Barangaroo South (Construction)

Sydney’s Barangaroo South is currently the largest commercial development in Australia.

At the heart of the development sits ‘International Towers Sydney’, three world-class commercial office towers built to accommodate around 23,000 people.

Appointed by developer Lendlease as lead services coordinator, A.G. Coombs is responsible for the coordinated detailed design, supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, warranty and subsequent fine tuning and maintenance of the mechanical systems in Tower One (49 levels) and Tower Two (42 levels).

The use of innovative, risk lowering Building Information Modelling (BIM) and prefabrication methodologies helped with the efficient, safe and effective installation of the towers’ critical systems. BIM was used for system coordination and for developing optimised virtual build plans during design. The prefabricated vertical services risers – built in an off-site dedicated prefabrication factory and incorporating ductwork, pipework, fire rated walls and access platforms – was a major feature of the HVAC installation and a first for high rise buildings in Australia.

The mechanical services will play a significant role in achieving the buildings’ operational energy usage and environmental impact. Energy efficient HVAC systems, including state-of-the-art building management and controls, have been installed at Tower One and Tower Two to address the demanding Climate Positive Barangaroo benchmarks of Carbon neutral, water positive and net zero waste. Tower One and Tower Two have received 6 Star Green Star Office Design v3 ratings. Tower One is the largest building in Australia to receive the 6 Star Green Star certified rating which represents world leadership in environmentally sustainable building practices.

The first stage of Practical Completion for Tower Two was achieved in July 2015. Installation and commissioning teams delivered the Essential Services systems enabling anchor tenant Westpac to commence occupancy from this time. Tower One is scheduled for practical completion at the end of September 2016, with some commissioning works already underway.

All three towers of International Towers Sydney are scheduled for completion by the end of 2016.

View the Barangaroo Rising video

A project of this size and scope calls for innovative low-risk design and delivery methodologies. It is really pleasing to see the successful application of this new approach for the services risers in action, which had allowed us to de-risk the programme whilst still producing a high quality end result. We are setting new industry standards.

Andrew Wilson, Managing Director Barangaroo South, Lendlease

Project Overview

Project Name: Barangaroo South – International Towers Sydney (ITS)

Location: NSW

Client: Lendlease

Project Type

Construction - New build (design, installation, commissioning, BIM, prefabrication)

Outcomes

Improved system design performance and capabilities through the use of BIM.
Reduced construction risk - prefabrication strategies developed between Lendlease and A.G. Coombs transferred well in excess of 8,000 hours of complicated site installation from both towers into a controlled factory environment, and the need to work at height was almost eliminated.
The prefabricated riser sections took less than an hour to install from the time the truck arrived on site.
Tower Two successfully completed with tenants having already moved in.
Tower One low-rise and mid-rise prefabricated risers fully installed; high-rise prefab is currently in fabrication.
Tower One commissioning of the low rise floors currently underway and four tenants being integrated into the building during the base build construction phase.
Tower One completion is on schedule for end September 2016.

Awards

Nov 2015 AIRAH: Award for Excellence in Innovation (Barangaroo South prefab risers, A.G. Coombs & Lendlease, winner).
May 2015 Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall: Innovation and Excellence Awards: KONE Award for Innovation (Barangaroo South prefab risers, A.G. Coombs & Lendlease, winner). View the 2015 KONE Award for Innovation video
Oct 2014 NSW WorkSafe SafeWork Awards: Best solution to an identified workplace health and safety issue (Barangaroo South prefab risers, A.G. Coombs & Lendlease, highly commended).