
reducing current skill shortages.
General information on the vocational education and training system
in this article was sourced in part from Did You Know - A Guide to
Vocational Education and Training in Australia published by National
Centre for Vocational Education Research.
REFERENCES
1 Also known as Vocational & Technical Education (VTE)
2 The Industry Skills Council for the FM industry is the Construction and Property Services
Industry Skills Council (CPSISC)
3 Full details of these qualifications, including providers, can be found on www.ntis.gov.au
(search key words “Facility Management”)
ability to apply process rather than product and refers to industry
recognised resources for managing sustainability to ensure the
desired impact at operational level. It incorporates various tools,
standards and guidelines already in existence, bringing them
together to raise awareness and encourage a consistent approach
to managing sustainability. The aim of the program is to:
3 introduce the concept of sustainability and position its
importance to the facilities management sector
3 provide participants with the tools and skills to identify
relevant operations and facilitate their measurement
3 provide participants with the skills to analyse and report on
key factors affecting sustainability and identify areas for
improvement with regard to the facilities under their
management
3 encourage implementation of sustainable measures to
improve performance.
The program is designed to enable participants to operate
buildings in the most sustainable way through improvements in
operational performance across the key areas in which facilities
managers can make a difference: energy, water, waste, indoor
environment quality and procurement.
In addition to the development of skills and knowledge of
participants, the training program provides the employing
organisation with the capacity and ability to set performance
targets and implement management strategies. Successful
participants will be eligible to apply for one unit credit into
facilities management awards offered by the University of Sydney.
The program will be made available to participants from across
the facilities management sector during 2009. For further
information on UNE Partnerships programs call 1800 066 128 or
visit www.unep.edu.au.
 CLIENT FEATURE

Simple, Effective
Odour Management!
A problem for facilities managers is controlling

Odours garbage smells. Now a responsible, effective

way of neutralising odours is available.
Odour Control Systems recently overcame
odours emitted from the garbage rooms and

a problem? chute of a high rise apartment complex in

Sydney’s CBD, through a three step process,
with outstanding results.
Initially, airborne odours were neutralised by
Are odours making your facility distributing Ecolo AirSolution through an
smell like a rubbish tip? automated spray system.
To counteract bad bacteria soaked into
Getting complaints from residents? equipment and hard surfaces, affected areas
were topically sprayed with BioStreme 111F
At last there is a responsible and effective way Foaming Odour Neutraliser. 111F delivers
to neutralise offensive odours and improve the micronutrients to control odour producing
ambience of your facility. processes plus a blanket contact deodoriser.
Sensaroma essential oil based fragrance was
diffused into the chute, making the entire 32
Now you can breathe easy! floor length smell like flowers, as well as
corridors and common areas via openings
Simple and effective odour The end result … our customer was ecstatic!
control is right under your nose! “… I regularly receive positive comments from
visitors, couriers etc as to the pleasant
x 100% environmentally friendly floral fragrance in our lobby when they
x No capital outlay enter from the street. Prior to this, our 5
x No long term contracts star residential lobby smelt like a rubbish
tip due to smells being drawn up the lift
x Systems fully maintained & serviced
shafts from the loading dock into our
by qualified technicians
lobby.
The systems have definitely elevated the
Call us now to arrange your ambience and perception of our building
and I would gladly recommend OCS to
free odour management other strata plans.”
evaluation! Vaughan de Vocht, Building Manager,
Offer available for a limited time only The Peak Apartments SP54036.

Fully maintained and serviced monthly by

qualified technicians, facilities managers can
relax knowing their odour management needs
are being met with a minimum of fuss and
disruption.

P: 02-4961 6185 Odour problems? Call 02-4961 6185 or

F: 02-4969 4218 email info@odours.com.au.
www.odours.com.au

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 57
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE

Gold Coast leads the way with

sustainable Waterfuture Master
The consequences of climate change,
in particular, reduced rainfall, has
challenged the traditional approach to
water and wastewater management
on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Combined with record drought and
rapid population growth, the need for
more sustainable and innovative
solutions for the provision and
management of finite water resources
is clear.
At this year’s FMA Australia ideaction
Conference, Gold Coast Water’s Sayed
Khan gave a fascinating presentation
on the Gold Coast’s industry-leading
response to the water crisis which is
posing such a real threat to the
region’s survival. Khan outlines for
Facility Perspectives what was
involved in developing the
groundbreaking water and waste
water management plan for residents
in the Pimpama and Coomera region.
ABOVE: Swales are common place in the Pimpama Coomera region and can replace traditional street-side
kerbs and channels with visually attractive gullies and water features that mimic the natural environment.

I
n response to the desperate need for serious water initiatives on the
Gold Coast, the Gold Coast City Council has developed a fully
integrated urban water cycle management plan for a 7,000 hectare
greenfield area, making it a national first by fully integrating sustainable
water management principles into a region of this size.
The Pimpama Coomera Waterfuture (PCWF) Master Plan aims to
significantly reduce the use of drinking water and improve practices for
protecting the surrounding environment. Importantly, the PCWF Master
Plan provides a better environmentally sustainable solution to urban
water management at similar lifecycle costs to traditional schemes.

PIMPAMA COOMERA ON THE GOLD COAST

The PCWF Master Plan is an integral component of the overarching
Gold Coast Waterfuture Strategy, led by Gold Coast Water. The suburbs
of Pimpama and Coomera cover a 7,000 hectare region on the northern
end of the Gold Coast. As it is largely undeveloped at present, the
Pimpama Coomera region was chosen as the ideal location to establish a
community with positive attitudes and behaviours towards water and
water conservation initiatives.
With the region marked for rapid population growth from 15,000
people in 2008 to 120,000 in 2056, the award winning PCWF Master
Plan will become Australia’s largest integrated urban water cycle
management program and combines many initiatives such as residential
use of Class A+ recycled water, to create a guiding blueprint for water,
wastewater and stormwater management throughout Pimpama
Coomera. Map of Pimpama Coomera region on Queensland’s Gold Coast

58 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

HOW THE PCWF MASTER PLAN IS DIFFERENT TO EXISTING
DEVELOPMENTS
The PCWF Master Plan sets a new benchmark in urban water cycle
management. As an integrated urban water management strategy, the
PCWF Master Plan is a pilot for the introduction of a more sustainable
water management approach and acts as a blueprint for future
developments on the Gold Coast.
The PCWF Master Plan envisages a community that will be more
aware of the value of water; use less water; use water from a number of
different sources; live in a more sustainable urban environment and enjoy
healthy waterways.
When the PCWF Master Plan is complete, the entire community will
capture, use and re-use water in innovative ways and create efficiencies
in all aspects of the urban water cycle by reducing drinking water use
and managing stormwater and wastewater in better ways.
THE KEY ELEMENTS OF THE PCWF MASTER PLAN
A Class A+ recycled water tap, it is coloured purple and clearly marked to differentiate it
from potable water.
The PCWF Master Plan considers the various elements of the urban
water cycle and combines them to create a fully integrated system. It
identifies three key sources of water: Class A+ recycled water, rainwater
and drinking water. This integrated approach will create a more
sustainable community by significantly reducing the amount of drinking
water used. As a result, the need for new regional water sources can be
deferred, requiring less water from rainfall and shifting the paradigm for
water and wastewater management of finite water resources.
The PCWF Master Plan water cycle.
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE
REDUCING THE DEMAND FOR DRINKING WATER
Drinking water is provided to the house for drinking and cooking,
and also as a trickle supply to the rainwater tank to ensure it does not run
dry. A key performance target of the PCWF Master Plan is to reduce
demand for potable water significantly by incorporating Class A+
recycled water and rainwater tanks in all new developments within the
region.
Household water consumption accounts for 62 per cent of all urban
water consumption according to ABS Water Account 2000-2001. These
households use high quality drinking water for all uses around the home.
How existing communities use high quality drinking water around the home
Under the PCWF Master Plan, the Pimpama Coomera community
will use different water sources as substitutes for high quality drinking
water where appropriate around the home.
How the Pimpama Coomera community will use different sources of water around the
home
CLASS A+ RECYCLED WATER FOR USE WITHIN THE
COMMUNITY
Class A+ recycled water will be piped to dual reticulated homes in
Pimpama Coomera for toilet flushing and outdoor taps for external non-
drinking use only. Dual reticulated homes and businesses (those
approved after 29 August 2005) are connected to two completely
separate water networks: the traditional potable (drinking) water network
and a purple coloured Class A+ recycled water network. For easy
identification, the entire Class A+ recycled water network is coloured
purple including water mains, meters, pipes, taps and hoses.
The purple Class A+ recycled water pipe along side a potable water pipe.
Class A+ is the highest standard of recycled water specified in
Queensland for non-drinking purposes and will be produced at a
dedicated wastewater and recycled water treatment plant in Pimpama.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 59
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE
Purple Class A+ recycled water pipes in the Pimpama Coomera region.
Class A+ recycled water is produced to stringent specifications and is
subject to a series of strict control processes to ensure its quality. Class
A+ recycled water should not be confused with purified recycled water
recommended by the Queensland State Government for dam
replenishment.
With the necessary infrastructure in place, wastewater from the
Pimpama Coomera community can be treated at the Pimpama
Wastewater Treatment Plant through a series of processes including
preliminary treatment, biological nutrient removal, anthracite and sand
filtration and disinfection. At this stage the water can be classified as
Class B recycled water. The water will then undergo further treatment at
the Pimpama Recycled Water Treatment Plant, which includes ultra-
filtration, ultra-violet disinfection and chlorination. These processes see
the water treated and disinfected to a Class A+ recycled water standard,
at which point it will be reticulated through the separate Class A +
recycled water delivery network.
How Class A+ recycled water will be produced at the Pimpama Wastewater and Recycled
Water Treatment Plants.
After commissioning of the treatment plant and a subsequent
process proving period, Class A+ recycled water will be available at the
end of 2008 and delivered to dual reticulated homes and businesses in
Pimpama Coomera in early 2009.
Until Class A+ recycled water is available in the Pimpama Coomera
area, potable water is being distributed through the recycled water
network, which is charged at the current potable water price and subject
to the same current potable water restrictions as the rest of the Gold
Coast.
CAPTURING AND CONSERVING RAINWATER FOR URBAN
USE
Rainwater tanks play a crucial role in achieving the objectives of the
PCWF Master Plan by replacing potable water with rainwater in certain
60 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
household uses. The interception of rainwater in tanks also helps to
reduce the volume of stormwater runoff through the local environment.
New homes in the Pimpama Coomera region have had rainwater
tanks installed to supply rainwater to the cold water washing machine
outlet and at the discretion of the owner, one outdoor tap.
Single residential/detached dwellings must have minimum 5,000 litre
(5 KL) rainwater tanks and multi-residential dwellings must have minimum
3,000 litre (3 KL) rainwater tanks. To ensure a constant supply of water to
homes, rainwater tanks are plumbed with a trickle supply from the town
mains drinking water supply. This means that if the tank water level drops
below a pre-determined level (nominally about five percent of capacity) it
will draw on a this supply of drinking water to fill it to approximately 20
percent of the capacity of the tank.
WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
The wastewater system is constructed to ensure less stormwater
enters the network, reducing the amount of wastewater transported to
the treatment plant and ultimately reducing the amount of wastewater
requiring treatment. This, in turn, will reduce the amount of greenhouse
gas emissions generated. Most of the treated wastewater will then be
put through further treatment and disinfection processes, including
membrane filters, to produce the very high quality Class A+ recycled
water.
Reduced Infiltration Gravity Sewers (RIGS) are being applied to the
wastewater network throughout the Master Plan region to reduce the
volume and velocity of stormwater entering the wastewater network and
to filter it of silt and other debris. The reduction of stormwater in the
wastewater network also means a reduction in the energy levels required
to pump and treat the excess wastewater, resulting in fewer greenhouse
gas emissions.
USING BEST PRACTICE IN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
Retention ponds act as natural ponds to capture stormwater before slowly releasing it
into the treatment system.
The philosophy of the PCWF Master Plan is one of integrated urban
water cycle management. The region is a catchment where stormwater
runoff flows into conservation zones, large designated fish habitats, the
Moreton Bay Marine Park and an internationally significant Ramsar
wetland. The combination of these factors means that development in
this area had to be carefully managed to mitigate any impact upon the
natural aquatic environment.
 PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE

Stormwater runoff in Pimpama Coomera

is managed through special landscaping that
will return some stormwater to the natural
water table and improve the quality of
stormwater, resulting in less pollution of the
waterways and improved visual appearance
of the surrounding landscape. This specially
designed landscaping is known as Water
Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and assists
the collection and management of
stormwater runoff by capturing, slowing and
filtering the flow of stormwater in an efficient,
cost effective and environmentally friendly
way. The goal of WSUD is to reduce the
volume and velocity of water discharged
from river catchments.
It is a unique approach for managing
stormwater, combining natural processes
with landscaping and engineering solutions.
It is increasingly being used across the Gold
Coast City Council area, particularly in
developing regions. WSUD replaces
traditional kerbs and channelling with visually
attractive gullies or swales and uses
engineering features that mimic the natural
environment, allowing stormwater runoff to
be slowed, reduced and filtered. Retention ponds act as natural ponds to capture stormwater before slowly releasing it into the treatment system.

