Facility Management

Facility Management - General News
1/11/2008

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'GREEN' RETROFIT AIMS FOR GRAND RESULTS

The Grand Hotel Melbourne, a 19th century, heritage-listed, luxury building in central Melbourne, is being upgraded to meet the latest standards of sustainable building efficiency. As JOHN POWER discovers, the project proves that a major green retrofit can indeed be unobtrusive, cost-effective and opulent.

There are compelling operational and social reasons for upgrading older buildings with a 'green' makeover to improve efficiency and minimise environmental impacts. So why isn't everyone doing it?

The reality is that many landlords, particularly owners of heritage-protected or architecturally prized structures, still find it difficult to turn good intentions into actions when faced with the prospect of a large efficiency focused refurbishment. Unfortunately, fears about potential cost blowouts or perceived practical difficulties associated with sustainable building practices all too frequently lead to a `softening' of green ambitions.
In this context, it is both refreshing and enlightening to see how the Grand Hotel Melbourne's property management team, MGallery (a collection of
international upscale boutique hotels), has decided to rely on statistical data, not guesswork, to support and justify its `green' refurbishment program.

The hotel, a CBD property, occupies 100 rooms on three levels (four to six) of the 235-room Grand Hotel Building. This imposing building was constructed in
1889 as an administrative centre for Victorian Railways. Nowadays it consists of individually owned, strata-title (apartments of different sizes ranging from studios to one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury suites single bedroom layouts predominate. The hotel operates by private agreement between the strata owners and hotel management. Owners are responsible for capital improvements, while the hotel's management takes care of day-to-day operational expenses. The current refurbishment program is costed at about $15,000 to $20,000 per apartment, as we'll discuss later in this article.

START WITH ONE `PROTOTYPE'

The hotel's refurbishment, according to general manager Paul McConville, has been designed as a multi-stage project. The first stage began several months ago with the renovation of a single apartment, which will serve as a refurbishment 'prototype', also known as the hotel's environmental hospitality suite (EHS). Apartment No. 515, with its one-bedroom floor plan including mezzanine, was chosen as a `typical' test case. A three-month assessment period examining
apartment No. 515's water, energy and waste performance is due for completion by late November or early December. At the conclusion of this rigorous monitoring schedule, the water, waste and electricity consumption in the refurbished apartment will have been measured and compared to an identical unrenovated apartment with the same usage patterns. As an interesting aside, it is worth acknowledging that every attempt is being made to compare 'like with like' - a female guest's water and energy consumption are different to a male's, so comparative analyses only take place between rooms occupied by the same number of people, and of the same sex. This comprehensive analysis, when extrapolated to encompass all 100 apartments in the hotel complex, will be used for detailed efficiency forecasts and audits.

"Energy, water and waste consumption and their associated costs are a critical issue in the property/hospitality, construction and development industries," McConville explains. This is because property and hotel construction and related developments can achieve significant cost savings by reducing their traditionally heavy consumption patterns. Within the hospitality industry. many operating hotels have spoken about the need for their high consumption levels to be reduced over the next five years. With the exception of new energy-efficient light bulbs and local government funded new showerheads, however, there appears to be reluctance for investors, owners and hotel management companies alike to embrace energy, water and waste environmental practices. This is because ofa common belief that these initiatives increase operational costs, but we're setting out to prove these fears are unfounded."

GENUINE SAVINGS

Specialist consultancy company's business development director Ganesh Sen says the refit specifically targets those installations and fittings that can produce measurable provements in efficiency. Only in this fashion can meaningful payback periods be calculated - a real-world necessity in a commercial building. New installations include:

- energy-efficient LCD televisions (22-inch and 42-inch) supplied by LG, which use less than one watt of power in standby mode, with power-saving modes which can be activated to save up to 65 percent energy compared to conventional televisions

- highly efficient microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator and stove/oven units, also from LG

- low-energy LED lighting used in both permanent mountings and moveable lamps, supplied by Extron Technologies

- low-flush (4.5-litre) toilets and highly efficient Parisi rain showers (8.1 litres per minute), plus handheld showers (7.1 litres per minute) and constant flow-valve tap ware (max. 4.5 litres per minute; i.e. six-star), supplied by bathroom specialists Tradelink Projects (Mico Design), and

-low-energy instantaneous hot water systems from Stiebel Eltron Australia, a division of the world famous hot water and air-conditioning company Stiebel Eltron, headquartered in Germany.

