Crawford School

ESD Design Statement

Introduction
The purpose of this statement is to describe the ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Development)
design features proposed for the new Crawford School building located adjacent to Old Canberra
House on the Acton Peninsula.

The ANU and Crawford School have committed to minimising the impact of the proposed new
building on the environment through the application of environmentally sensitive and sustainable
design principles. An ESD consultant was engaged by the university at the outset of the project and
a key aspect of the project brief was for the building to target a GBCA Green Star rating of 5 stars,
which is considered ‘Australian Excellence’.

‘Green Star’ is a national, voluntary rating system developed by the Green Building Council of
Australia that evaluates the environmental performance of a building by measuring various
environmental factors including energy, water efficiency, occupants health and well-being and
resource conservation. The programme aims to promote a holistic approach to sustainable design
in buildings that go beyond what is required by legislation. Refer to
http://www.gbcaus.org/gbc.asp?sectionid=90&docid=954 for additional information on Green Star.

The building design is currently scoring a mid-range 4 star Green Star rating, which is considered
‘Best Practice’, with capacity to reach 5 stars given additional budget. The ANU has elected to not
obtain formal Green Star certification but will instead invest the costs of certification back into the
building budget and incorporation of ESD initiatives.

The project design team has integrated sustainable and passive design elements from the earliest
inception of the project to reduce energy use, conserve water and create a healthier and more
sustainable environment. These elements are discussed in further detail below.

Sitting and Ecology

The bulk of the building has been sited upon an existing carpark area to minimise the buildings
impact upon the sites ecology and to allow the consolidation of existing buildings, currently spread
across the site. Development on land further away from the existing buildings would have far greater
impacts on the sites ecology. No topsoil or fill will be removed from the site.

A narrow floor plates was integral in further minimising the buildings impact on existing trees, by
allowing it to effectively weave between individually significant trees, whilst also providing excellent
opportunities for natural ventilation and natural daylight to internal spaces of the building.

The site includes good access to public transport and connection to established bicycle networks.
The new building incorporates facilities to encourage bicycle usage, including lockable bicycle
storage, lockers, showers and change facilities.

Local Climate
The sitting of the building responds to aspects of the sites climate and natural features. The
Cupressus Tree group is utilised for western sun shading, additional to the high performance
building envelope. The building makes use of cooling breezes directed from the adjacent lake for
natural ventilation. The bulk of the teaching spaces and lecture theatres serve as an acoustic buffer
to the courtyard and development as a whole from the road noise generated from the Parkes Way to
the north. The building incorporates high levels of insulation required in a cooler climate, including
insulation below concrete slabs on ground and to slab edges.

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Crawford School ESD Design Statement

Energy Conservation
One of the primary aims for the design is to utilise the buildings form, materials and control systems
to reduce energy consumption.

A summary of key passive elements incorporated to improve energy efficiency and energy
conservation include:
- Narrow floor plates allowing for excellent cross ventilation and daylighting levels. Good
daylighting level are known to increase occupant well being and create a healthier environment.
- Sunshading to north facing windows.
- High performance low ‘E’ double glazed windows.
- Reduced areas of glazing facing west and utilisation of vertical sunshading and existing trees
for sun protection.
- High performance building envelope incorporating high levels of insulation. Insulation is
provided below concrete slabs on ground and to the slab edge.
- Energy efficient light fittings, including Triphosphor T5 lamps, and high frequency ballasts
installed in all fluorescent luminaries. Lighting zoned so that lighting adjacent to windows can
be turned off when day lighting levels are sufficient.
- All lighting including external lighting controlled via the BMS. Internal lights to offices will be
switched off after hours.
- Daylight sensors used in corridors and foyers to turn off lighting when day light levels permit.
- Occupant motion sensors for lighting to teaching spaces and toilet amenities.
- All air-handling units provided with dirty filter alarms to ensure filters are changed regularly to
maintain efficient operation.
- Active systems connected to the University Building Management System (BMS).
- Sub-metering of water and electricity to monitor water and energy usage.
- Natural ventilation to circulation areas through operable windows, tempered with relief air from
teaching spaces and in-slab heating.
- Mixed mode ventilation to offices, meaning that offices have openable windows for natural
ventilation when conditions permit, backed up by individual air-conditioning units per office. All
fans for offices will operate to BMS time schedule to automatically shut down after normal
working hours (with override).
- Thermal mass allowing for night time cooling in summer.
- Economy cycles to all teaching spaces and theatres.

Offices – Mixed Mode Ventilation

The offices have been designed for mixed mode ventilation, whereby openable windows are
provided for natural ventilation when the external conditions are satisfactory and individual fan coil
units are provided for air conditioning during the summer and winter periods.

Openable windows allow occupants access to the external environment and promote the use of
natural ventilation rather than air conditioning. Office doors to corridors include openable highlight
windows to facilitate the cooling effects of cross flow ventilation. Discussions with the school during
the early design stages also resulted in the inclusion of some strategically placed open plan office
areas to further increase the opportunities to create cross flow ventilation.

The individual fan coil units mean that the occupants have control over their thermal comfort and can
either chose air conditioning or natural ventilation. As fan coil units are only operational when rooms
are occupied, this system affords greater energy savings over centralised systems, where groups of
rooms are air conditioned regardless of occupation.

