Excellence in Innovation – AIRAH Awards 2022 finalists

Open to all individuals, companies, corporate bodies, institutions and government authorities, recognising work carried out during 2020/2021.

This award recognises significant Australian improvements in the areas of HVAC&R achieved through innovation, including new or significantly improved systems or plant and equipment or processes. Products are not eligible in this category.

The project must have been commissioned in the past two years.

Airius Asia Pacific

Ken Rosewall Tennis Arena

Thermal comfort at Ken Rosewall Arena was becoming a major issue due to the excessive heat during the Australian summer of tennis. Major events like the ATP Cup were held in the venue on days when heat would get to 40°C.

Cox Architects and Arup, in conjunction with Airius, developed a prefabricated membrane roof cover and 72 air movement systems provided by Airius Asia Pacific. The outcome was a comfortable breathing indoor environment suitable for elite sports stars and spectators alike with no refrigerated air required.
 

 

AIRAH Awards 2022 winner
AMP Capital

Quay Quarter Tower

The design and delivery of Quay Quarter Tower involved a number of innovations with respect to the HVAC systems.

Energy efficiency was achieved through the installation of high-efficiency mechanical plant (including HFO chillers) and the purchase of green energy. A high-performance building envelope and façade design also improved indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency.

Water strategies such as highly efficient water fixtures, rainwater harvesting, and stormwater management were used to minimise potable water consumption. Reused or recycled materials were incorporated to reduce embodied energy, and effective transport strategies were developed to reduce vehicular emissions. Low-carbon technology allowed for carbon offsetting and peak load demand reduction. There was also adaptive reuse of the existing building, including the main ductwork and electrical services risers.
The project achieved a Green Star Office Design v3 rating of 6 stars and a minimum NABERS energy rating of 5.5 stars.

CSIRO

i-Hub Data Clearing House (DCH) 

CSIRO has developed an independent, shared, industry data platform for consolidating operational data from buildings and also created an application ecosystem for triggering innovation in data-enabled buildings. The platform was developed using standard data management principles and reduces the cost of setting up data ingestion and management. It empowers new innovation using state-of-the-art AI and machine-learning solutions to be deployed using building data. With its inbuilt security features and fine-grained access control, this platform can be used to deploy cloud-based controls and deliver grid flexibility services.