WATER CONSERVATION USING WATER EFFICIENT DEVICES
AND WATER CONSERVATION EDUCATION
All new homes are required to install dual flush toilets, AAA rated
shower roses and water pressure limiting devices. Further water savings
will be achieved through mandatory household water saving appliances
and by reducing leakages within mains.
The PCWF Master Plan will conserve drinking water through the
implementation of water efficient technologies, community education
and the installation of water saving devices. Community education and
engagement will continue delivery of water conservation education and
awareness programs.
IMPLEMENTATION OF PCWF MASTER PLAN
INFRASTRUCTURE
Because the PCWF Master Plan introduces a brand new product in
Class A+ recycled water, the construction of major infrastructure and
networks, integration of new assets, standards and systems was required.
Gold Coast City Council, the PCWF Alliance, property developers
and a number of utility companies have worked together to ensure a
coordinated approach to the different construction requirements in the
PCWF Master Plan area. The aim of this approach is to minimise
disruptions to the local community.
Infrastructure has been delivered through four separate packages of
work, Packages A to D - most of which are now complete. Package A
involves construction of a Pimpama Wastewater Treatment Plant and
Recycled Water Treatment Plant and Yawalpah Road pumping station.
Package B delivered the wastewater trunk main to the wastewater
treatment plant. Package C delivered the major recycled water pipeline
for Class A+ recycled water to the network, reservoirs and customers and
to allow excess recycled water to be delivered to the Coombabah
Wastewater Treatment Plant for release. Package D involves construction
of drinking water, wastewater and recycled water networks, pumping
stations and reservoirs and is ongoing until the end of 2009.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND STAKEHOLDER
MANAGEMENT
Across the country, recycled water is a relatively new residential
product and it is still widely misunderstood by the community. Recent
research has shown community acceptance of recycled water technology
and services is heavily linked to the level of trust in the provider of those
services. As a result, genuine and comprehensive community
engagement is essential to creating the high levels of community
awareness, acceptance necessary to ensure successful uptake of the
integrated urban water cycle.
Community education and engagement also delivers greater
awareness and understanding of water conservation, in turn establishing
a community with positive attitudes and behaviours towards recycled
water and other water conservation initiatives.
Targeted stakeholder communication programs are planned to
continue beyond the provision of Class A+ recycled water in early 2009
to maintain and improve upon community awareness, acceptance and
support for the PCWF Master Plan’s initiatives to ensure a sustainable
water future to this community.
Gold Coast Water has proven that stakeholder involvement from the
outset is a more successful and reliable method of obtaining ongoing
community acceptance of recycled water programs. Early community
involvement allows alternative options to be thoroughly reviewed and
discussed before infrastructure commitments are made.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
The PCWF Master Plan has received national and international
recognition for its innovative water supply initiatives, which are designed
to manage the total water cycle.
In June 2007, the PCWF Master Plan was awarded the United
Nations’ (Australia Chapter) prize for Excellence in Water Management
held as part of celebrations for the United Nations’ World Environment
Day on Tuesday, 5 June. The award acknowledges actions taken at a
local level to address global environmental issues.
In September 2006, the PCWF Master Plan received the global
grand prize for water planning at the International Water Association’s
Biannual Project Innovation Awards in Beijing. Earlier that year it also won
the Australian and South East Asian regional category of the award.
In 2005, the PCWF Master Plan was also awarded the Australian
Institute of Project Management’s (AIPM) President’s Award, as part of
the annual Project Management Achievement Awards.
CONCLUSION
A sustainable water future is fundamental to achieve full growth
potential in urban and suburban Australia and the use of Class A +
recycled water undoubtedly plays a significant role in realising this vision.
The philosophy of the PCWF Master Plan is one of integrated urban
water cycle management and a prime opportunity exists for this
greenfield catchment to be managed in a way that minimises impact on
the natural water cycle and surrounding environment.
Successful implementation of the PCWF Master Plan will surely
prompt other communities to examine the integration of recycled water
schemes and the adoption of new water products. And this, in itself,
could arguably be the best legacy of all.
Further information is available at:
goldcoastwater.com.au/pimpamacoomera

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 61
CLIENT FEATURE

Advanced treatments
for grease traps
very restaurant and food service provider in Australia is

E required by law to have at least one grease trap on-

site. The purpose of these ubiquitous devices is to
control and limit the discharge of fats, oils and greases
(FOG) to sewer. Such controls are necessary as high levels of
FOG in wastewater are recognized as the primary causal
factor behind sewer blockages and consequent sanitary sewer
overflows. It is for this reason that the quality of wastewater
discharged by food service providers is coming under ever
greater scrutiny as water authorities try to reduce problematic
blockages and improve the quality of sewer services.
Regular service is required by law for wastewater equipment.
The most common form of service is a pump out, in which a
contractor physically removes the accumulated FOG and other
waste from the grease trap. This must take place at least once
every 3 months. In the case of some high volume water users
however, grease traps need to be pumped out every fortnight
or every month in order to ensure that equipment functions
correctly. The cost of maintaining wastewater equipment like
grease traps can consequently be very high, particularly for
high volume water users. For such users, maintenance costs
can be several thousand dollars per month.
Servicing costs aside, there are a number of environmental
issues associated with wastewater equipment that can have a
direct and adverse effect on normal business operations. The
odors released by grease traps and other waste water
equipment are notoriously foul, and can have a negative
impact on customer’s perception of a food service provider.
AirX Australia offers a range of USA developed products that
are designed to not only reduce the costs of maintaining
grease traps and other wastewater equipment and improve
the quality of water discharged to sewer, but also reduce or
Case Study
remove the foul odours associated with grease traps. These
claims are backed up by a wealth of case studies, anecdotal In 2005 AirX USA conducted a year-long field study that
evidence, and independent testing. monitored the effects of bioaugmentation at a full-service
restaurant near a large shopping mall. The restaurant served
AirX Biological Products: How do they work?
lunch and dinner and was open from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Imagine the condition of the earth if all the waste produced seven days a week. The restaurant was equipped with a
over the past thousands of years had not decomposed. It’s 5000L grease trap. The study consisted of four cycles lasting
thanks to bacteria and their bio-enzymatic action that waste up to 90 days each, as determined by the normal pumping
has disappeared. Bacteria and the enzymes they produce are frequency for the restaurant. The first and third cycles were
the miracle workers that for millions of years have safely treated with AirX Maintain at a rate of 600ml per day. The
liquefied and digested organic waste matter and the second and forth cycle were untreated control periods. This
accompanying foul odours. experimental design thus resulted in alternating treated and
untreated periods. At the end of each cycle the grease trap
Now with advanced biotechnology, bacteria can be selected
was pumped completely clean by a commercial grease trap
to attack specific substances and to do natures job faster.
pumping service.
Bioaugmentation is the practice of applying selected naturally-
occurring microorganisms to the drain lines leading to the To determine both the variability in grease trap effluent quality
grease trap and is intended to improve grease trap effluent and an appropriate sampling schedule, a preliminary study
quality, reduce odors, and maintain clear flowing drain lines. was performed prior to the main data collection phase.
Several studies have demonstrated the ability of Samples were collected hourly over a 24-hour period and
microorganisms to degrade FOG and have successfully tested analyzed for oil and grease, total chemical oxygen demand
the concept of bioaugmentation on a lab scale. (TCOD), soluble COD (SCOD), total suspended solids (TSS),
Comprehensive field studies are less numerous, however the pH, and temperature. The data were plotted and the best time
available data are generally favorable. The foremost challenges for sampling was determined to be between 7:00 AM and
to field research in this area involve adequacy and accuracy of 9:00 AM. During this time period, samples were relatively
sampling methods, variability of influent flows and consistent from hour to hour, and it was a convenient time to
characteristics, and the availability of field traps for research sample. As the kitchen was used throughout the day,
studies. Despite these challenges, increasing concerns with increased activity around lunch and dinner led to increased
FOG make it imperative to study the major issues surrounding fluctuations in the effluent characteristics of the hourly
grease trap performance at the field scale. samples.
Samples were collected from the effluent sanitary tee with a
telescopic 7000 series subsurface sampler (Conbar
Environmental Products). The sampler was modified by
attaching a 24-inch polyethylene tube as an air vent. In this
way subsurface samples could be obtained with less bubbling,
causing minimal disturbance of the water column in the
sanitary tee. Samples were typically collected three to four
times per week and analyzed for oil and grease, TSS, and a
variety of other water quality parameters. Biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD) was assayed once weekly. A statistical model
was used to determine overall sampling requirements.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Bioaugmentation led to a 33% reduction in oil and grease, a
69% reduction in BOD, and a 88% reduction in TSS. Also,
nuisance odors related to volatile fatty acids, reduced sulfur
compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide, and other key odor
indicators were significantly reduced. The lateral drain line,
which was cleaned prior to the study, showed no signs of FOG
build-up during treatment cycles.
This study not only demonstrates the positive benefits of
bioaugmentation, it also dispels concerns that
bioaugmentation may cause harm. While bioaugmentation is
important initial characterization of grease traps. Because of
widely practiced, some municipalities are wary about using
these products due to concerns that they may deteriorate the nature of field-scale grease traps, differences in flow,
effluent quality by solubilizing, and subsequently transferring, operation, and influent could not be completely eliminated.
excess FOG to the municipal collection system. These Nevertheless, the experimental design provided a fair way of
concerns are generally anecdotal and have not been validated randomizing these effects. The data demonstrate that
by laboratory or field data. This study demonstrates an actual bioaugmentation decreases oil and grease, BOD, and TSS
reduction in oil and grease and an overall improvement to concentrations in the effluent, reduces odors, and maintains
effluent quality. clean drain lines. The results of this study not only support the
This study represents one of the first comprehensive analyses use of bioaugmentation, it substantially adds to the knowledge
of the effect of bioaugmentation on the effluent characteristics of grease traps and which eventually will help lead to better
of grease traps in the field. As such, this study provides practices to decrease FOG blockages in sewer lines.
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE

Three stations in three

continents
Rail networks have played an integral role in the success of the industrialised world.
However, following the advent of the motor car and some poor city planning
decisions, many of the world’s great stations and rail networks have slipped into
decline. Now, with increasing urban densification and spiralling energy costs, there is
a renewed recognition of the importance of rail networks in meeting our future
transportation needs. Keith Brewis, architect and Director at Grimshaw, shares his
experiences gained from working on the redevelopment of some of the world’s
largest stations and shows how stations, beyond their transportation function, can
also operate as dynamic social and cultural hubs.
Keith Brewis

The former Spencer Street Station in Melbourne. An artist’s impression of Melbourne’s new Southern Cross Station at the site of the
former Spencer Street Station. Image courtesy of Grimshaw.

T
hroughout the late nineteenth century, the British artist William their trains. Trains are seen as transport for the poor, for the young, and
Powell Frith and others were drawn to the emerging European as a last resort for the city dwellers and workers.
stations – the palaces of the industrial age. Here they saw the Melbourne is a well planned city that promotes the use of its ground
forced collision of every emotion and every class of society in huge plan – its lanes and streets are lined and filled with trees, cafes, trams and
thronging halls of steam fed technology; these were the great social people. It was easy to see what was wrong near the station: passengers
melting-pots of the industrial age world. The motor car – selfish, were being forced into underground tunnels to access platforms and the
inefficient and sterile – has, with its vast highways of smeared oil, tried rail corridor was completely severing the city from its valuable Docklands.
hard to eradicate the ‘iron road’. By pushing the terminating platforms (adjacent to Spencer Street)
These days though, for social and economic, as well as northwards and vaulting bridges which extended the great Collins and
environmental reasons, the train is fighting back with some conviction Bourke Streets to the west, the re-planned station could attach three
and many great cities within the European and Asian economies concourses to these three streets and the life of the station could then re-
embrace it as the only really efficient method of point-to-point transport. activate the streets and vice versa. This plan also works well for
Historically stations were introduced into established cities as key passengers. It pushes them to the edge, overcoming congestion. As the
points of arrival for both freight and people. Traditionally, the engineering appointed architects, Grimshaw was then faced with a problem: it was
required to push tracks into established communities was complex in the vital to the Victorian State Government that the station heralded a new
extreme – with tunnelling, viaducts and bridges used to continue the age for the train and thus they called for an icon – a vast single
city’s movements across the rail corridor. Quite often though, the very enclosure.
thing that was introduced to serve the city severed its communities in the Containing heat, diesel, noise and people together in the one space
process. This disconnection has been furthered with the decline of city
centre industry – repositioned to offer better access for low-loaders and
container ships, away from the populace. As a result major stations in
sites often sit on the edge of the city centre with a neglected, vacant
industrial land tract to the city’s river or sea. The move to redevelop
these tracts of land is thwarted due to the disconnection of the railway
corridor and, in most cases, the station itself becomes the barrier. The
station cannot be moved for many obvious reasons so every re-
development needs to upgrade in-situ, in and around each busy,
populated and complex facility. It has become important again for
stations to become civil. While they play an obvious role for their
passengers, they also seem to have real catalytic and symbolic role to
their environs and cities.
The old Spencer Street Station in Melbourne had all of these traits; a
declined dock area to the west, a thriving city to the east, a forlorn local
environment and a bad public image. Australians love their cars – not
An artist’s impression of the new train platforms. Image courtesy of Grimshaw.

64 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

presents many functional difficulties. To have followed the nineteenth
century European model of a top ventilated, barrel vault roof would have
worked if there was a sole concourse but we had determined that every
edge was lined with a concourse to match the city’s street pattern. So we
proposed and developed a three dimensional dunal roof of offset
domes, which capture hot contaminated air and uses the prevailing wind,
and thermal currents to extract the air. The detail and resolution of the
roof, the facade and the supporting structure were all driven through
computational fluid dynamic modelling (CFD) and the construction
techniques which sought to build a brand new station over an
operational one without disruption.
In parallel with the newly named Southern Cross Station, Grimshaw
was working on the Station Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena, located to the
south-east of Amsterdam on the train line that connects to Utrecht. The
rail corridor, on its original introduction via a raised earth embankment,
had entirely split a community and had resulted in the zone to the west
prospering with commerce and including Amsterdam’s fifty thousand
seat football arena. To the eastern side a residential area with a high
proportion of social housing and a natural place for its immigrant
population was isolated. The previous connection between the two was
a single narrow and dark tunnel through the suburban station.
An aerial view of the Station Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena and the surrounding locale.
Photographer: Mark Humphreys
The railway required the addition of high-speed tracks to be
introduced and by proposing the entire corridor be lifted by two metres
for two kilometres, the opportunity presented itself to introduce a grand
connecting boulevard and transform Bijlmer into a transport and
community hub.
Again, the construction of the project was complex. The existing
lines and station remained operational while new viaducts building two
tracks and a platform at a time, first expanded then replaced the old
system so as to now provide eight lines and four platforms.
Every aspect of the design was centred on the need to civilise these
viaducts. A long-spanned design structure was introduced to avoid a
tunnel-like feeling, though the most important design ambition covered
the design of the roof. Its modulation and detail as well as the use of an
Oregon pine soffit civilises the place. Again the planned introduction of
An artist’s impression of a platform at Station Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena. Image Courtesy
of Grimshaw.
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE
natural light and ventilation is vital. Voids cut into platforms improve
visual connectivity and light between the two levels and the staggered,
split roof plane introduces the station’s aesthetics.
Lower Manhattan seems currently to be a vast building zone, largely
as a result of the tragic circumstances of September 11, 2001. However,
the enormous redevelopment of the World Trade Center site is
paralleled with a more modest, though strategically important,
redevelopment in Fulton Street – one block to the west – on Broadway.
New York’s current subway transit system was planned conforming to
the classic mode of commercial competition. Each of New York City’s
subway lines was initially developed privately. Running north-south
through Manhattan, these separated lines were actually designed to
make it as difficult as possible for passengers to transfer between
competing lines. Where Manhattan tapers at its southern end, these lines
were forced to meet and entwine but where connections were made,
they were contorted, convoluted, and unpleasant in the extreme.
While the former World Trade Center had introduced a financial
district to lower Manhattan, its environs remained impoverished. 9/11
was the funding catalyst to a master plan that sought to reconnect the
subway lines effectively and use the transit centre to promote and
improve its local area.
By proposing a vast concourse two levels below ground, it was
possible to connect upward to lines 4 & 5 and downward to lines A & C,
and further utilise the corners of the below ground concourse to link and
promote the gridded city at its corners. A ground level retail area with
upper food and beverage mezzanine lining the streets was introduced to
stimulate life outside the station as well as in. In doing so, Broadway (the
Avenue of Heroes) and John Street become re-engaged and Robert
Stern’s master plan for Fulton Street is furthered. A connection below
An artist’s impression of Fulton Street Station’s new exterior. Image courtesty of
Grimshaw.
ground to Calatrava’s World Trade Center Station 200 metres to the east
was also introduced.
The task for Grimshaw was again about civility, creating an authentic
public realm two storeys under the street. New Yorkers crave daylight, so
the introduction of a lensed oculus which was modelled and detailed to
focus light through every sun-path deep into the ground has become
that station’s identity. The oculus peers over Corbin’s 1874 Long Island
Railroad Building to the Project’s south and works with the scale of the
landmark St Pauls Cathedral, the place made famous for providing a
place of solace during the turmoil of 9/11, to the diagonally opposite
corner on Broadway. Grimshaw have worked with artist James Carpenter
to manipulate the reflective internal surface of the dome to further
enchant users of the space.
With each project, Grimshaw’s have striven to knit the city in which it
sits together. To rebuild the station as a vital part of the city’s
infrastructure promoting and improving transport while also contributing
to its symbol and civility. All three architectural solutions are driven
through performance to lift the soul and mood of the station users. In
Melbourne and Amsterdam the transformation of the local areas
continues to be nothing short of remarkable.
Southern Cross Station was awarded the RAIA Victorian Architecture
Medal, the RIBA Lubetkin Prize, the RIBA International Award 2007, the
RAIA Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design 2007, the RAIA
William Wardle Public Architecture Award 2007, the Architectural Steel
Design Award, Australian Steel Institute, the Victorian Industry Capability
Award 2007 and the Australian Construction Achievement Award 2007.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 65
PLANNING & INFRASTRUCTURE