The exposed concrete slab soffits to level 2 offices provides thermal mass and has the ability to
absorb heat from the office space in summer and retain heat in winter.

Circulation Areas – Natural Ventilation / Tempered

Due to the elongated nature of the building the circulation areas represent a relatively large
proportion of the total building area. Significant energy savings have been made by considering
these spaces as transitional spaces that do not require the same level of temperature control as
required by the lecture rooms and faculty offices.

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Circulation areas have been designed as naturally ventilated spaces within a wider temperature band
of 20°C – 26°C that will be tempered by relief air from adjoining air conditioned teaching spaces and
hydronic in-slab heating (hot water pipes).

Relief air from the teaching spaces will be directed into the circulation areas, thereby having a
conditioning effect and provides a clever solution for reusing this conditioned air which would
otherwise have been wasted.

Sophisticated modelling, analysis and verification software was used to model these spaces under
varying conditions. In combination with low ‘E’ double glazed windows and good sunshading, this
analysis found that temperatures in the circulation areas would be between an acceptable range of
20°C – 26°C for 94% of the annual operational hours during the semester when all teaching spaces
are in use. It is estimated that this solution compared to full air conditioning will save 21,380kg of
carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) from being released into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to
taking 21 motor cars off the road.

Large Lecture Theatre – Displacement Air Conditioning

Due to the more stringent requirements for conditioned air in teaching spaces, energy efficient
displacement air conditioning will be provided to the large 200 seat theatre. Displacement air
conditioning delivers low velocity air conditioned air below seating to where the space is occupied
rather than trying to air condition the entire space. This system delivers air into the space at lower
quantities and air is supplied at higher temperatures, combining to give a very energy efficient
system of providing comfortable conditions with excellent indoor air quality.

Lighting
Artificial lighting contributes significantly to the energy consumption of a building and constitutes a
high proportion of the electricity bill. The lamps, luminaires, control gears, switching arrangement
and lighting control systems have been selected to maximise energy efficiency.

Lamps
Energy efficient lighting has been selected, including Triphosphor T5 lamps which represent the
most efficient fluorescent lamps that are available for everyday purposes. Environmental benefits
associated with the use of T5 lamps compared with conventional fluorescent lamps are:
- Up to 25% less energy compared with conventional systems with equivalent light output.
- Longer lamp life and improved lumen depreciation.
- Less glass and metal in construction.
- Less mercury content.
- Reduced cooling loads to the air conditioning system.

Luminaires
Luminaires will incorporate high efficiency reflectors, which produce a higher light output ratio (LOR).
The use of polished silver reflectors provides up to 30% higher LOR and hence 30% higher efficiency
than equivalent painted white reflectors.

Control Gear
High frequency ballasts can result in a power reduction of around 15% compared to standard iron
core ballasts. These electronic ballasts with the T5 lamps will increase the overall efficiency, lower
energy usage and increase the lamp life.

Light Zoning
Lighting will be zoned, where ever practical, so that lighting adjacent to windows can be turned off
when day lighting levels are sufficient.

Lighting Control
The following lighting control techniques will be incorporated to minimise energy usage:
- All lighting including external lighting will be controlled via the BMS. Internal lights to offices will
be switched off after hours (with over ride).

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Crawford School ESD Design Statement

- Daylight sensors will be used in corridors and foyers to turn off lighting when day light levels
permit.
- Occupant motion sensors will be provided for lighting to teaching spaces and toilet amenities.
This avoids energy wastage when luminaries are inadvertently left on.

Water Conservation
Key passive elements incorporated for water conservation include:
- Rainwater Harvesting – Stormwater from the roof will be diverted to a 170 kl in-ground rainwater
tank for reuse in toilet flushing and maintenance functions.
- Water efficient fittings and fixtures, including mist spray urinals.
- Low water use landscapes utilising native species.
- Air cooled chillers were selected for the mechanical systems, as appose to water cooled chillers
that waste a lot of water.

Materials and Indoor Environment Quality

Key sustainable material choices include:
- An increased recycled content of concrete – 35% of cement replaced by Ecocem (recycled from
granulated iron blast furnace slag) and 20% of aggregate replaced by 10 – 20mm slag
aggregate.
- Use of HDPE pipework in lieu of PVC (toxin-emissive material).
- All composite wood products are to be low emission formaldehyde (rated E0).
- All timber and composite timber products are to be sourced from post-consumer reused timber
or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber.
- Thermal insulation is to demonstrate avoidance of the use of ozone depleting substances in
both manufacture and composition.
- Low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) will be specified for paints, carpets and other floor
finishes, adhesives and sealants, and all tables, chairs and desks to minimise ‘off-gassing’, low
level toxic emissions released for years after application and can adversely impact the health of
occupants.
- Flooring materials to demonstrate a reduced environmental impact.
- Reuse of existing furniture and equipment where possible.
- Joinery is to be designed to be modular and easily demountable for future reuse.
- Loose furniture shall demonstrate a reduced environmental impact.
- Materials representing at least 2% of the project total contract value shall have a post-consumer
recycled content of at least 20%.

Waste Management
Key passive elements incorporated for water conservation include:
- The building includes integrated collection points evenly spread around the building for paper
recycling, general recycling and waste.
- A new recycling enclosure will be provided external to the building for handling of recycling and
waste generated by the building.
- The bulk of construction waste will be reused or recycled.

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