360 Collins Street

A.G. Coombs upgraded the cooling plant at 360 Collins Street. The challenge was to undertake the upgrade in a fully tenanted, 36-storey building with no disruption to the site’s existing building services or to the building’s tenants.

The plant upgrade formed part of 360 Collins Street’s strategic improvement program, aiming to deliver significant improvements in the operational efficiency of the site.

Replacing three 9.5-tonne chillers and one 4-tonne chiller 36 stories above the streets of Melbourne’s busy CBD required innovative thinking and high-end planning and management skills.

Having delivered a complete design review with key recommendations, A.G. Coombs – as head contractor – upgraded all of the building’s chilled water plant to meet current industry standards. This involved all building works including:

  • Replacement of chillers, cooling towers and pumps.
  • Management of roof mounted crane installation, kerbside protection street gantry and all associated building works.
  • Conversion of the old system to a primary / secondary chilled water system and standalone direct digital controls (DDC) system for new chilled water plant.
  • Commissioning of plant to meet design criteria.

A.G. Coombs also managed the provision and installation of new electrical supplies, from the main building switch room to the new mechanical switchboards.

We were very happy with the way A. G. Coombs handled the challenges posed by this demanding project. The smooth replacement of plant equipment was a clear indication of the team’s technical expertise and ability to deliver large-scale, complex projects with minimal disruption to a fully-tenanted facility.

Patrick Elliott, Director, Umow Lai

Project Overview

Project Name: 360 Collins Street

Location: VIC

Client: Umow Lai and Associates for DEXUS

Project Value: $4 million

Year Completed: 2009

Project Type

Cooling plant upgrade

Outcomes

  • Delivered on time with no interruption to air conditioning services or building occupants.
  • Incident-free plant shutdown coordination, including major electrical shutdowns, for changeover and recommissioning.
  • Successful upgrade of all chilled water plant to meet current industry standards.
  • Significant increases witnessed in the energy and water efficiency of the air conditioning services.
  • Zero lost time injury reported for the project’s duration, totaling 3,500 hours for plant changeover.

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