Energy-Efficient Laboratory Buildings in Australia—Our Design Philosophy
Lynette Williams, Umow Lai Pty Ltd.
As energy efficiency and flexibility become the buzz words and key criteria of the building design and construction industry, we are constantly challenged to improve and update our design concepts to meet these objectives. This is no more apparent than for our laboratory design where high energy consumption was the norm with occupational health and safety being the reason presented to ignore everything else.
We have been reviewing the way we design our laboratories and have developed the following strategies to meet the occupational health and safety requirements and provide energy-efficient laboratory designs.
Our current concepts to meet the flexibility and low energy consumption while providing a safe workplace are as follows:
- Use active mass cooling to cover the base cooling load of the building.
- Use fabric "sock" diffusers to supply the air within the laboratories to provide even, low draft conditions.
- Use a series of fan coil units to cover the high heat loads of individual laboratory spaces.
- Use underfloor air conditioning for the associated office spaces served from a separate unit(s) so that the office area can be isolated from the laboratory spaces.
The presentation will outline the design concepts listed above as well as the pitfalls using Monash STRIP 2 as an example of where these systems have been successfully installed.
Issues to be discussed include:
- Energy savings with active mass cooling.
- Occupational health and safety fume disposal.
- How to cope with a floorplate with a raised floor over half the building and avoid ramps.
- Working with an underfloor distribution space during construction.
Biography:
Lynette Williams, BE(Hons), MIEAust, CPEng, is an associate and registered mechanical engineer who has more than 15 years industry experience. Ms. Williams has been employed by Umow Lai Pty Ltd since September 2003.
Ms. Williams has worked on almost every type of building and has even dabbled in tunnel ventilation. Her particular area of expertise is in the design of laboratory and educational projects.
She is on the Victorian Committee of CIBSE and has a passion for continual
development and growth, for herself and others.
Ms. Williams’ major laboratory project experience includes:
- Monash STRIP 2—Animal Holding rooms
- State Coroner’s Centre Refurbishment
- The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University—Stages 1, 2, and 3
- Charles Sturt University—New Veterinary Science Facility
- St Vincent’s Hospital—Biological Research Facility (Animal House)