In 2008, the Biljmer Station has already

received the Royal Institute of British
Architects European Award and the Royal
Institute of Dutch Architects Building of the
Year. It is, at the time of printing, short-listed
for the Stirling Prize.
Grimshaw was voted UK Architectural
Practice of the Year 2008.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND

GRIMSHAW
Keith Brewis, BArch(Hons) DipArch RIBA,
Director, Grimshaw, studied at Sheffield
University and has been with Grimshaw since
1995. He has an expertise in leading highly
complex civic projects as demonstrated in
Grimshaw’s work at Paddington Station in
London, Southern Cross Station in
Melbourne, and the Fundacíon Caixa Galicia
in A Coruña, all landmark projects which
included master planning and strategic
management services. In 2002 Keith
relocated to Australia to establish
Grimshaw’s Australian venture. Keith is a UK
registered architect, a member of the Green
Building Council of Australia; sits on the
Commission for Architecture and The Built
Environment (CABE) advisory panel in the UK
and on Property Council (VIC) Sustainability
Committee and the recently formed industry
group Steel: Framing the Future, sponsored An artist’s impression of the lensed oculus. Image courtesy of Grimshaw.
by the University of Sydney.

MELBOURNE t TORONTO t ABU DHABI t LONDON t GLASGOW Facilities & Property Management Software from Service Works Global

e w
ic
o
serv

r k s

g
l o b al
software

Streamline Facilities Performance with QFM Software

QFM from Service Works Global is a comprehensive, modular software application that delivers
measurable cost savings and optimises operational efficiency of FM assets and services. QFM
incorporates extensive reporting capabilities to deliver complete visibility of critical facilities
management performance data and identify future cost reduction opportunities.

Australia’s only integrated PPP software solution

QFM features a flexible PPP concession management solution to:

t


Seamlessly integrate and automate t


Provide real-time performance

complex KPI regimes into day-to-day information and reporting at the touch
operations of a button

t


Reduce operational costs and t


Deliver a contract life-cycle approach to

administration risk services and maintenance management

For more information or a QFM demonstration, please contact us on: (T) +61 3 9836 7880

Service Works Global, Suite 8, 333 Canterbury Road, Canterbury, VIC 3126 T +61 3 9836 7880 E info@swg.com W www.serviceworksglobal.com.au

66 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 CLIENT FEATURE

The complete solution in

glass repair
Express Glass has been servicing the Facilities
Management market for over 20 years and
0DQDJLQJ'LUHFWRU$GULDQ*URFRWWLVFRQÀGHQW
they know what it is Facilities Managers want in
a glazier.
When Express Glass began in 1984 founder
Keith Grocott saw a gap in the glazing market.
No other glazing company truly met the needs
of the unique Facilities Management market.
Twenty four years and one generation later,
Express Glass are still making sure they are the
glazier providing the best service to FMs.
Reporting
Express Glass have recently completed the
latest step in a suite of ongoing upgrades
that reflects a continued focus on fulfilling
their clients needs.
Installation of a new software package
means they’re now able to tailor-design a
reporting package specifically for you.
You decide what information you want to
see, and when, and Express Glass will craft
personal reports to the criteria you set.
Their dynamic reporting tools can produce We repair everywhere
easy-to-follow reports on:
ŏ5HVSRQVHWLPHVDQGVHUYLFHOHYHOV
ŏ)LQDQFLDOLQIRUPDWLRQ²ZKHUHLV\RXU
money being spent?
ŏ&RPSOLDQFHUHYLHZ([SUHVV*ODVV·V
adherence to your compliance With over 20 years of experience, Express
requirements such as paperwork and OH&S. Glass understands the needs of national
Plus any other information you wish to see. FM companies.
We service Australia’s top Facilities
Through an unrivalled network spanning all
0DQDJHPHQW ÀUPV E\ SURYLGLQJ D
over Australia, Express Glass provides a fast
complete glass and glazing service 24
response no matter what time of the day or
hours every day, all over Australia.
night you call.
We can now tailor-make reports to your
For further information please contact criteria. You specify exactly what you want
Mark Jennings markj@expressglass.com.au; to see and we’ll produce easy-to-read
visit www.expressglass.com.au; reports when you need them - another
or call the Express Glass Service way Express Glass can help you operate
Department on 1300 666 234. PRUHHIÀFLHQWO\

www.expressglass.com.au
proud
supporter of

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 67
FM AROUND THE GLOBE

FM at United Nations House,

The following is a travel tale of how Andrew Carson came to work as the Facilities Manager in the
United Nations House in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

W
ell it all started back in 1992 at the age of 25. I was in need of
a change and new challenge after spending 8 years working
within my trade as a metal fabricator/welder in Tasmania,
Victoria and Western Australia, I decided to embark on an overseas work
and travel adventure. With no real plan in place I took off from Perth WA
with a one way ticket to London via the USA.
The first stop was Hawaii where I spent 2 fabulous weeks
backpacking around the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. I then flew to Los
Angeles, the starting point of a fascinating 4 week 4000 km drive across
the USA taking in all the famous sights through the southern states along
the old route 66, ending in New York City.
From New York I flew to London and spent a month discovering the
famous old city. Inevitably I became low on money and needed to find
work fast, so I dropped into a London employment agency. To my
surprise there were plenty of jobs for metal fabricator/welders in London
but the pay was far less than I was earning in Australia and the cost of
living was far higher, so I decided to leave London before I got bogged
down and flew to Holland to meet up with some Australian friends.
It was here where I found my first overseas job as a metal
fabricator/welder, and it was a great place to base myself and visit all the
neighboring European countries. After 6 fabulous months in Holland I biblical city of Jerusalem. It was here that I found my 4th over-seas job in
decided to head back to the UK to fulfill a live long ambition to visit the heart of the old city close to the Damascus gate, as a hotel
Scotland. manager/tour organiser in a popular travelers hotel. I ended up staying in
Things got off to a good start in Scotland as I was lucky to find a job this job for 9 incredibly enjoyable and fascinating months and got the
in Edinburgh as a metal fabricator/welder and decided that it was a very chance to visit Bethlehem, Jericho, Gaza Strip, the Dead Sea, the Sea of
cosy place to see out the harsh winter. Galilee, Masada, the Sinai and the pyramids of Egypt.
With the coming of spring it was time to move on in search of the As my Israeli visa had expired I said my goodbyes and headed north
sun so I flew down to the Greek Island of Crete where I ferried and across the Mediterranean Sea for Turkey to be present at the 79th
backpacked my way through most of the beautiful Islands over a 2 Anniversary of the ANZAC day landing on the beaches of Gallipoli.
month period, finally ended up in Haifa, Israel. Words can not describe how it felt to be present at this dawn
Short of money and in need of work I was offered a 3 month service…Lest we forget!
contract as an air-conditioning duct installer on a high rise building site in After spending 6 weeks travelling around Turkey it was time to get
Tel Aviv. On completion of this job I left Tel Aviv to visit the ancient back to the UK and make plans for heading back home to Australia. This

68 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

was not meant to be as I came across a job advertisement in a local
London paper for Engineering Trades people to join the United Nations
Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the Former Yugoslavia.
As a long shot I applied and lo and behold I got the job. Here I was,
after a 2 year amazing adventure around the world, off to a war zone to
work for the engineering section of the United Nations.
My first position with the United Nations was Camp Services
Coordinator for Regional Headquarters Zenica in central Bosnia and
Herzegovina where I was responsible for the management of daily
operations necessary to run the permanent and transit camps for
UNPROFOR peacekeeping soldiers and UN civilian field service staff. In
this role I supervised trades people, catering staff, cleaners, drivers and
ground keepers.
After the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995 I was
transferred to Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina where
I was offered a mission appointee contract with the Building
Management Section of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (UNMIBH). UNMIBH exercised a wide range of functions
related to the law enforcement activities and police reform in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The Mission also coordinated other UN activities in the
country relating to humanitarian relief and refugees, demining, human
rights, elections and rehabilitation of infrastructure and economic
reconstruction.
My first position with UNMIBH was Construction Supervisor
responsible for 48 trades and general service staff providing engineering
support services to the UNMIBH including the maintenance and upkeep
of the mission headquarters building, 12 United Nations international
police task force stations, military observer posts, communications
repeater stations, logistic bases, regional headquarters, freight terminals,
fuel stations, mechanical workshops, helicopter hanger & landing sites,
and the reconstruction project of the war damaged student dormitory
complex into a modern office complex that would become the new
United Nations Head Quarters Building in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Upon completion of this building in July 2000 the Chief of the
UNMIBH Building Management Section appointed me as the Facilities
Manager. The building was inaugurated by the former UN Secretary
General Kofi Anan on his visit to Sarajevo on the 17th of November 2002
and designated for common use of all United Nations agencies,
organisations and programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The building
serves as a major office complex with the capability to house up to 900
people, representing several different organisations under the United
Nations and European Union umbrella, and allowing all the organisations
to work in unison to achieve the same goals.
In my role as Facilities Manager I am required to oversee all technical
and general maintenance activities, OH&S, office space allocation,
ground maintenance, sanitation, catering, cleaning, garbage collection
and snow removal. On a daily basis I work very closely with the mission
security advisor, senior management and line managers to ensure the
building is safe, secure, aesthetically presentable, and reliable. This
position involves planning, directing and coordinating activities of both
the in house facilities management staff, out sourced contractors, all
related administrative work and the supervision of personnel. I prepare,
approve and follow-up on all work orders (building maintenance and
minor engineering works), prepare and manage the FM budget
allotments and monitor the consumption of all utilities and maintenance
supplies.
Since the brutal terrorist attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad
in August 2003 that claimed the lives of 22 people, new UN building
security measures were announced in the wake of the security probe. As
a result the mission security advisor and I were responsible to upgrade
the building security as soon as possible to make it fully compliant with
all new UN and EU mission operational security standards. We did this by
installing blast proof film on all the windows, installed reinforced concrete
crash barriers around the entire perimeter of the building, purchased an
x-ray machine and metal detector, built a remote fully independent
emergency rescue operational centre, installed additional CCTV cameras
internally and externally and installed an electronic access control system
that monitors the movements of all people within the building. The
Security Section employs 30 trained security guards providing 24/7
building security, 365 days per year. They are responsible to perform
security checks on all people, vehicles, mail, deliveries and contractors
entering the building, implement and exercise building fire safety and
evacuation plans that can be compared to Australian Standard AS-3745-
2002 - emergency control organisation and procedures for buildings,
FM AROUND THE GLOBE
structures and workplaces.
The UN House has a grand total of 12,000 m2 of usable floor space
composed of 3, 9 floor towers. The HVAC system consists of 2 x 60 kW
York Air Cooled Liquid Chillers and 2 Unical oil or gas fuelled boilers
connected to 600 fan coil units and 4 air handling units monitored and
controlled from a main computer by the Facilities Management Unit.
Common shared areas available to all tenants include 3 executive
conference rooms, communication information technology hub,
cafeteria, VIP dining room, fitness centre, book shop and secure internal
parking for 400 official vehicles.
My interest and enthusiasm in Facilities Management prompted me
to embark on distance learning to gain a recognised Australian
qualification in FM that would enhance my future career prospects so I
enrolled in the Facilities Management Diploma Program on offer via
distant learning with the education and training company of the
University of New England in New South Wales and obtained my
Diploma in December 2005. My studies included life cycle planning, risk
management, quality assurance, financial planning and budgeting,
procurement and contract management, project management and
human resources management.
I am currently studying the Certificate IV in Occupational Health &
Safety with TAFE/NSW open training and education network and plan to
be successfully finished by November 2008. OH&S studies include 10
modules, OHS Compliance, implementation of the OHS consultation
process, identify hazards and assess OHS risks, implementation of
strategies to control OHS risk, implementation of emergency procedures,
administer human resource systems, establishing business networks,
analysing and presenting research information, and the development of
teams and individuals. I firmly believe it is very important for all Facilities
Managers to be fully aware and up to speed on all issues relating to
OH&S as it is law under the OH&S act in all states of Australia that “the
person in control of premises must ensure that the premises are safe and
without risk to health”. This law places immense responsibility on
Facilities Managers.
Studying FM and OH&S has been very time consuming and
challenging but also a very informative and highly rewarding experience.
I would strongly recommend anybody wishing to move from a trade
background into Facilities Management to take the step and embark on
studies as it will give you the confidence and essential skills required to
be a competent and qualified Facilities Manager. On completion of my
current OH&S studies I plan to work on achieving the FMA - AFM2
accreditation.
My position in Facilities Management has opened up many doors
and networking opportunities as I was invited to attend the 7th United
Nations Inter-Agency Network of Facilities Managers annual meeting at
the UNESCO Head Quarters building in Paris, France in May 2007. This
was a fantastic 4 day event and I got to network with other Facilities
Managers and exchanged ideas and experiences with people form all
corners of the world.
After 14 years living and working overseas I plan returning home to
Melbourne in the not too distant future with my Bosnian wife of 5 years
and 2 children to continue working in the challenging FM sector, and
look forward to meeting some of the readers of this magazine at the
ideaction 2009.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 69
ESSENTIAL SERVICES & COMPLIANCE

