The City of Gosnells’ new Civic Centre has recently received a Five Star Green rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Completed last year, the Five Star rating is for the design and construction of the Civic Centre that ensures it operates in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
This award acknowledges that the new Civic Centre represents excellence in environmental design. It also sets the City of Gosnells as a leader in sustainability with its state of the art building being one of only a few to achieve a Five Star Green Star rating in Western Australia. It is also the first building to achieve such a level outside of Perth’s CBD.
City of Gosnells Infrastructure Director Dave Harris said the City worked closely with staff and a team of highly experienced architects and engineering consultants during the design process to reach the Five Star Green Star goal.
“Among the numerous energy and water saving measures included in the new building are solar panels, rainwater storage, an underground cooling system for the building’s air conditioning and specially designed lighting,” he said. “The City will now monitor these energy and water savings and encourage staff and our community to be more aware of environmental matters.”
Mayor Olwen Searle said that the Civic Centre project was completed in two stages with the second stage involving a full refurbishment of part of the City’s original administration building, which was built more than 30 years ago.
“The City has preserved an important part of its history and, from an environmental perspective, demonstrating that buildings can be recycled to become more environmentally friendly,” the Mayor said. “Enhanced customer service facilities will also allow staff to better serve the community and the new building has ensured a better work environment for the City’s employees, many of whom live in the area. In the Council Chambers, the new format is not only more comfortable for the public but the use of modern technology means it is easier for visitors to follow the progress of meetings.”
Solar panels on the roof are used to heat water and reduce natural gas consumption by 55 per cent, while rainwater is used in the toilets saving about 900 kilolitres of water a year and the gents’ toilets feature waterless urinals. At night, the air conditioning system draws in cool, fresh air and purges hot air. It also uses an underground storage tank, which releases cold energy during the day to reduce the demand for costly peak load electricity, saving about 12,000 kilowatt hours a year of electricity during peak times.
