The newly opened Victoria Square 1 (VS1) building in Adelaide, South Australia, is the largest building in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star – Office Design rating. JOHN POWER discovers a ‘temple to Green’ within the city of churches.
In an era when environmentally sustainable offi ce buildings sometimes resemble industrial plants – complete with rainbow-coloured fittings that spin, oscillate, gyrate and slide – there is something decidedly ‘normal’ about the appearance of the recently completed VS1 building in central Adelaide.
Built at a cost of approximately $140 million, this is a building that vindicates the power of unobtrusive ESD (environmentally sustainable design) to attract long-term tenants in an otherwise flat commercial property market, and to generate additional benefits such as reduced operational costs and streamlined maintenance practices.
VS1 incorporates many outstanding, proven ESD design features, which are also reflective of the corporate ethics and business principles of its anchor tenant SA Water. SA Water has taken a 15-year lease (with an additional 10-year option) over eight of the building’s 10 levels, including two levels of state-of-the-art laboratories for SA Water. The Environment Protection Authority will occupy the other two levels (levels 8 and 9) once the EPA fi tout is completed. The lengthy leasing arrangement between SA Water and the owner, Catholic Church Endowment Society (CCES), undoubtedly holds the key to the superior fi tout and thoughtful construction of this building. In general, tenants who make long-term commitments to a landlord are greatly empowered in their demands for highly customised and top- quality fi tout treatments; conversely, landlords who have the security of a long lease are more likely to commit to top-end installations.
In the case of VS1, it is evident that a strong and loyal tenant-landlord partnership has created a new building that is fit for purpose, technologically advanced and brimming with commonsense features supplied by some of the nation’s most talented design consultancies and fitout specialists. So, what are some of these superior ‘green’ features? And how do they affect the future maintenance and management of the structure?