A wave of change in Queensland

Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008
BY GEOFFREY VICK, SAFETY MEASURES MANAGER, ESSENTIAL PROPERTY SERVICES PTY LTD

The recent introduction in Queensland of the Building Fire Safety Regulation (2008) (BFSR
2008) in July 2008, combined with the adoption of AS1851-2005 in 2006 has substantially
altered previously accepted fire safety standards and regulations. It should be recognised that
Queensland now has possibly the strictest fire safety standards of any state in Australia since
adopting the much discussed AS1851-2005 as the minimum standard, and introduction of
BFSR 2008. As a result Queensland now has one of the most challenging environments for
building owners, managers and maintenance contractors to do business in a compliant
manner The Queensland Government has now modelled the mandatory reporting provisions
of the BFSR 2008 in the theme of AS1851-2005, and it would seem that Queensland may be
leading the way forward to a nationally accepted essential safety measures maintenance and
reporting benchmark.
Geoffrey Vick

BACKGROUND An exit door is now deemed to be deemed compliant if it complies

The introduction of the BFSR 2008 was most recently as a result of the
The Department of Emergency Services (DES) completing a review of the
Building Fire Safety Regulation 1991 and a draft of the proposed
replacement regulation being prepared and made available for public
comment in June 2007. The regulation as made now in Queensland is
subordinate to the Building Act 1975, Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990,
Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 and State Penalties
Enforcement Act 1999. The most recent changes represent the second
phase of an overall review of fire safety arrangements in Queensland. In
general terms the regulation has been expanded and is far more
comprehensive in its approach and coverage in respect to building
occupant fire safety. 
Owners, managers and occupiers of commercial buildings should
make themselves aware of the fundamental and finite changes to the
regulation particularly in respect to matters of;
3 Occupant egress
3 Fire safety management organisation
3 Passive fire and smoke containment systems
3 Full function system testing
3 Manditory reporting obligations
The new regulation has a wider reaching objective by strengthening
laws in respect to ensuring safe egress from buildings and appropriate
maintenance of fire safety installations. Relative to the additional
requirements of the new regulation there are additonal penalties that can
be imposed for non compliance.
DOCUMENTION
Occupiers must now take reasonable steps to obtain building approval
documents i.e. (development approvals, certificates of classification or fire
engineered solutions) or ensure the managing entity of the building does
the same on their behalf prior to occupation with copies kept onsite at all
times in a safe location. These documents must be kept with the
emergency management plans at all times.
TERMINOLOGY
Introduction of new terminology e.g. description of ‘common areas’ or
‘managing entity’ providing delineation between tenancies and
owners/managers/ body corporate managers areas of responsibilities
hence removing some of the previous regulations ambiguity in respect to
areas of responsibility.
TECHNICAL CHANGES IN RESPECT TO OCCUPANCY AND FIRE
SAFETY INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE
Egress
Prohibition of locking of doors on evacuation routes with special
exemptions for child care centres and places of lawful custody. The new
provisions only apply to doors on evacuation routes i.e. doors on the path
of travel from a common area of a building through a final exit door to a
place of safety outside a building.
with the provisions of the Building Code of Australia Volume 1 Part D
(BCA). Doors that have locking mechanisms that do not pass this test must
be replaced or modified otherwise are deemed illegal. This new regulation
now recognizes that the BCA sets the building standard.
New requirements legislate against unauthorised modification to
evacuation routes i.e. installation of non approved mechanical ventilation
systems, holding open of fire and smoke resisting doors or failing to seal
holes around service penetrations in a walls of a fire isolated passage or
compartment. These requirements make it mandatory for building
owners/occupiers to repair deficiencies in fire resisting construction within
specific time frames.
MAINTENANCE & REPORTING
Under the provisions of the new regulation the previously mandatory
“Certificate of Maintenance” has been repealed. A revised version of the
“Record of Maintenance” is now required to be submitted to the QFRS on
an annual basis and must now include specific information of not only
maintenance and testing of “Special Fire Services” but all prescribed “Fire
Safety Installations”.
The new Record of Maintenance must include the following details and
supportive documentation;
3 Details of maintenance and contractors undertaking maintenance
works on a fire safety installation in a prescribed format.
3 Relevant dates
3 Maintenance standards complied with and relevant to the fire
safety installation.
3 Reasons for non compliance of installed fire safety installations
3 Details of repairs to fire safety installations
3 Condition reports from maintenance contractors
Supplementary documentation requirements;
1. Statement signed by various contractors verifying the testing and
maintenance standards achieved.
2. Details of Critical Defect Notices issued by maintenance
contractors
Critical Defects
There is now an obligation for maintenance contractors or any person
conducting maintenance and or testing to notify occupiers of critical
defects in line with the changes to AS1851-2005. The definition is a critical
defect is defect in a prescribed fire safety installation for a building that;
3 the defect is likely to render the installation inoperable;
3 the defect is reasonably likely to have a significant adverse impact
on the safety of occupants of part or all of the building if a fire or
hazardous materials emergency happens.
Examples of critical defects;
3 a defect making a fire detection and alarm system inoperable
3 a defect in a pump making the fire hydrants for a building
inoperable
Maintenance of Fire Safety Installations
The BFSR now specifically references the whole of AS1851-2005 (Refer
Schedule 1 BFSR) and prescribes mandatory time frames for rectification

70 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 4
%.4
2%
2%.4 3YDN
#ONDITIIONING
!IR#
!IR#ONDITIONING
WWW!CTIVE!IRRCOMAU
WWW!CTIVE!IRCOMAU
66ˆÃȈÌʜ
6ˆ À ˜˜iÜ
Ì œÕÕÀÊ 7iLÃ
iÜÊÊ7 ˆÌit
iLÈÌi
EYs-EL
BOURNE
s "
"RISBA NEs#AN
BERRAs.EW
CASTLEs!DELAIDE

7HY2ENT

7HY!CTIVE

"REAKDOWN

-AINTENANCE
"EST%QUIPMENT

5NDER#APACITY
&ASTEST3ERVICE

3EASONAL.EEDS
!LWAYS!VAILABLE

%QUIPMENT
3POT#OOLERS
&ANS"LOWERS

0ACKAGE5NITS
$UST&UME%XTRACTION

#HILLERS
'ENERATORS-ORE



WWWACTIVEAIRCOMAU

“Different Folks – Different Strokes” CLIENT FEATURE

For too long portable air conditioning has had a

“one size fits all” approach. Whether you were
cooling a classroom or a data centre the same two
arm ‘robot’ would be called to duty, but not any
more. Active Air Rentals has developed a full range
of portable air conditioners from the small and quiet
3.5 kW unit right up to the trailer mounted 128 kW
diesel fuelled package unit. This will ensure that
whatever the application Active Air Rentals will be
capable of cooling it.
The picture shows the AC 040 which is a quiet,
efficient and surprisingly good looking machine that
is very popular for offices and showrooms. The unit
on the right is the AC 061 which delivers a huge 6
kW and operates from a standard 10 amp power
point making it very sort after for computer rooms
and data centres.
Temporary air conditioning requirements are always
different and often challenging and it’s crucially
important to have the right equipment for the job.
Active Air Rentals’ experienced staff will ensure that
you are left with a solution that is safe, efficient and
cost effective.

72 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 ESSENTIAL SERVICES & COMPLIANCE

works to be undertaken subsequent to inspections by maintenance
contractors. Occupiers or responsible parties must ensure that
maintenance of each prescribed fire safety installation for the building
specified in the BFSR is inspected and tested at intervals in compliance
with the relevant current standard for the installation.
If a maintenance report provided by a maintenance contractor or
responsible person shows that repair or other corrective action is required
for the installation the occupier or responsible person of the building must
ensure the repair is carried out. The corrective action must be taken no
later than 1 month after the inspection was carried out unless the occupier
has a reasonable excuse.
If no relevant standards exist maintenance should be undertaken in
accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations about the maintenance
of the installation in a way that is consistent with the recommendations or in
a way that is reasonably appropriate in the interests of safety.
apply to all buildings except special use or some licensed premises (e.g.
nightclubs) where the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) has
issued a special notice to apply more stringent occupancy controls.
Occupiers are to ensure that the number of persons in a building at any
one time does not present an unreasonable risk to any person in the
building. In short the provision is designed to prevent overcrowding.
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
The regulation commenced on 1 July 2008 but there are transitional
provisions for some of the new requirements. Existing occupancies have
until 1 July 2009 to appoint and train a Fire Safety Adviser. Occupiers have
12 months in which to obtain relevant approval documents for the building
and primary and secondary occupiers to integrate their fire and evacuation
plans in multi-tenanted buildings. Additional transitional provisions also
apply.

EVACUATION PLANS AND FIRE SAFETY ADVISERS FINALLY

Evacuation plans for a building must now include: This article is intended as a brief overview and covers some of the
3 details of the persons responsible for developing, changing and changes to Building Fire Safety Regulation affecting the overall fire safety
reviewing the plan, for example, an emergency planning environment in Queensland. Commercial building owners, managers and
committee established under AS 3745-2002 or a manager whose occupiers should seek advice and keep up to date with changes to
responsibilities include the safety of building occupants. statutory environment to avoid litigation and penalties in the case of a fire
3 the name of the fire safety advisor for the building. or hazardous goods emergency and non performance of compliant
3 Examples of procedures for ensuring that fire and evacuation maintenance in their buildings.
instructions are given are included to assist compliance
The BFSR now includes an extensive list of examples of alternative ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
solutions management and occupation/ usage conditions to ensure that Geoff Vick is the State Manager of Essential Property Services Pty Ltd which is
the requirement for such conditions to be included in Fire and Evacuation part of the Hendry Group of consultancy companies and has 18 years experience in
Plans are comprehended. the facility management and building consultancy industries. Essential Property
There is now express obligation on the owner to coordinate the Services provides essential safety measure inspections/logbooks, contractor audits,
evacuation requirements for the whole building (for example making sure annual declarations for essential safety measures and contractor statement monitoring
that the evacuation plans for separate occupancies are integrated with the services. All services designed to assist facility managers with their maintenance and
whole of building plan and that the whole building undertake appropriate reporting compliance. Essential Property Services utilises advanced state-of-the-art
evacuation practice). BFSR requires that the managing entity (the entity facility management software and web based reporting systems.
responsible for the general access areas of a building, e.g. body corporate
or centre manager) ensures that the whole of building evacuation plan
takes into account the evacuation plans of separate tenants (called
secondary occupiers). BFSR also requires that secondary occupiers ensure
that their plans are consistent with the whole of building plan and requires
primary and secondary occupiers to notify each other of any changes to the Affordable, Customised Solutions
evacuation plan. in Emergency Procedures & Training
Fire Safety Advisers
In accordance with BFSR the occupier of a high occupancy building/s
(typically commercial buildings accommodating 30 or more people and
In An Emergency
other types) must now appoint a person who holds a current building fire
safety qualification in the field of fire, evacuation procedures and
ARE YOU
emergency organisation as the designated fire safety adviser for the
building.
PREPARED?
In fire & other emergency
After commencement of the requirements the occupier or responsible
situations, lack of knowledge &
entity will not be required to appoint a fire safety adviser for the building preparation can lead to loss of
until 1 month after the commencement of occupation of the building. Not property and, sometimes, lives.
withstanding this it should be noted that occupiers are also currently Adair Fire & Emergency
responsible to ensure employees have been given adequate evacuation Consultants do more than just
instructions within 2 days of starting work in a building. assist organisations in meeting
Occupiers should check perspective safety advisers qualifications. The their legal & moral obligations.
curriculum for the course is to be developed by the Queensland Fire and We develop emergency
management programs that help
Rescue Service and further developed and delivered by a Registered
provide a safer workplace and
Training Organization approved by the Queensland Fire and Rescue protect the business viability.
Service with a recertification required every 3 years.
Other requirements for high occupancy building occupation and fire
Diverse Emergency Procedure Courses are available from
safety advisers include:
3 Any evacuation instructions are given by a registered training
Adair Fire & Emergency Consultants.
Site Specific Training Courses: Emergency Procedures
organisation.
s)NITIAL7ARDEN4RAINING & Plans/Posters:
3 Fire safety adviser engaged must be familiar with the evacuation
s#HIEF7ARDEN4RAINING s3ITE)NSPECTION#ONSULTING
coordination procedures specific to the building and gives the s"OMB4HREAT2ESPONSE s$OCUMENTATION
evacuation coordination instructions or arranges for the instructions s7ORKPLACE3ECURITY0ERSONAL3AFETY
to be given by a suitable person who is also familiar with the site. s&IRST!TTACK&IRE&IGHTING
(This reduces the chance of errors in instruction issued from remote s$EALINGWITH7ORKPLACE&IRES
offices by a person who have never visited the building) s$IFlCULTIESDURINGAN%VACUATION
Minimise your risks and improve your workplace safety. Contact Adair now!
OCCUPANCY LIMITS FOR BUILDINGS phone (02) 9787 5177 email admin@adairfire.com.au www.adairfire.com.au
The BFSR sets out the occupancy safety factors, such as density and
available exit width that are to be taken into account in calculating
maximum occupancy limits. Occupancy limit obligations in the regulation

