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__The CH2__

The Council House 2 or CH2 is a 10-storey office building and contains about 540 City of Melbourne employees with ground-floor and underground parking spaces. It is stationed at 218-242 Little Collins Street and covers 12,536 square meters. There are 80 bike spaces and 9 showers for the cyclists. It was one of the first ever green buildings to receive a 6-star green star rating.

What is the payoff in the long/short run? Although the project cost a whopping $77.14 million, it saves money by having special features. One of these features is a climate control system that keeps the temperature at 21 degrees celsius as opposed to the usual 31 degrees in normal office buildings. It is expected that in ten years the sustainability features will have paid for themselves. The staff will be healthier, there will be an increase in workplace effectiveness, less cost for public domain and infrastructure and the CH2 will be a 'role model' for future sustainable buildings. What is the cost to build a sustainable building? The building itself cost $51.045 million and was spent on 4 main building costs. These include $29.9 million for the base, $11.3 million for sustainability features including; the purge windows, light generators, ceilings timber shutters, exhaust ducts, solar hot water collectors, photovoltaic cells and more. $2.8 million was spent on education and demonstration and $7.1 million on requirements specific to Council regulations. Will there be any changes in government regulations? It is hard to say anything at the moment but it is very likely that in the near future it will soon be compulsory that all buildings will have to be at least a little bit sustainable. Does the design help it be green if so why? The design does help it be green because the apertures on the side help with the cooling also the wood is designed to heat and cool. What makes it green? The building will produce 64 per cent less than a five-star hotel and when compared to the first Council House it will be expected to reduce electricity use by 85 per cent, reduce gas use by 97 per cent, produce only 13 per cent of dangerous emissions and reduce water mains supply by 72 per cent. New LCD computer monitors will be used instead of the usual desktops and will use 77 per cent less energy and the new T5 lights will use 65 per cent less energy. 48 square meter solar panels will generate 60 per cent of the hot water supply and a gas-fired co-generation plant will offer 60kw of power, which is 40 per cent of the buildings electrical needs.

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