21 October 2010

Goods and Green

The Good Sheds North project in Melbourne's docklands has dominated this year's BPN Sustainability Awards.

The former train freight discharge terminal not only won the Best of the Best category but was also awarded for best Office Fit-Out and Large Commercial project.

The annual BPN Sustainability Awards is in its fourth year running, rewarding those in the industry, such as designers, builders and manufacturers for their impressive practice in sustainability.

The once-derelict terminal, which marks the divide between the city and the industrial Docklands area, has since been transformed into a mixed commercial, retail and hospitality precinct.

Architecture firm Elenberg Fraser in conjunction with heritage architect Lovell Chen were responsible for the restoration of the heritage railway, reinstating its previous grandeur and simultaneously creating a modern space, which provides social and communicative aspects of office life.

Shops and cafés line the outside of Good Sheds North, encouraging a lively, communal atmosphere, while within a ‘street’ runs through the central atrium with natural light radiating through the soaring 12-metre ceilings.

The ecologically sustainable warehouse achieved a 5 Star Green Star energy rating, apparently the first heritage building in Victoria to do so, and only the second in Australia.

The mostly active chilled beam system heats and cools the building, while rainwater and treatment systems have also been implemented.

Photography: Peter Clarke