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 73
ESSENTIAL SERVICES
Building Update
ABOUT THE HENDRY GROUP
Derek Hendry is the Managing Director of the Hendry Group of consultancy
companies, including Essential Property Services. Derek pioneered the ‘private
certification’ system of building approvals in Australia , and his nationally based
consultancy offices assist clients in all facets of building control and essential safety
measure audits. The Hendry Group publish an e-newsletter entitled ‘essential
matters’, available online at www.emau.com.au, and their new service, BCA
Illustrated (at www.bcai.com.au), offers 3000 illustrations explaining and
interpreting the BCA as it applies to your building.
AUST: PROPERTY LEASING POLICY
Building owners and facility managers who control retail and
commercial property should develop a property leasing policy and have
a working understanding of lease clauses to ensure their interests are
protected under the various state Retail Tenancies/ Lease Legislation. A
property leasing policy needs to include requirements for tenancy fit outs
and approval requirements.
A leasing policy will also identify appropriate lawful uses for the
owner’s property and identify whether certain uses will cause an upgrade
or major non compliance of their building for a prospective tenant and
for those who already reside in the building.
A typical leasing policy will cover factors such as:
3 Approved use and occupancy.
3 Lease management responsibilities.
3 Existing asset life cycle and condition.
3 Tenant types.
3 Lease terms.
3 Rates and taxes.
3 Legal advice.
3 Allowable hours in use.
3 Statutory requirements.
3 Planning requirements.
3 Fit out guidelines
3 Approval requirements.
3 Legal requirements.
3 Implications of building work relative to some uses.
3 Rent reviews.
3 Contractor entry rights.
3 Essential safety measure obligations.
Building owners and facility managers who are leasing premises and
do not completely vet a lease prior to execution can be exposed to
significant capital investment in the property where the tenants use
demands the base building to be equipped with additional services or
features under the various state regulations, such as building regulations
and OH&S.
For example, sub tenanting an existing single tenant building could
demand individual metered electrical supply and separate air
conditioning systems. Accepting a lease for a food outlet will certainly
increase the level of impact on a building, as these uses usually require
kitchen exhaust systems, bin wash down and storage areas, cool rooms,
patron toilet facilities and the like.
Owners also need to be very alert to proposals that jeopardise
existing planning permits and occupancy permits (certificate of
classification). A change from a dress shop to a take away food premise
or café for example is commonly regarded as a change of use (under
legislation), causing flow on affects on the base building when
compliance is mandated by the approving authority.
Incompatible mixed uses in a building such as restaurant or hotel
combined with say a professional office will always produce ongoing
complaints and dissatisfaction.
Experience suggests that most situations are avoidable if adequate
74 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
consideration was given to the likely impacts of a particular tenancy.
However the best leasing policy will be of no use if the owner’s agent is
oblivious to the owner’s required standards. Consequently, an owner/
facility manager must also ensure that their agent diligently adheres to
their requirements.
VIC: ANNUAL ESSENTIAL SAFETY MEASURES REPORT
June 2009 is the date facility managers are reminded to mark in their
diary to ensure they meet their buildings ‘essential safety measures’
requirements for the building owner to issue an annual essential safety
measures report (AESMR). All buildings in Victoria other than houses and
outbuildings, no matter when the building was built, require an AESMR
to be issued by the owner.
The signing of the AESMR is past tense, that is, the owner is
confirming that all the required testing, maintenance, reporting
procedures and required maintenance works have been recorded and
carried out satisfactorily in the preceding 12 months. Most occupancy
permits/ determinations since 1994 require 3 monthly egress inspections.
These must be performed and recorded to ensure that when the owner
signs the AESMR, in the event of any subsequent incident (emergency) in
the building, the building owner is reasonably protected in an
investigation.
AUST: EARTH AND WATER ELECTROCUTES
Facility Managers should be aware of a Standards Australia
“Standards Alert” for ‘Earthing of Electrical Installations Using the Water
Reticulation System’.
Possible injury and damage to life and property can be caused by
earthing installations that use the outdated practice of earthing to
metallic pipes. This hazard can appear in two ways: through the
introduction of plastic water pipes into existing metallic water reticulation
systems; or by faults in the electricity network conducting through
metallic pipes.
SA: LEGIONELLA REGULATIONS UPDATED
Facility managers in SA should ensure that their contractors are
aware of the new provisions in SA Health’s Public and Environment
Health (Legionella) Regulations 2008 which came into effect on October
1, 2008.
The primary function of the regulations is to safeguard public health
through the proper management of high risk manufactured water
systems (cooling water systems and warm water systems). For more
information go to www.health.sa.gov.au
 MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

The changing world of

maintenance and energy in
pre-loved buildings
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE APRIL 2008 EDITION OF ECOLIBRIUM(R), THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF REFRIGERATION, AIR CONDITIONING AND HEATING (AIRAH). VISIT WWW.AIRAH.ORG.AU FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Existing building stocks make up around 95 per cent of Australia’s built

environment. While much attention is given to the accomplishments of new
‘green’ buildings, it is among our current existing stocks that real savings
need to be found in terms of energy and water efficiency. Laurie Reeves
provides some insights into how big gains in the operational efficiency of
pre-loved buildings can be achieved by implementing some simple
maintenance strategies.

Laurie Reeves

O
ver the past 15 or so years, maintenance attitudes and practice
have changed due to a large increase in the quantity and
diversity of physical assets that must be maintained, more
complex designs, new maintenance techniques and changing views on
maintenance itself.
Maintenance practitioners are also responding, albeit slowly, to the
changing expectations of developers, owners, tenants and end users.
These expectations include a rapidly growing awareness of the extent to
which equipment failure affects safety and the environment, workplace
quality and the balancing act of plant availability with reduced costs.
These changes are testing the attitudes and skills in all aspects of our
industry to the limit. Those people who have the responsibility for any
aspect of maintenance must adopt new ways of thinking and acting while
finding the balance between being an engineer, manager and
sympathetic counselor. In the face of these changes, managers
everywhere are looking for new, innovative and cost effective approaches
to their evolving maintenance needs.

A PARADIGM SHIFT – A NEW APPROACH

A revitalised approach to assessing the balance between technical
needs and economic reality is seen again by a focus on the “total cost of
ownership” and “life cycle analysis” of maintenance and capital
replacement strategies. Global and local pressures with regards to climate
change events have also provided greater focus on the impact of natural
energy resources such as the electricity, gas and water utilised within
building systems.
Electricity is by far the largest component of the total life cycle cost of
most energy-using systems. Furthermore, while energy cost may be a
distant second to labour expenses as a component of total annual
operating costs, it commonly has the largest potential for significant
savings. Maintenance cost usually follows as a close third in rank, yet
tends to be the first area where budgets are cut when money is tight.
Budget cutting frequently results in deferred maintenance, a strategy that
leads to additional energy use and reduced equipment life followed by
capital costs then maintenance.
There are four basic ways to reduce energy costs that apply to all
energy production, distribution, and end-use categories;
3 reduce the price of the purchased energy;
3 reduce operating hours of the energy-using equipment;
3 reduce the load or the need for energy;
3 increase the operating efficiency of the energy-using equipment.
Maintenance of energy-related systems is necessary to ensure that
Source: Bigstock

expected energy cost savings are actually achieved. Any situation where
maintenance has been deferred is a new opportunity for energy cost
savings as a result of corrective maintenance action.
Appropriate maintenance strategies are essential to prevent an

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 75
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
energy system from using more energy than necessary; keeping the
system effective in doing its intended job; preventing problems that can
lead to reduction in productivity; and helping prevent early equipment
failure.
SO WHAT IS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT PRE-LOVED BUILDINGS?
In a recent review of a current property building stock report we were
informed that the current existing building stock nationally is estimated at
20,394,475 square metres. In comparison the estimated “new
construction” planned for 2007 to 2009 is only 1,006,000 square metres.
This new construction element of our industry represents less than 5%
of our occupied space environment up to 2009, yet it seems to dominate
a majority of the discussion regarding technology, energy efficiency and
operations and maintenance practices.
It is time to focus our efforts on the 95% of these buildings’
mechanical and electrical systems that affect a commercial buildings third
largest cost (besides rent and wages) – electricity.
An estimate of CO2 equivalent emissions for these existing buildings
is estimated at 650 million tonnes per annum and an immediate change
in attitude and approach to maintenance practices can certainly lead to
sustainable reductions in this area.
So what is the strategy? Design buildings use ZERO energy – it is
time to focus our efforts on those existing energy using assets that can
make a measurable and sustainable difference.
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MAINTENANCE
Some things never change, or at least the content of some
maintenance plans would lead us to think. Every building’s systems and
components have unique operating needs and profiles and yet we still
treat each building the same.
We often perform maintenance tasks and activities the same way time
after time, are usually not happy with the outcome, and are somehow
disappointed when we don’t get a different outcome.
In developing an effective maintenance strategy we need to eliminate
the paradigms of the past. A paradigm is defined as “an example that
serves as a pattern or model”. In other words, it has always been done
this way, so why change! This kind of thinking must be converted to a
“let’s find a new way of doing things” approach.
Traditional approaches to maintenance strategy development still
apply and are usually a starting point and not an end point in the process.
These steps and the associated gathering of information (c) include:
3 Defining the purpose of equipment – this exercise is to
understand the purpose and function of all equipment.
3 Defining an acceptable level of performance – for older
equipment, especially if the condition is marginal, criteria may be
a little tougher to establish.
3 Defining the criticality of equipment – how critical is the
equipment to my core business?
3 Defining likely failures for equipment - past experiences can help
us make this determination.
3 Define effects of failures – what effects will a failure have on the
core business?
3 Define the type of maintenance required for each piece of
equipment – some items may not even require maintenance
where other items that have high replacement costs will need
closer attention.
3 Critical spares required for continuity – if equipment is unique or
aged we find some spare parts have long lead times. Having
equipment fail and stripped down waiting for parts is not the
time to find this out.
Again, tradition supports the process of using an existing
maintenance specification and developing the technical and commercial
delivery process from there. This is where the fundamental approach to
maintenance on existing building must change.
Many of these existing maintenance protocols stem from the original
construction of the building. Newer buildings are not so much of a
problem but for older facilities this can create significant issues. Many of
the original specification assumptions are no longer valid because of
current occupant variables such as the following:
3 Hours of operation have now increased. Many buildings were
designed for five to six days per week, 10 to 12 hours per day
operating times.
3 The number of building occupants has increased per square
metre. It was not uncommon to have 16m2 per person for
76 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
personal space in the 70s and 80s. Today allocations are around
9m2 per person resulting in higher space loadings and increased
air flow requirements.
3 Equipment selection was based not only on a specified duty but
extra capacity and redundancy requirements as well.
3 Since the original building occupancy, facilities undergo high
levels of tenant churn, tenancy alterations and office fit-outs until
the energy using systems characteristics are unrecognisable from
original design.
To further compound this we have recently discovered some
organisations recommissioning their buildings. That is, returning buildings
to their original design specification to get things back on track. The logic
behind this approach is flawed for the reasons stated previously and again
just starts the cycle of underperforming buildings all over again.
It is at this point we need to start out with a clean sheet to our
strategy needs by starting with the end in mind and returning to a few
basics. Different emphasis is placed on these basics dependant on the
outcomes required.
LEGAL
Compliance with the law and all associated statutory regulations must
always be seen as the minimum “must do” requirements for initial
strategy development. It is also essential to include the “should do”
category of “duty of care” and common law liability.
SAFETY
Many items associated with safety are covered by legal, statutory or
best practice requirements. It is also important that safe methods of work
are included by all parties involved in the performance of maintenance
tasks.
OPERATIONAL
The extent to which maintenance will be carried out will relate directly
to the technical complexity of the installed plant and equipment
combined with the effects that the loss of service will have on the core
business operations that the systems serve.
ECONOMIC
This aspect of planning balances the required efficiency and
effectiveness of the installed systems against their respective expected
optimum economic life. This area of focus must also include a risk
approach to the effects of breakdowns, capital equipment failures and
other capital expenditure needs.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Improved energy efficiency and the resulting reduction of energy
demand will minimise greenhouse gas emissions through the application
of proper maintenance procedures.
Whatever approach to strategy you embark on, planning is an
imperative. There is little point addressing issues on a bit by bit approach
if you are not heading towards a clear set of strategic goals that will give
you clear benefits that may include:
3 Understanding the implication of operational behavior on system
and component reliability.
3 Identification of incorrect people practices (technical, business
and operational) and their significance to system operations.
3 A useful business planning tool that clearly indicates the technical
implications resulting from business decisions.
3 A maintenance budget that reflects the actual operational and
budget timing of the plant and equipment.
DEVELOPING THE MAINTENANCE MIX
An effective maintenance strategy applies an optimum mix of
different approaches based on risk impact or the cost and consequence
of failures. Establishing this proper mix and focusing on continuous
improvement are equally important in a successful maintenance strategy.
To begin this evaluation process, it is necessary to understand the
basic maintenance approaches of reactive, programmed, predictive and
proactive philosophies.
Reactive maintenance - This approach usually focuses on fixing or
replacing equipment only when it fails. For non-critical equipment this
makes sense if the cost to replace or repair the item is less than the cost
of monitoring or preventing problems.
3 Advantages: Cost effective for small, non-critical equipment.

Source: Bigstock
3 Disadvantages: Costly downtime, potential secondary damage,
highest cost overall for critical, medium and large equipment.
Programmed maintenance – Scheduling maintenance at specific
times (or frequencies) as a first line of defense to problems can play a part
in an effective maintenance strategy such as changing filters, oil and
lubricating bearings.
3 Advantages: Provides a first line of defense.
3 Disadvantages: Often wasteful, does not prevent some failures
and can introduce new problems.
Predictive maintenance – This process checks the condition of
equipment as it operates. Some predictive technologies include vibration,
oil and motor current analysis. The predictive approach helps avoid
unscheduled downtime and extends the operating life of the equipment.
3 Advantages: Reduces maintenance costs, downtime, secondary
damage and unnecessary parts replacement.
3 Disadvantages: By itself, does not address root causes of
problems.
Proactive maintenance – Relies on predictive methods to point out
which parts are deteriorating then moves beyond diagnosing problems by
isolating and correcting the sources of failure altogether.
3 Advantages: Addresses root causes of failures, reduces
maintenance costs beyond predictive levels, downtime,
secondary damage, unnecessary parts and extends equipment
life.
3 Disadvantages: None.
Often you need to step back and look at your business and
maintenance objectives before you can decide which strategy is best for
you. With an aging facility, an integrated maintenance approach involving
the right combination of these strategies is usually going to provide the
most flexibility in delivering the outcomes that you need within the
budget that you have.
MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES AND ENERGY
At this point in our planning process for maintenance, we need to
understand where energy is actually consumed in a building.
Traditionally we have focused our maintenance efforts on the big
ticket items such as chillers and other significant items of a central plant. In
our energy conscious approach to maintenance we now need to
understand where, or more correctly what, is using the most energy and
what tasks we can undertake to reduce this cost while maintaining the
system outcomes that we need.
It comes as a surprise to many that the largest consumer of energy in
building’s is the air handling systems which account for an average of over
56 per cent of the total electrical energy consumed in HVAC systems.
More obvious items such as chillers and associated ancillaries consume
less than 30 per cent of the total electrical energy consumed. This
information is naturally dependent on the ambient environment that the
building is in – such as Brisbane versus Hobart, for example.
Here an urban myth is broken about energy usage and a potential
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
area of improvement in maintenance tasking for reducing energy
consumption is created. Air handling equipment is often neglected during
maintenance planning and actual on-site activities because the
significance of their respective energy consumption is poorly understood.
Many maintenance specifications call for the inspection of air
handling unit panels, door seals and flexible connections but very little
attention is actually given to them. When you combine this with other
hidden potential air leaks such as commissioning holes from pilot traverse
readings, ductwork joint slides not sealing and other random holes that
seem to appear during the operating life of a building, the potential for
saving air and energy seem quite large.
Using the principles which govern fan operation, it is possible to
calculate what effect a fan speed change will have on fan power once
some of these leaks are sealed up. For example, a 15 per cent reduction
in an air handling unit after the remediation of leaks from various sources
would result in a 28 per cent reduction in fan pressure and a 20 per cent
reduction in fan power.
For facilities with multiple air handling units of small to medium size,
this can represent a significant power saving all stemming from detection
during maintenance activities.
The key lessons that should be taken from this example include:
3 Maintenance planning should take into account the energy
profile of systems and components when tasks are developed.
3 When analysing energy bills (whether they are increasing or not),
start with your air handling systems and work your way through
the energy percentage profiles from there.
GO FOR THE LOW HANGING FRUIT
Now that we have identified that there are simple approaches that we
can take action on to reduce our energy consumption, we need to be
aware of other easily identified opportunities. Many of these opportunities
are small and easy but when added together have a compounding effect
on the overall maintenance and energy efficiency picture:
3 Keep heat exchange surfaces clean. A dirty condenser surfaces
can result in increased power consumption of 10 to 20 per cent
as well as a reduction in refrigeration capacity. Dirty evaporator
surfaces can result in increased power consumption of up to 10
per cent.
3 A build up of carbonaceous matter 1mm thick can reduce boiler
efficiency by up to 10 per cent.
3 Decreasing room temperature during the heating season by 1ºC
can provide a saving between 5 and 10 per cent.
3 Increasing room temperature during the cooling season by 1ºC
can provide a saving between 10 and 20 per cent
3 Variable control (such as proportional and proportional/integral)
will provide savings between 5 and 20 per cent.
A reduction in running times (weekends, public holidays) can provide
between 5 and 10 per cent savings.
There are many more operational adjustments that can be made in
conjunction with your maintenance provider that will offer these
incremental savings opportunities while improving both the efficiency and
effectiveness of your energy consuming equipment.
As well as seeking out these quick fix approaches to simple issues, it
is essential that as part of your strategic approach time is spent on
enhancing building operations and maintenance through a best practice
approach to reducing energy without significant capital investment. Some
of these practice areas to be considered may include:
3 Incorporate goals for energy efficient building operations into the
strategic business plans. Efficient buildings can increase the
capital value as well as attracting long term occupants.
3 Develop an energy management plan with energy efficient
operation as a primary component to minimise waste. Businesses
have a plan for their activities and so should you for your energy
management.
3 Use an energy accounting process to locate savings opportunities
and to track and measure the success of these energy efficient
strategies.
3 Appoint an experienced senior team member as your
“champion” for energy management. This sends a message that
the energy management process is important.
3 Training, both technical and awareness, helps team members
continually improve and sustain improvements to the operation
of your buildings energy using equipment and systems.
3 Require service agreements that support energy efficient building
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 77
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