Each of these elements of the refurbishment plays an important role in the overall effectiveness of the refit, and replaces notoriously inefficient practices and devices. For example, both McConville and Sen arc quick to point out that hot water systems in older hotels tend to be extremely inefficient, mainly due to the tact that hot water must be available 'on demand' 24 hours per day.

At the Grand Hotel each unrenovated apartment is equipped with its own continuously reheating hot water tank - an antiquated and inefficient means of delivering permanent hot water supplies. Sen says the refurbishment solves this problem by replacing old hot water systems with one or more Stiebel Eltron DHC8 instantaneous hot water units in each apartment. Stiebel Eltron Australia's national marketing manager, Darren Fletcher, says these small units, no larger than a shoebox, run off electricity and only activate when hot water is actually required.

"When a guest turns on a hot water tap, for example, cold water flows through the unit and instantly becomes heated to approximately 50 degrees Celsius," Fletcher says. "And by fitting extra units close to points of delivery, such as near showers, you can gain added efficiencies by reducing the amount of cold water in the pipes that has to be 'siphoned off' before hot water arrives at the outflow point."

When the hot water tap is turned off, Fletcher explains, the unit automatically switches off and returns to a dormant state using no power at all. highly useful attribute of this system is its space-saving dimensions: the small and slimline I) HCS leaves room for significant extra storage space.

MAKING LIGHT WORK

Lighting can be another major drain on power reserves in traditional hotel rooms and, at the Grand Hotel, all unrenovated apartments feature energy-absorbing halogen or traditional bulb light fittings.

As Sell observed at the outset of the project, lighting alone in each unrenovated apartment can easily consume up to 6 (10 to 70U watts of energy, including 380 to 41)(1 watts in the entry/kitchen portico alone. On the other hand, the maximum 'post-refurbishment' potential energy consumption for lighting is just 100 watts for an entire apartment.

Patrick Yii, from Extron Technologies, says this dramatic saving is possible thanks to new LEI) lighting systemts, as demonstrated to great effect throughout every room of apartment No. 515. The LED lights also have a very low heat dissipation, which has positive secondary effects on heating and cooling efficiency, as compared to the originally installed halogen lights which emit almost 265 degrees Celsius in comparison to LEDs (emitting less than 60 degrees Celsius). LEI) lighting is also a very clean light source with absolutely no UV emission.

"In the case of the bathroom refit." Yii says, "we've used Par30 seven-watt lights." These stylish LEI) lights are not only contemporary in design, but they barely move the power meter. A natural white light also enhances the functionality of this lighting for cosmetics application at bathroom mirrors. "In the kitchen/entry we replaced halogen lights with another LEI) source, the MR 16 Cree 3W," Yii says. "These replace 50-watt globes with three-watt LEI). Even the bedside lamps use LEl) technology, the EcoLEI) eight-watt, but the lighting still looks warm and inviting as if it conies from a conventional bulb. Each EcoLEI) light uses an eight-watt instead of the more conventional 60-watt globe."

At the top of the stairs of apartment No. 515, Yii explains, the company opted for a modified Par30 seven-watt configuration. Overall, therefore, typical power savings from lighting alone are in the order of 450 watts in the renovated apartment.

COSTS AND FUNDING

Inevitably, notwithstanding the abovementioned savings, decisions about a green retrofit will involve a straightforward question: is an environmentally
sustainable refit worth the money? As mentioned earlier, each apartment renovation has a budget of approximately $15,000 to $20,10)0, but McConville says overall costs can be subdivided into three equal parts: net capital expenditure, additional funding from government or private sources, and operational savings. While monitoring is still in its early stages, McConville says 30 percent water savings are already manifest in the data. The following organisations were able to provide financial or consultative input into the Grand Hotel project:

City of Melbourne
Clinton Foundation
Global Knowledge Ventures
Sustainability Victoria, and
Sustainable Melbourne Fund.

LUXURY PREVAILS

Perhaps the most important point to note is that apartment No. 515, despite its long list of viewable and hidden efficiency features, retains the luxurious look and feel of the other suites. But the results are already providing benefits that will continue to be refined over coming years. For instance, bathroom fittings are easy to clean with non-toxic natural agents such as vinegar, reducing the amount of time taken to prepare suites. And, as Sen adds, the removal of bathtubs in favour of rain showers is another waw of reducing water wastage and simplifying cleaning regimes, while at the same time delivering a level of opulence expected of a premium establishment.

"We've been aiming for Live-star (ABGR) efficiency ratings and the process is on
For more information contact City of Melbourne www.melbourne vic.gov.au