Occupational health and safety and energy efficiency can make or break a commercial building project. Built has developed a solid reputation for collaborating effectively on sustainable, OHS-savvy projects by working on award winning facilities for a range of industry sectors. Their $70 million project for WorkSafe at 1 Malop Street, Geelong is no exception.

Their attention to OHS and sustainability was rewarded in 2016 at the Master Builders Excellence in Construction Awards when they took out top gongs for Excellence in Health and Safety and Excellence in Fit-Out for the Rialto Regeneration and AGL, Docklands projects respectively.

Now Built is working on the 14-storey tower above the historic Dalgety & Co building for WorkSafe Victoria, a collaborative effort among Built, developer Quintessential Equity, architects Peckvonhartel and engineers Aurecon. The 6-Star Green Star Design-rated building is on budget and has run to schedule, due for completion in December 2017. Master Builders’ staff and our Regional Section Group Committee were lucky enough to tour the construction site in August.

Once complete, the new WorkSafe headquarters will be home to over 750 staff and will be the tallest building in Geelong, which is Victoria’s second-largest city.

Not only is it targeting a 6 star Green Star As Built rating and Interiors rating for the WorkSafe fitout, but certification of its credentials in terms of human health and wellbeing. It is Australia’s first project to be awarded WELL Precertification by the International WELL Building InstituteTM (IWBI™) for both the Core & Shell and Interior fitout together.

Quintessential Equity’s Chief Operating Officer Russell Bullen said that his team made “a point of working with partners of the highest quality – and Built has met the mark.”

“Quintessential Equity wanted a building that worked today but one that also stood the test of time – significant adjustments were made to the design to enable it to function in the face of climate change,” he said.

“[We] went beyond the WorkSafe brief in terms of sustainability, targeting a 5.5 star National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) energy rating instead of 5 stars – a decision that will cut ongoing carbon emissions by a quarter, saving over 240,000kg of carbon dioxide annually. ”
Other key features of the development are:

• 14,000m² of high quality office space,100-plus bike racks with bike tools, water refill stations, drying areas and showers
• Electric vehicle charging points
• Rooftop recreation and barbecue areas
• A 30,000L rainwater tank, low-flow fittings and potable water consumption of 10 litres per person per day (compared to the City of Geelong’s benchmark of 30 litres).

Built and Quintessential Equity will provide ongoing support to WorkSafe post-completion to fine tune the building and ensure it operates optimally and achieves it’s WELL and NABERS performance outcomes. Environmental attributes and performance will be reported in the lobby, real time.

Other environmentally friendly initiatives include:

• Pre-tenancy air quality testing to confirm a high level of indoor air quality has been achieved
• Whole building air tightness testing to meet the Green Star Innovation benchmark
• Solar panels providing more than a quarter of electricity needs. The initial 10 kilowatt design has been increased to a market-leading 90 kilowatts.

Built became a Master Builders Association of Victoria member in 2012. Based in South Melbourne, the national company has offices across the country.