operations. Create a team environment so that all parties can
focus on improvements not only in maintenance activities but in
your building’s operational aspects as well.
3 Acknowledge energy efficient operations as a cross functional
activity in your building. Periodically remind tenants that they can
support the energy reduction effort by turning off lights and
equipment when not in use.
3 Operations and maintenance manuals are the method used for
maintaining continuity in relation to a buildings operations and
maintenance history. Unfortunately, these are seldom kept up to
date as buildings age yet are essential in the ongoing
management of maintenance, energy management and
troubleshooting activities.
3 Perform and document ongoing tune up activities so that
successful improvements can be repeated quickly and
inexpensively while those not so successful efforts can be refined.
3 Make full use of any installed automatic controls to optimise
efficient operation. Save money by using these controls to do
responsibility for providing significant input into the planning and general
operations of a business.
At the heart of a profitable facility and business operation is a strong,
well planned maintenance strategy directly linked to the company’s
business goals.
Every facility is unique but our approaches should always have a
common outcome: manage our costs, reduce our energy consumption,
solve the root cause of problems, extend the life of assets and continually
evaluate and improve our maintenance planning.
Laurie Reeves is a Regional Manager at Hirotec Maintenance.
REFERENCES
(a) Property Council of Australia Limited; January 2007 Australian Office Market Report,
Sydney (2007)
(b) Reeves, L.G.; “Computer Maintenance Management Systems – Can they achieve a
significant reduction in maintenance costs?”, The Building Maintenance & Management
Conference, Sydney (1999)
(c) Reeves, L.G.; “The Landlord and Tenant Perspective on Drafting Maintenance Provisions
in a Lease”, 3rd Annual Leases Conference, Sydney (1998)

more than just turn equipment on and off. (d) Sustainable Energy Authority Victoria; Series: Energy and Greenhouse Management Kit,
(2002)
3 Redefine your maintenance protocols to include activities critical
(e) Reeves, L.G.; “Advanced Maintenance Systems”, AIRAH Seminar – Maintenance of
to an energy efficient building operation. Develop a more holistic Building Services, Sydney (1996)
maintenance plan. (f) SEDA NSW; Energy Management, (2000)
(g) Anderson, D. “Maintenance – Navigating through a jungle of confusion”, Engineers
SUMMARY Australia, pp. 40-42 (2003)
Maintenance of a building’s energy consuming services is gaining (h) Reeves, L.G. and Elms L.; “Maintenance for Energy Efficiency” , AIRAH Professional
importance as organisations pursue the balance between environmental Development (2007)
morality and economic reality. The greening of a building’s environmental (i) AIRAH; DA19 - HVAC&R Maintenance, (2001)
systems takes more than a profound public statement or putting a plaque (j) Savage, D. and Reeves L.G.; “Energy Savings from Building Automation Systems”,
Invensys Building Systems Ltd (2002)
in the lobby of a building. It takes commitment, a plan and a team of
(k) Platfoot, R. and Reeves, L.G.; “Optimising Asset Performance through Effective
people willing to make a difference. Maintenance Management”, Building the Future National Convention, Canberra (2000)
Fifteen years ago most property groups had their highest engineering
(l) NSW Public Works 1993; Building Energy Manual, NSW
executive position as a ‘chief engineer’. This has gradually evolved to
(m) Reeves, L.G.; “What You Can Measure You Can Manage – Energy Monitoring, Verification
‘engineering manager’ and, in more recent times, a new title has emerged and Targeting in Buildings”, AIRAH Energy Conference, Canberra (2002)
in many companies of ‘maintenance manager’. Generally the maintenance (n) SProperty Council of Australia Limited; Energy Guidelines, Brisbane (2001)
manager is now part of the senior management team and has the

10 Reasons Why You Should Choose

Grace Business Services

1. Nationwide reputation & industry icon

2. Industry leader with moving staff & equipment
3. Professional packing system, security crate & trolleys
4. Move management
5. National network with over 40 locations
6. Grace Fine Arts & sensitive equipment relocations
7. Grace Records Management - Archive storage repository
8. Grace Information Management - Electronic document storage
9. Grace Removals Group Domestic & International Relocations
10. Attention to client detail

For further information regarding how Grace Business Services

can assist with your move, please contact us gbs@grace.com.au or phone

13 14 42
• Office • Library • Hospital • Hotel • Warehouse • Storage

78 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

Implementation of Asset
Management
For most organisations, building assets represent one of their largest capital
investments. Managing those assets effectively can therefore have a critical
impact on an organisations bottom line. Peter McCarthy, Managing Director
at Assetera outlines some practical steps facility and asset managers can
take to ensure the optimal performance of their building assets.
A
sset management provides benefits to building owners and
operators. These benefits are achieved in the areas of
performance, efficiency improvements, achievement of
obligations and responsiveness to change or growth.
Achieving these benefits has proven to be challenging. Many
organisations find the implementation of asset management to be
expensive as it often requires a large commitment in terms of time,
resources and technology. All too often the result is quite restricted and
consequently disappointing.
The purpose of this paper is to quickly explore some issues around
the implementation of an asset management framework in an
organisation. There are three main topics to be considered:
3 What information do we need to know about our assets?
3 What activities need to be carried out to get an effective asset
management structure in place?
3 What is the nature of the implementation project?
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OUR
ASSETS?
As with any management discipline, the initial objective is to
establish a viable plan under which the operations will be conducted. To
optimise the planning capability towards achieving benefit from asset
management, facility and asset managers need to draw information from
a number of sources which can be represented graphically as in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Information sources for asset management.
Function
In general, organisations use building assets to support their service
delivery objectives.
Asset management definitions emphasise the service delivery
outcomes with reference to the stages within the typical asset life cycle.
Service delivery is, or should be, the driver of an assets contribution.
Assets contribute to the service delivery objectives by providing
capacity for functional units or groups to perform their work. So the
function which an asset supports creates the link between service
delivery objectives and the asset used.
When we talk about function we need to know:
3 What demand will be for that particular services or functional
ASSET MANAGEMENT
Peter McCarthy
component of service into the short, medium and longer terms?
3 What functional groups (who) is using what space?
Space
The building provides functional groups with spaces in which they
can carry out their work. The spaces within the design contribute to
capacity for functional groups to work. We need to understand the
performance characteristics of the space itself such as:
3 What is the short, medium, long-term utilisation/availability of
each space?
3 What type of function and how much can each space support?
3 What dependencies exist between particular spaces?
Elements
Each space is comprised of physical elements. Understanding the
physical elements requires technical and quantitative data on the fabrics,
building services, finishes and so. These should include:
3 Technical standards.
3 Life expectancies.
3 Maintenance strategies.
3 Technical complexity
3 Commissioning/decommissioning/refurbishment process.
Context
It is important to understand the environment under which the asset
management framework operates. We are not talking about the
extremes of the physical environment but rather the bureaucratic,
political, regulatory and commercial context under which the portfolio
must operate.
WHAT ACTIVITIES NEED TO BE CARRIED OUT?
A generic work breakdown structure proposed for tactical
implementation of asset management is described in six step process
illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Six step process for tactical implementation.
Step 1 – determine requirements
Tasks
The first step is about the fundamentals of planning and includes the
following tasks;
3 Establishing the objective of the exercise: Ask the question why
you are doing this and what you want to achieve.
3 Clearly establishing a link between asset use and the service
delivery strategies of the organisation.
3 Evaluating the project approach: Could you develop a high level
sample to determine the requirements for the entire portfolio or
do you need a detailed asset model required?
3 Getting support and, most importantly, finding champions. If the
project has no champions who carry influence within the
organisation then the likelihood of corporate support, in terms of
funding, is diminished.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 79
ASSET MANAGEMENT
3 Complete the business case to ensure
that the argument is established.
Items to consider
3 Corporate Strategic Plan: What
strategies does the corporate strategic
plan identify and exactly how do the
facilities support those strategies?
3 Are there any capital projects or
initiatives being considered by the
executive which need to be
considered in any future asset
planning?
Output
3 An approved business plan and a
funding commitment from the
organisation for the project.
Step 2 – source data
The objective of data collection is to
provide an understanding of the asset base
and to determine the scale of challenges
required to achieve control and improvement
of your assets. Assessment involves data
capture whether this is in the form of a simple
asset register or a condition assessment of
asset performance Inadequacies in the area of
assessment can greatly affect the
implementation of asset management.
Tasks
Collection of asset data requires a
considered approach which should include the
following tasks:
3 Before commencing the data
collection establish (and agree upon)
the asset register conventions
including the level of detail, the asset
hierarchy and identifiers for spaces,
elements and functional groups.
3 Carry out the assessment of the
facilities to collect the bulk of the
information.
3 Organise focused technical assessment
of major elements such as plant and
façade by qualified specialists.
3 Mark-up plans with functional groups.
Items to consider
3 Source as many copies of plans and
any other relevant documentation
internally beforehand as you can.
3 Develop a template for data collection
for each space under consideration.
3 Where possible, use existing staff to
carry out these exercises.
3 Send collected data out to each
functional group manager for review,
confirmation or comment.
3 Populate your database with additional
information from users’ responses and
maintenance records. Facilities staff
can review the quality of the data and
inspect where necessary.
Output
3 A database of verified data on the
assets.
Step 3 – set-up database model
Asset management is a “data hungry”
discipline. The growth of asset management is
closely aligned to the development of
information technology. The conversion of data
into valuable information is an important
function of the project, therefore having the
technology available to provide this capability
is essential.
80 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
Tasks
This step should be carried out in parallel
with Step 2 and involves the following:
3 Document information outputs and
subsequent data inputs.
3 Develop brief specifying requirements
for an information system.
3 Consider procurement options.
Items to consider
Consider your procurement options based
on your information needs and not on the
promises of fast talking salesmen. Options
could include:
3 Revisiting the capability of the existing
maintenance management software.
3 Developing a simple
spreadsheet/database structure to
hold the data.
3 Sourcing proprietary software.
Output
An operational database model capable of
storing data at the appropriate breakdown and
carrying out information retrieval functions.
Step 4 – allocate costs
Adding cost information provides currency
to all records in the database which in turn
establish relationships. This allows users to
evaluate scale and perform the analysis
covered in Step 5.
Tasks
Cost information is added by:
3 Extracting quantities from the data
collection related to elements and
condition.
3 Applying rates and frequencies to the
quantities derived from the data to
work out long term costs.
3 Ensuring that a cost category, asset
identifier and frequency/timing are
allocated to each cost generated.
Items to consider
3 Carry out costing calculations either
within the database or on a separate
spreadsheet.
3 Liaise with your accounting
department or equivalent to
determining cost categories. Typically
these would be similar to the
following:
3 Capital.
3 Acquisition Costs.
3 Replacement Costs.
3 Expensed.
3 Routine Maintenance.
3 Cleaning.
3 Statutory Inspections.
3 Energy.
Output
3 Value add to your data with records
containing cost information.
Step 5 – analyse output
Step 4 provides the basic data for analysis.
It is possible now using a database model
structure to perform all forms of queries relative
to the organisation.
Tasks
3 Extract the information across the
portfolio. For example:
3 Costs by space.
3 Costs by functional group.
3 Costs per annum.
3 Costs by element/fabric.
3 Area of carpet.
3 Number of light fittings.
3 Value of below condition works
(backlog).
3 Carry out benchmarking by applying
ratios to highlight any inconsistencies
or anomalies. These might include the
area per staff per function and the
average cost of maintenance.
3 Get the facilities staff to examine these
issues in further detail if required.
Items to consider
3 The database should be capable of
allowing you to perform simple filters
or queries to extract this type of
information readily.
Output
3 A list of all the inconsistencies and
issues identified through the analysis.
Step 6 – strategise and develop a plan
Knowing the costs and identifying issues
from the previous steps allows an organisation
to work out the most appropriate strategy for
their unique circumstance.
Tasks
3 Confirm any parameters related to the
context under which asset
management will be expected to be
delivered such as budgets, politics and
timing constraints.
3 Determine the priority for work
applying risk management principles
that cover risk to safety, revenue and
so forth.
3 Match the cost profiles for the
portfolio to budgets by carrying out
various scenarios on the asset model.
3 Make decisions to get cost profiles
and budgets in balance forms as the
basis of the asset management
strategy.
3 Define performance measurements
which reflect the strategy.
Items to consider
3 Discuss budgets, policies and so on
with senior management with regards
to flexibility.
3 Ensure that strategies are reflective of
achieving the appropriate cost,
performance and risk balances across
the entire portfolio and not on
individual assets only.
3 Ensure that recommendations of the
heritage reports and policy or
regulatory documents are reflected in
the strategy documents.
Output
3 An asset management strategy for the
entire portfolio.
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE
IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT?
The basic principle of project management
is that all projects are unique. We should
always take time to consider the characteristics
of any project as it greatly influences our
management approach.
Project Objective
In the broadest terms a high level objective
for an asset management strategy would
be one of the following:
3 Improving business performance levels
by maintaining existing asset-related

