Daikin Australia wins the ARBS award

Daikin Australia has won the inaugural ARBS HVAC Project Excellence Award with its entry of Daikin Australia’s Head Office Development completed at Chipping Norton.

The Daikin development involved the acquisition and amalgamation of several properties, redevelopment of existing factory buildings and the construction of a new Head Office administration facility.

The new office building achieves a 5 Star NABERS rating and includes passive design initiatives and an innovative building management system.

The facility involved construction of a building with a floor area of 1,996 sqm, 475 car spaces, staff facilities and landscaping. The development also involved substantial road works and provision of a local substation.

The mechanical services designed and installed in Daikin’s new office comprised a Daikin VRV Heat Recovery system with a net capacity of 385 kWr.

Connected to a series of high performance outdoor units are a range of indoor ducted systems strategically zoned through BSV boxes to capture heat recovery processes during key operating periods throughout the year, in particular autumn and spring.

Two large economy cycles drive high density areas in the show room and foyer, while Daikin’s heat pump heating solution 'Altherma' provides under floor heating to a small section of the showroom and provides hot water service to the building through a specifically designed boosted hot water tank.

Key attributes include:

- full contrast zoned heat recovery VRV system designed to produce an average COP of 5

- BMCS system to monitor each FCU on an hourly basis (refrigeration capacity required and energy consumed)

- peak demand/power management strategies designed to minimise daily power usage

- offset condenser saturated suction pressures and temperatures to maximise compressor volumetric efficiency while maintaining good indoor amenity and energy reduction

- dual layer façade management system (internal blinds) and operable windows are installed on both levels, with the option to double glaze portions of the north façade

During the design phase, energy model predictions derived a whole building energy consumption of 311,000 kWhrs p.a. or 155.8kWhrs/m2/p.a to meet the 5 star requirements.

Daikin’s target for next year is to improve this result by 5-10 per cent.