An office tower proposed for Melbourne’s CBD is aiming to set a new benchmark for sustainability with a “solar skin” that will generate 20 percent of its electricity needs.
The $1 billion development at 435 Bourke Street designed by Bates Smart will be one of the first office towers in the world to have energy-producing panels integrated into its facade, although, other types of buildings in Melbourne already do this. For example, the University of Melbourne’s Alan Gilbert Building, designed by Metier 3, has photovotaic panels integrated into its facade and the project won an award for sustainable architecture at the 2002 Victorian Architecture Awards; and in 2017, RMIT University began a project to retrofit the Design Hub, designed by Sean Godsell Architects, with solar technology in line with the original proposition of a “smart skin” facade.
Bates Smart director Cian Davis said the solar façade of 435 Bourke will be “made up of translucent, vertical glass photovoltaic panels.
“People working in the building will be able to look out the window and see where their energy comes from. This collected energy coupled with all-electric operations will help the tower save 430 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The building will also reduce its embodied carbon by 30 percent through the use of finely tuned materials.”
435 Bourke by Bates Smart
Image: Bates Smart
The “solar skin” is expected to generate around 20 percent of the electricity needs of the base building while the remainder will come from off-site renewable sources. The building is designed to achieve net zero carbon in operation and is targeting 6-star Green Star New Buildings rating as well as a Platinum WELL certified rating.
A previous development application for the project was approved in January 2020, but it has been redesigned since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With the onset of the pandemic, we were not content to rest on the laurels of our first DA and strove to future-proof the design of 435 Bourke to bring workers back to the city and respond to an ever-evolving Melbourne workforce with a greatly enhanced focus on sustainability, wellness, collaboration, connection to the public community, nature and productivity,” said developer Cbus Property CEO Adrian Pozzo.
Davis added that the building has been redesigned to accommodate “a diverse ecosystem of workspaces.”
“We know that the relationship between the work we do and where we do it has been forever transformed,” he said. “We didn’t want to design a building that would be outdated by its completion. Instead, it will cater to any work setting and scenario, engage with its surroundings, be open to the neighbourhood at the ground, and achieve the best tall commercial tower performance in Australia. When it welcomes its first tenants, it will be Melbourne’s most flexible, sustainable and, frankly, human commercial building. It is architecture designed for the future, which is already here.”
A new development application has been submitted to the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). Construction of the project is expected to begin in 2022.