costs.
3 Improving business performance levels
by reducing asset-related costs.
3 Maintaining existing business
performance levels while reducing
asset-related costs.
Everyone participating in the project needs
to recognise and agree to comply with a high
level objective. However, different groups
within the organisation mayl have different
requirements For example, engineers want
details and accountants want financials.
Objectives for different groups can be sub-
objectives for the project at best.
PROJECT MOTIVATION
Based on experience, the primary source
of motivation for asset management
implementation projects are usually one of the
following:
3 The organisation wants to do it.
3 The organisation has been told to do
it.
3 The organisation must do it.
Project motivation will impact on the
support within the organisation and it also
becomes a major driver in establishing the
values of the following project elements. These
are described in detail within the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as:
3 Time.
3 Cost.
3 Scope.
3 Risk.
3 Quality.
3 Communications.
RENT
Air Conditioning & Heating
Reverse Cycle
Portable & Temporary
In the event of:
• Breakdowns • Planned Maintenance
• Additional Capacity • Seasonal Requirements
We can supply:
• Spot Coolers • Package Units • Fans • Fume
Extraction • Chillers • Generators & Accessories
To locations such as:
• Offices • Data Centres • Computer/Comms
Rooms • Commercial/Industrial
3 HR.
3 Procurement.
3 Integration.
For example, if an organisation “must carry
out” an asset management implementation
project, it is likely that time will be a priority
and subsequently a higher cost might be
anticipated compared to a scenario where an
organisation “wants to” carry out the project.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROJECT
APPROACH
The two extremes for asset management
implementation projects can be described as:
3 The staged approach.
3 The single project.
Between both extremes is any number of
options which may suit an organisation given
its unique circumstances.
A staged approach involves taking on a
series of small projects and defining the next
project on completion of the previous. It is
principally characterised by the following
features:
3 Use of high level models to determine
the scale of the issue and set priorities.
3 Progressive compilation of asset
knowledge.
3 The advantage of the stages approach
is that:
3 It can work out to be relatively
inexpensive.
3 It optimises use of in-house resources
and data.
3 Delivers lower risk and greater
certainty.
AUSTRALIA
WIDE 24 HRSS
7 DAYS
1800 626 996
www.aircon.com.au
ASSET MANAGEMENT
3 Can accommodate response to
change.
The big disadvantage with the staged
approach is that it can take time. Consequently
there is a slow and gradual build-up of
knowledge. If time taken to establish the
strategies is long then there is an impact on
short-term decision capability.
The single project approach involves
adopting a fast-track project to complete data
capture and strategy development. It involves
developing a briefing document for the entire
data-capture and getting external parties to
carry out the entire delivery. While it can be
complete within a relatively short time frame, it
can prove to be expensive as it will most likely
rely upon external resources. A quick time
frame can also increase the risk particularly in
the data capture component.
CONCLUSION
All features related to asset management
within the organisation including function,
spaces, elements and operating environment,
need to be recognised and understood.
Asset management should be considered
a corporate function. The potential for benefit
will be reduced if responsibility rests exclusively
with one group or department within the
organisation.
An Asset Management Implementation
Project exercise does not have to be
intimidating. The organisation should
understand the motive, establish clear
objectives and uses the data and information it
currently holds to full advantage.
®
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 81
BUSINESS PROCESS

How to stay afloat in a

thriving industry
Gold Coast City Marina sets the benchmark for
industry developments around the world

The Gold Coast is unquestionably one of Australia’s most spectacular destinations. Offering
pristine beaches, infallible weather and a bustling nightlife, it’s little wonder overseas visitors
and Australians alike migrate to the sunny coast in droves. Since the turn of the millennium,
the Gold Coast Marine Industry has also gained global attention with the introduction of a
benchmark industry clustering precinct. The Gold Coast City Marina and Shipyard is now the
cornerstone of a 250 hectare Gold Coast marine precinct, which offers boating aficionados
with a one-stop shop for all boating, storage, maintenance and repair requirements – the first
of its kind to be seen in the Southern Hemisphere.
Attendees at this year’s FMA Australia’s ideaction08 Conference toured the Gold Coast City
Marina facilities under the guidance of the knowledgeable and professional staff who take
the diversity of the marina’s tenancies comfortably in hand. Facility Perspectives’ Melanie
Drummond spoke later with Gold Coast City Marina’s General Manager Steve Sammes about Steve Sammes

the ins and outs of what is now an industry-leading business model.

S
pecialising in underwater engineering, sandblasting, complete
refits, antifouls and internal and external paintwork for both
commercial and pleasure vessels, the Gold Coast City Marina is the
largest shipyard of its kind to be found anywhere in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Located on Australia’s famous Gold Coast, the boat building and
maintenance facilities on site have been designed and built to set the
benchmark in marina environmental standards. Since its development in
2000, the marina now serves as an indispensable enclave of 61 marine
businesses that cover every facet of boat sales and service, maintenance,
repair and new construction. Positioned in purpose-designed marina
factories, showrooms and offices, the various businesses are ideally
located to strategically service the needs of every boat owners who
arrives at the expansive facility.
For General Manager Steve Sammes, the award winning Gold Coast
City Marina and surrounding precinct is a talking point of much pride and
passion. Facility Perspectives spoke further with Sammes about the
impact this innovative business model is likely to have on the future of
the Marine Industry in Australia and abroad.

82 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

Marina storage garages.
FP: Can you tell us about the size and scope of the Gold Coast
Marina and the surrounding precinct?
Gold Coast City Marina and Shipyard owns 15 hectares of land.
Originally we owned 30 hectares and early on we subdivided through
the middle and sold the 15 hectare site to Riviera. The whole precinct is
some 250 hectares, which is all zoned for the Marine Industry. The future
growth and long-term sustainability of the project is really assured
because there’s never going to be a residential component or
encroachment. It’s a consolidation of the industry in one place and it’s
really set a benchmark in terms of industry clustering because you’re
pulling all of those types of services and trades. What it also offers the
Gold Coast is that by pulling those services and trades away from prime
waterfront tourist destinations, it ensures better utilisation of prime
waterfront for residential and commercial ventures. It’s also cleaned up
the industry by consolidating the repair/refit industry in one place.
FP: What makes the Gold Coast City Marina and surrounding precinct
a unique business model?
Prior to the formation of the precinct, the Marine Industry in the
Gold Coast region was segmented. Business operators were split
between smaller uneconomical boat yards and non-environmentally
compliant old fashioned slipways. Many contractors also worked out of
mobile vans.
The Gold Coast City Marina is strategically placed in order to cater
for the growing recreational vessel market that exists in the region.
Currently there are in excess of 30,000 registered vessels here on the
coast.
The business model thrives due to the fact that every facet of vessel
repair, maintenance and service is based at this one location. In essence,
a ‘one stop shop’ has been established. The multitude of business
operators located here, feed off one another to deliver our customers
quality service, whatever their needs.
FP: Tell us about your background in marina management?
Before arriving in Australia, I was actually in the police force in the
UK.I moved to Sydney at the end of 1989 with my wife, really for a career
and lifestyle sea change. I first started with the Marine Industry working
right at the bottom, working on the docks, and then moving into the
machinery side of things, and later operating dry boat storage facilities
and boat yards.
I followed that with a fair amount of self education at TAFE which
included Facility Management, Sales Management and Marketing. The
company I was with at the time recognised the value in employees who
were prepared to self educate and I was fortunate enough to be taken
across to America in 1996 where I attended the International Marina
Institute Advanced Marina Management School – it’s a bit like a Top Gun
Training in Marinas. From there, I followed on with 2 years of
correspondence work with the IMI institute and I became qualified to
what is known as a designated CMM – a Certified Marina Manager (an
international designation).
FP: How did you come to work at Gold Coast City Marina?
When the Gold Coast City Marina was promoted at a concept level,
BUSINESS PROCESS
I really felt that it was the place where industry would boom in the South
East Queensland sector. I sent the owner/developer my background and
an expression of interest and as I was pretty passionate about having a
position here, I flew myself to the Gold Coast and fronted up in his office
– and that’s how it all started.
I commenced with the project in December 98 and when I came on
board all we had was a big hole in the ground. I learned a lot, at a very
fast rate, about construction, development and dealing with contractors
and the masses of consultants who were involved with such a huge
project.
FP: How quickly did the precinct start drawing in other companies
from the industry?
At the same time as we sold off the industrial factories, our
neighbours in the Riviera group commenced their construction in the
precinct. It was like getting a major supply chain into your retail shopping
centre which attracts all of the other ancillary companies. We then
concentrated on the final stage of development through the shipyard
and marina and all of the other remaining 34 factories became our
leasehold factories. That’s when I became involved with all of the
different lease negotiations with the different companies that we have
here today.
FP: How long did it take to get the marina operational?
It started in 1998 and in May/June of 2000 we had a soft opening. It
was in 2000 that we were really part operational in terms of our ship yard
and floating dock marina. We had a business space here that was
growing rapidly and we really needed to fast track operations to service
all the tenants that were on site. In 2004 the project was completely
finished and we had our official opening – now we are 8 years young
and booming.
FP: Can you explain the various tenancies you have on site?
We are at an advantage because the concept of the precinct has
never been seen in the Southern Hemisphere before and it’s the first
time something of this magnitude has been put together. We were
fortunate here at the marina because it attracted the type of businesses
that already had excellent reputation in the industry.
When it comes to marine engineering we’ve got two of the most
respected names in the industry based right here on site. We’ve pretty
much got a whole smorgasbord to choose from, naval architects, marine
surveyors, new boat building and custom design work to all of your
different facets of marine engineering, electrical, mechanical, fabrication,
alloy, stainless steel to manufacturers of game boat fishing towers - It’s
like a Bunnings for Boats. Customers have the choice to either take
advantage of having the expert repairs and maintenance carried out by
the team we’ve got based on site, or the enthusiasts can do their own
maintenance and upkeep themselves.
FP: What legislative barriers were encountered during the
development of the marina and surrounding precinct?
In the initial development plans we had a lot of input and assistance
from both local and state government. The two heads of government
recognised the tremendous potential and growth of the Marine Industry
in this sector and they formed a Marine Precinct Task force for the
project. This consisted of key contacts from local and state level, town
planning advisors and a collection of professional advisors. Developers
within the precinct could go to the precinct task force meetings. It really
did fast track a lot in the approval process – I think that has been the key
link to the rapid development of the precinct. The precinct and task force
is something which has now been modelled and used in other countries.
This was the first of its kind to have such a diverse skill base in one
location predominantly focusing on boat building and repairs and
maintenance of vessels. That’s what makes this marine area different.
Even in America, you’ve got a massive industry, but it’s nothing on the
scale of what we have here in the Gold Coast.
FP: How do competing businesses within the marina maintain
relationships and fair trading practices?
What we have here in some cases is two or three business
operations that pretty much carry out the same type of work – for
example there are two marine upholsterers on site and three marine
spray painters on site. In the early days there was a reluctance to share
work, and situations did occur where tenants may have tried to undercut
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 83
BUSINESS PROCESS
each other on work.
We also went through a phase in the first two to three years of
operation where we had an influx of the one-man band type of operators
working out of panel vans, coming onsite and undercutting, they also
didn’t have the proper insurances and environmental licenses. We
addressed those issues and we’re pretty stringent about who comes on
site now. We’ve got a good team of onsite security and that’s backed up
by a good surveillance system. Anyone who is not recognised on site is
picked by our security team, staff or one of our tenants.
Now we have the perception in the marketplace that the Gold Coast
Marina is a one-stop shop and that there really is enough business for
everyone to have a slice of the cake. All tenants really do work well
together under the one banner. They share it around with some of the
major refit work there is certainly a synergy between the trades as at
times everyone is working to the same deadline for boat owners.
FP: How do you keep such a large and diverse group of tenants
happy?
I think it stems from my years as in the police service in UK and
having to be a good communicator. I think communication is the key
element to how successful our relationship is with the tenancy. I try to
avoid the paper trail as much as possible although there is obviously a
necessity to document certain things. There’s an open door policy and I
have regular meetings with each of the individual tenancies, rotational
throughout the month.
At the end of the day we’re all in one industry and we share a
common purpose and interest which is boats. We usually find that
tenancy issues are minor and often the only time that you may find any
conflict is at renewal of lease time. The tenants themselves work pretty
well together and they tend to self-police to a certain extent. The main
issues would certainly be focused around environmental matters, dust,
overspray and those sorts of issues. Tenants basically carry out works on
a boat and we have a ‘no cash, no splash’ policy, we work as much as
possible to assist our tenants, until the customer pays their bills.
FP: What does the rest of your working week involve?
Well, essentially I wear many hats, much like any facility manager.
With the amount of people here there are always tenancy issues, staffing
84 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
and HR areas to work on. I deal with all facets of operation really,
environmental, insurance matters, legal. As General Manager I have a
close grip on financial reports and expense. I have to keep in line with
budgets should any unforeseen events occur.
We also have a security team to manage. We have weekly
management meetings when I get updates from various departments,
which are then followed up by the bi-monthly Board of Directors
meetings. It’s pretty much a bit of everything – reporting to Body
Corporates, making sure our maintenance programs are up to scratch,
and keeping in touch with the customers.
FP: What makes the Gold Coast City Marina a world leader in boat
berthing?
We have a cross section of options. We have our own floating dock
marina which takes up to 200-220 berthed vessels of up to 50 metres in
size. Within that area of our marina basin, we’ve also got an area called
the Moor and Store Marina Berths and each marina berth is doubled up
with a storage garage – this was the first of its kind in Queensland. We
actually subdivided the marina basin and sold off the 64 marina berths so
each berth owner has an area of sea-bed with title and an area of land
and title which makes up the garage. There’s a community title scheme
which took a few months to put together and the floating docks,
pontoons and garage buildings all form part of the common property.
A 12 metre berth back in 2000 was retailing at around $66,000 and
in 8 years they’re now retailing at about $220 – 240,000, because there is
nothing else like that in Queensland which allows you to buy freehold.
There is also multitude of facilities which offer long-term leases with 25,
15 year leases and even 12 year lease terms available. The only other
marinas in Australia that have freehold land tenure are in Adelaide. The
other facility we have is the undercover dry boat storage facility which
utilises a small footprint of land.
FP: How many people do you have onsite and coming in for
repairs/maintenance?
In the last financial year we saw about 3000 boats just coming in for
repair and maintenance. With staffing, under our Gold Coast City Marina
banner, we’ve got about 25 people ourselves. Including the tenancy and
owners, we estimate between 5 – 600 people working on site. The

