Image credit: Celestino
Sydney Science Park’s vision is to bring together leading scientific companies, educational institutions and other providers of research and development in a ‘epicentre’ with the goal of promoting innovation in the areas of food, energy and health.
Steensen Varming has formed a successful working relationship with Celestino and the wider supporting team at Sydney Science Park while working on the First Laboratory and Mixed Use Building, Masterplan & Urban Design, CDEP K -12 STEM School and leading the Green Star Communities Environmental Rating System for the Masterplan.
Sustainability Masterplan – In demonstrating the precincts commitment to sustainability, the development aspires to achieve a Green Star 6 Star Communities Rating; comfortable and vibrant centre; forefront and exemplar development for research and innovation, including innovation in sustainable design and renewable energy; and a test bed for innovation through products, technologies and sustainable design methodologies.
Steensen Varming are supporting Celestino realise this vision through a range of work and studies, including Microclimate and energy strategy guidance document issued to all design teams to provide rules of thumb for passive design optimisation; Green Star Communities management, helping the project achieve a 6-star Green Star rating; District energy assessment studies, including district geothermal analysis and peer review of other studies; Innovation studies, reviewing feasibility of renewable energy ideas and opportunities.
The Laboratory and Mixed-Use Development is Part of Stage 1A of the Sydney Science Park masterplan. Both buildings are seeking to achieve a 6 Star Green Star Rating and served via precinct wide energy and water strategies, and use a mix of concrete and CLT structure. The concrete base being critical for laboratory equipment, plant and vibration loading, whereas the upper levels are less constrained and planned to be predominately CLT/Timber.
The Laboratory aspires to be highly energy and water efficient through its high-performance façade, the use of chilled beams, dedicated outdoor air AHUs with heat recovery, demand controlled ventilation based on indoor air quality and contaminant removal, manifolded exhaust system, baseload geothermal heating and cooling system, roof mounted photovoltaic array.
The project has its challenges, in particular from its proximity to the townhouses and future residential towers, where acoustics from the objectionable exhausts and 24-hour operating plant, has strong implications in the positioning, mounting and screening of these essential services.
The District Geothermal inter-connects the buildings at the site through a so-called condenser loop, plastic piping with a pure water medium, enabling the buildings to share their cooling and heating loads. In example, the precinct geothermal system enables the town-houses to utilise rejected heat from the laboratory facility, as a function of the high cooling loads, for heating of their domestic hot water. A series of modularly sized geothermal fields, comprising of several 100-meter deep boreholes, are strategically implemented into the precinct system in acting as a medium for either heat rejection for cooling purposes, or heat injection for heating purposes.
The proposed geothermal solution is expected to be expanded across the entire site allowing for energy-sharing between multiple building typologies with varying cooling and heating profiles. The proposed system additionally allows for inter-connection with the larger lake located on the Eastern side of the Master Plan utilising the large water-surface for highly efficient heat rejection in the summer periods. The main benefits of the proposed precinct geothermal system are increased energy efficiency, reduced operational costs, reduced external noise, display of innovation at a precinct and master plan level and excellent integration with a renewable energy electricity grid.
Also on the Sydney Science Park site the Catholic Education Office Diocese of Parramatta (CDEP) in partnership with Celestino Developments, are devloping a landmark Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) K-12 School which will support up to 2070 students. The STEM School aims to be a first of its kind in Australia and draw on the collaboration and resources of businesses, research organisations, educational institutions and community groups within Sydney Science Park. It hopes to instigate a new way of thinking about how the resources of schools are used by remaining open well beyond usual school hours and enabling students and teachers to contribute back to the community through real-world activities.