Indesignlive looks at the role played by Norman Disney & Young at Sydney’s 1 Bligh Street.

1 Bligh Street is a premium grade high-rise office building located in the heart of the Sydney CBD overlooking Sydney Harbour.

One of the design hallmarks of 1 Bligh Street are the cutting-edge innovations that have contributed to achieving first-class sustainability credentials.

These sustainable features include onsite black water recycling; rainwater recycling, tri-generation and solar thermal collection to reduce peak and annual energy consumption; a large, full height naturally ventilated internal atrium; and underfloor heating.

Norman Disney & Young (NDY) were appointed Independent Commissioning Agent (ICA) on the project, assisting the project team to “knock down barriers” in order to discuss, identify and deal with factors affecting commissioning, dependencies between services trades and considerations on proving systems.

Taking a holistic approach, NDY provided a detailed commissioning plan that involved the documentation review for ’commissionability’ aspects; introduced commissioning strategies for incorporation and adaptation and directed this process through input and liaison with the main contractor.

This led to a better understanding and appreciation by all parties of the complexities faced by the contractors in commissioning and verifying the complex systems deployed in the building.

1 Bligh Street is owned in partnership by DEXUS Property Group, DEXUS Wholesale Property Fund and Cbus Property

With the advancement in building technologies and the shift towards automation and integration of systems within buildings, NDY introduced and endorsed Integrated Systems Testing (IST) to verify the interaction and robustness of systems in realistic failure scenarios.

In facilitating regular meetings to track the commissioning progress and assisting in the 12 month building tuning process, Norman Disney & Young have played a significant role in the success of proving building systems operating concurrently.

The process ultimately provided a reduction in the overall operational risk for the building owners and managers, and is a demonstration of where effective commissioning management can add value to a project.

Norman Disney & Young
ndy.com