precinct itself which is about 60 percent developed has about 5000
people working there.
FP: Do you have any need to call in outside contractors?
The occasions when we need to call in contractors from outside the
precinct are few and far between. We’ve got all the major engine
manufacturers on site here, but there are a couple of outside contractors
we use in terms of some specific engine requirements. Some of the
outside contractors we use come in to look after our heavy lifting
equipment, general waste contractors, pest control etc. There are a few
other businesses which are based outside of the Gold Coast City Marina
that come in and use our facility and we have an outside contractors
licensing agreement in place so they pay a daily fee to come on site
here.
FP: Do you have management requirements that are unique to the
Marine Industry?
We certainly do, with occupational health and safety it’s a constant
moving target and it’s one that we evolve with. Within our own staffing
we hold our weekly toolbox meetings and once a month we have an
outside consultant that comes in and continually looks at our induction
workplace health and safety programs. The industry is evolving so rapidly
that we have to evolve with it in terms of safety. With the shipyard that’s
obviously where the higher risk element of safety is just due to the nature
of the work - the blocking, standing, propping and lifting of some very
heavy boats and there are dangers there.
We also have a close proximity to water so one of the other major
considerations is to ensure that we comply with the environmental
protection act in relation to environmental compliance. We’ve updated a
lot of our infrastructure here; we installed a water harvesting area for our
roof areas and an upgrade of our waste water filtration. We’ll soon be
upgrading to a more advanced system for our large vessels, making sure
that we capture and treat the waste water from the high pressure
cleaning. The Marina Industry Association of Australia has a clean
Marina’s program and that has three levels and we work through the
whole program to be accredited as a level three which is the highest in
terms of environmental compliance. Last year we entered our facility into
BUSINESS PROCESS
the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards and we picked up the
Annual Environmental Business Management Awards.
FP: What other requirements must you adhere to in regards to
environmental legislation?
Every 3 months we have to undertake water quality sampling from
different locations throughout the marina and the river, submit them to
EPA at state level and submit the results to the local level council around
here. As far as environmental legislation goes, there’s a lot in it, but we
have best management practices under our clean marinas program and
we have a generic environmental management plan in place as well.
For our tenants, if they can see that things are continually
happening, then they understand that we have an ongoing commitment
to industry and to them. We are continuing to work with them to
improve our facilities and standards, to maintain that high esteem we
have with our clients. These tenants consistently bring new customers
and more importantly we retain our existing clients that way.
FP: What involvement would you like to have with developing
Australia’s Marine Industry in the future?
I’m very passionate about the Marine Industry. I’ve been a Board
Director on the National Association for 8 years. I’ve also been involved
in, and am very positive about, the education and training of up-and-
coming aspiring marina managers. We’ve also got the Clean Marinas
Australia program which was launched in 2000 and there are now 35
marinas in Australia that have reached that Level 3 accreditation. We’re
exporting that program as well overseas, we have two marinas in New
Zealand and one marina in the last month in Singapore which has taken
that on board and we’re looking to take it over to Dubai as well. The
Marine Industry is also not just growing in Australia; it’s growing
throughout the world, particularly in the Asia/Pacific area and the
UAE/Dubai area.
In January of this year I was nominated to stand on the international
board alongside one other Australian to represent the Asia Pacific Rim.
It’s the first time they’ve had two Australian representatives on the board
and it really highlights the importance and growth of the Australian
Marine Industry and how it is being recognised by the rest of the world.
FP: What issues do you think the Marine Industry will be facing in the
next 5 years?
With the skills shortage, we’re seeing an increasing amount of key
marina managers being snapped up overseas in particular to Dubai. I
also think in the Marine Industry you’ll see a downtown in the number of
boats that are manufactured here and continue to see an increase in the
importing of foreign boats. From our perspective, being involved with
the refit/repair and maintenance, regardless of where boats are
built/made or come from they all require annual maintenance. Our
industry, namely the maintenance and repair industry, is a growth
industry.
FP: Any final comments?
There’s one thing that was passed on to me from a mentor in the
industry, ‘If you want to be successful it’s just this simple – Know what
you are doing, believe in what you are doing and charge accordingly!’
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 85
 GUARDS

MONITORING

ELECTRONIC SECURITY

MOBILE PATROLS

AVIATION SECURITY

CLIENT FEATURE

CCTV System
combines
distributed
intelligence
and storage. Actual CCTV shot from top of building, showing 3 mega pixel resolution.
NP Security possesses expertise in delivering said John Fleming, GM Electronic Security. “SNP provided

S electronic surveillance systems, when quality and

reliability are absolutely essential. Recently, a team of
expert engineers designed and installed a video surveillance
system for one of the largest financial institutions in
Australia.
In designing the new solution, SNP Security first
determined the need for an intelligent system with fully
programmable cameras. The cameras and their storage
needed to work in a non-PC environment for added
reliability and security, and also to enable the entire system
to be integrated in line with existing IT infrastructure.
“The cameras are fully intelligent and no third-party
software is required to manage the cameras or the storage”
this customer with distributed intelligence combined with
distributed storage.”
The cameras provide high resolution images, with built-in
flexibility for future growth to correspond with the financial
institutions future needs. Writing directly to storage, the new
CCTV system enables users to view live images from
multiple cameras as well as from the storage device.
The new surveillance system has been in place for over
one year, with results exceeding the financial institutions
expectations.
For detailed information on this Case Study:
www.snpsecurity.com.au

86 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 SECURITY & RISK MANAGEMENT

The rise in identity theft and

your role in its prevention
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in Australia. David
Mullins, Director of Safety and Security –- Australia and New Zealand, at
Recall Information Management explains the problem and suggests ways
facility managers can assist in reducing its incidence with effective
document management.

David Mullins

Recall’s state of the art office and document management facilities.

I
dentity theft is one of Australia’s fastest growing industries. If that But how much do people really care that their identity resides in so
sounds like a bold, even exaggerated statement, then consider this: many places? Not a lot really. Because most people expect that the
according to the latest survey findings from the Australian Bureau of RTA, the banks, insurance companies, phone companies, and everyone
Statistics (ABS), in the 12 months to June 2007, half a million Australians else who stores their identity will do so securely. This gets back to the
had their identity stolen and used for someone else’s financial gain. And implicit trust that is attached to transacting with large organisations.
the total financial loss to these Australians was a staggering one billion However, many organisations, large and small, are breaking that trust by
dollars – an average of $2,000 per person. having poor procedures and poor policies in the area of records
How can this have happened in Australia and what can be done management, as can be seen from the following identity theft snapshot.
about it? In 2007, the UK government disclosed that the personal records of
Identity theft’s frightening growth is multi-factorial. In part, it is a 7.25 million families (some 25 million people) claiming child benefits –
numbers game. For example, with so much personal information stored including dates of birth, addresses, bank accounts and national insurance
by an ever-increasing number of companies and government
organisations, the chances are that a single breach of security can result
in the personal details of thousands of people being exposed. It is also
about the trust that for many Australians is implicit when they hand over
personal information to purchase goods or to apply for government
services. Finally, it is also about organisations that store personal
information not updating their secure document management, storage
and destruction policies and procedures to keep pace with their
compliance requirements.
Think about who has on file personal details of yours that, if stolen,
could result in major personal loss. Firstly, details will be on your drivers
licence. Personal details will also be on your corporate credit card,
personal debit card, mortgage, home insurance policy, phone bill, your
local medical centre, golf club, council rates notice, the electoral role,
and, if you have them, your Facebook and Linked-In profile pages.
So key information about your identity can be in an amazing number
of places. In fact, significant parts of your identity probably exist in
around 100 places at any given moment.
Recall’s secure document removal and destruction services.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 87
SECURITY & RISK MANAGEMENT
numbers – were on CDs that went missing while being sent by courier to
the National Audit Office (NAO) in London. The loss was not discovered
for three weeks.
Locally, earlier this year the Australian Federal Police made a
significant bust of an identity theft syndicate operating in Australia that
had made over one million dollars via the identities they had stolen. If
one million dollars sounds like a lot, then think back to the ABS figure of
one billion dollars and you can see just how real identity theft is.
Most cases of multiple identity theft occur with electronic files. This
is because one electronic file will contain thousands of records and one
electronic folder, hundreds of thousands or even millions of records. On
the other hand, one physical paper filed folder may only contain a
couple of dozen records. An electronic file is already in a format that can
be easily manipulated or just used as-is while any physical equivalent
would need to be converted to a digital format to make large-scale theft
possible. It is also much harder to be seen stealing electronic records.
From somewhere in Russia you can hack into systems is Australia, or
phish or scam individuals at home in Sydney, Melbourne or wherever,
and it will be virtually impossible to track down either the hacker or the
originating region from where the theft was perpetrated from.
For many unionised companies, the ‘elephant in the room’ when it
comes to identity theft is internal fraud.
While it is true that anyone could conceivably walk out of the office
with a briefcase full of physical documents, the exposure is insignificant
compared with someone walking out with, say, a two gigabyte memory
stick with tens of thousands of records.
According to Dragonfly Technologies, an Australian security firm
specialising in authentication, 82 per cent of all fraud in Australia is
internal fraud. This is not to say that all of this is identity theft, just that
the internal risk can be far, far greater than external factors.
All organisations require robust security protocols and procedures to
ensure that access to information by employees is appropriately limited,
monitored and that all document movements are transparent and
traceable via appropriate reporting mechanisms.
At Recall for example, every request for documents to be moved
from our secure storage to a customer employee is recorded and
logged. There is total transparency and accountability across the
information delivery chain. This reporting is something that we have
been supplying to customers for a decade or more with great integrity
and success.
The shame is that in the quest for ever-faster access to files, many
companies have simply bypassed such safeguards with their electronic
data storage systems and policies.
The Australian compliance environment is driving new document
management policies and procedures requiring organisations – often at
short notice – to locate and make available information held either as
data or hard copy.
Globally, we have seen the introduction of financial reporting
standards with legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel 11.
Regionally, initiatives such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation,
Asia Pacific Telecommunity and Asia Privacy Forum are all working
towards coordinating ways in which data is protected and privacy
guaranteed for the hundreds of millions of people in the region.
Nationally, Australians have had the Federal Privacy Act since 1988
and the States have also introduced a raft of privacy legislation following
the 1998 New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection
88 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
(PPIP) Act with severe penalties for misuse of information and non-
compliance.
Amendments to the Federal Privacy Act currently before Parliament
will, if passed as expected, require notification to individuals in cases
where personal details of people have been lost or compromised.
Given the hundreds of thousands of details involved in individual cases of
electronic fraud and ID theft, this will be a massive undertaking for any
organisations affected.
At the same time, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s
new business continuity requirements forces many organisations to
reassess their document and records management practices. The cost of
complying with any new requirements may force many organisations to
use specialist document management companies such as Recall because
our facilities, secure storage, systems, procedures audits and reporting
are beyond the budget for any single company.
In looking closely at compliance issues, organisations should look at
the following ten point check-list to assess the health of their compliance
environment:
3 Does your organisation have an integrated, secure Information
Lifecycle Management strategy?
3 Are staff members with access to sensitive information vetted
before being given security clearance?
3 How do you control various levels of access to your information?
3 How is your information classified and stored accordingly?
3 How is information transported or shared?
3 Do you have a compliant Business Continuity & Disaster
Recovery plan in place?
3 What procedural and physical controls do you have?
3 What is your retention and destruction policy and procedure?
3 What are your organisation’s industry compliance requirements?
3 Are your facilities BCA complaint and suitable for information
storage?
Lastly, here are a few thoughts on the destruction of files,
documents, records and storage media.
Destruction means rendering the original material into something
that is both unrecognisable and not able to be reconstructed. A
document that has been shredded is not necessarily destroyed. And a
computer hard drive in a landfill, or worse still, in a dumpster bin, still
contains valuable and usable information.
Sadly today, there are still many organisations sending information-
rich documents to companies that claim to destroy such records but
merely shred them in one direction. A few minutes and a roll of tape
and they are documents again – possibly documents relating to staff
salaries, customer banking details or your own payment records – ready
for use by fraudsters. Cross-shredding on the other hand does render
documents unusable and should be an organisation’s minimum
requirement.
For those organisations that are required to actually prove that
records have been totally destroyed, Recall can supply a certificate of
destruction stating that whatever we were given no longer exists in any
usable or recognisable form.
With the growing level of compliance, liability and risk surrounding
information management, organisations today need to devise a more
comprehensive records management strategy and implement best
practice in the form of internal systems and external relationships to help
stem the tide of the identity theft industry.
FMA Australia’s 20th national conference
will be held in Melbourne from
6-8 May 2009.
.
Mark the dates in your diary now.

For information on exhibiting, sponsoring

or attending visit www.fma.com.au
or call 03 8641 6666.
 Specialist Recruitment
in the FM Sector

Hays Facilities Management

• Global network Please contact

Hays Facilities Management
• National offices
Adelaide
• Local knowledge T 08 8212 5242
E cp.adelaide@hays.com.au
Hays Facilities Management provides Brisbane
specialist recruitment services to the T 07 3243 3002
facilities market. We continue to ensure E brisbanecity@hays.com.au
a total commitment in our specialist
approach, to the promotion and support Canberra
of the facilities management market and T 02 6230 5142
the provision of experienced facilities E fm.canberra@hays.com.au
professionals to leading organisations.
Our strength is our solid understanding Darwin
of the facilities management industry, T 08 8943 6000
our candidates' needs and the local E darwin@hays.com.au
market trends.
Hobart
Roles in which we specialise include: T 03 6234 9554
E fm.hobart@hays.com.au
• General Managers
• Operations Managers Melbourne
• Contract Managers T 03 8616 8400
• Facilities Managers E fm.melbourne@hays.com.au
• Facilities Coordinators
• Maintenance Managers Perth
• Maintenance Planners T 08 9486 9553
• Building Managers E fm.perth@hays.com.au
• Project Managers
• Service Managers Sydney
• Soft Service Managers T 02 9249 2222
• Maintenance Electricians E fm.sydney@hays.com.au
• Refrigeration Mechanics
• Security Technicians
• Fire Technicians
• Handypersons

Specialist Recruitment hays.com.au