A.G. Coombs Group Latest Information

[News] Walker Fire Protection Presents Best Practice to Industry

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:13:00 +1100

Walker Fire Protection Pty Ltd was a key speaker for this year's Fire System Design and Engineering conference in Sydney, presenting a session entitled "Delivering Best Practice Operational Fire Protection Systems: Assuring Outcomes". read more...

[News] New Paradigm Required for Green Refurbishments

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:06:00 +1100

Mark Mitchell, General Manager of A.G. Coombs Pty Ltd (Projects), spoke with industry leaders today about the need for a new paradigm to retrofit green refurbishments in occupied businesses. read more...

[News] $1b Royal Children's Hospital Reaches Construction Milestone

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:19:00 +1100

Today the last major concrete was poured to complete the structure of the new $1 billion Royal Children's Hospital (RCH). read more...

[News] New Rules for the Mandatory Disclosure of Building Energy Efficiency

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:09:00 +1100

From the second half of 2010, owners of commercial office buildings will be required to disclose energy efficiency ratings when they sell or lease their property. read more...

[News] Bovis wins Prestigious Award for Melbourne Recital Centre

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:27:00 +1100

Last night Bovis Lend Lease was named National Commercial Master Builder of the Year for its work on the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company project. read more...

[Advisory Note] R22 Refrigerant Phase-out

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:46:00 +1100

Widely used in air conditioning systems in buildings, artificial refrigerants including chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) have long been identified for their ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP). In 1996 the internationally agreed Montreal Protocol established a schedule for the phase out of these substances. The more harmful CFC’s, including R11 and R12, are now virtually phased out... read more...

[White Paper] Sustainability: Bridging the Knowledge Gap

Thu, 24 May 2007 13:50:00 +1100

The Australian real estate market continues to demand greater environmentally sustainable performance at a time when the skills required to achieve performance enhancements are decreasing in the industry.
The skills shortage is compounded by a ‘knowledge gap’, which has occurred as critical knowledge of building design and operation is lost between different stages of the building life cycle.
A focus on a single rating number is contributing to a lack of the specific data that is required in order for performance uplifts to be achieved and maintained.
The introduction of tools that rate environmental performance, such as Green Star and ABGR, has brought about a change in the way real estate is designed and operated and has lifted awareness across the property sector.
The take up of the rating tools has been high, with over 100 projects having received or been registered for certification under Green Star and some 29% of the national office market having been rated using ABGR.
The rating tools have the potential to facilitate the transfer of knowledge, and to improve understanding of the real issues around sustainability performance outcomes, by focusing on data reporting at a more specific level.
If the knowledge gap is addressed, the Australian market environment presents a unique opportunity to achieve innovation and global best practice in measurement and reporting on sustainability performance.
Environmental performance rating tools have the potential to drive this change; however the industry must play a role in ensuring that Australia takes advantage of this opportunity.

[White Paper] Maintenance for Energy Efficiency and Ongoing HVAC System Tuning

Tue, 15 May 2007 13:48:00 +1100

This paper recognises the drivers and trends in the broader property industry that are demanding energy efficient maintenance and ongoing tuning for HVAC systems to improve their energy efficiency. The current HVAC maintenance paradigm is reviewed together with general maintenance practices and a series of issues and challenges are identified. Energy efficient maintenance is defined in terms of focus, scope, cost and benefits. The paper offers a way forward and suggested actions to encourage the development and promulgation of energy efficient HVAC maintenance practices through the industry.

[Advisory Note] Green Fire - Ten Key Principles for Sustainable Fire Protection Systems

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:02:00 +1100

Fire Protection Services are one particular area of buildings that has not been fully explored with respect to sustainable design, maintenance and management. There is significant opportunity to reduce the amount of water they use over their life, to substantially lessen the extent of materials and other environmental impacts required for their installation and ownership, and to lessen the limitations that fire services can sometimes place on achieving... read more...

[White Paper] The Ten Key Principles of Green Fire

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:32:00 +1100

Ten key principles for “Green Fire” are put forward in this paper, grouped for convenience into the categories set out in the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star Office Design Rating Tool (v2). The appropriate Reference Number is provided where there is a direct correlation to Green Star points.

[White Paper] Fire Safety Engineering Design and the Implications for Facility Managers

Wed, 03 May 2006 12:57:00 +1100

One of the primary benefits of a fire safety engineering or performance approach to fire and life safety systems design is that it allows for the consideration of all the features that will be inherent in a particular building, including structure, installed systems and management and occupancy regimes, when assessing the overall fire safety requirements. This can lead to substantial cost savings for building developers at the time of construction.

However because fire safety engineered solutions often rely on how the building will be operated and the integration of various systems they can place significant responsibilities on the Facilities Manager to ensure that the fire safety of the building is maintained. A very clear understanding of the resultant elements of a fire safety engineering design is required when formulating occupancy and maintenance management systems and procedures.

[Advisory Note] A Design Approach to Fire Protection in Data Facilities

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:24:00 +1100

A study by the National Archives & Records Administration in the US showed that 93% of companies that lost their data processing for more than 10 days filed for bankruptcy within one year of the incident.This Advisory Note provides a brief guide to a design approach for providing fire protection systems in data processing facilities.It must be noted that the minimum level of fire protection for the facility must meet Building Code requirements.... read more...

[White Paper] HVAC - What the future holds (maybe!)

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:24:00 +1100

The provision of Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning to buildings, or simply air conditioning as it has become generally referred to, has become a complex business since its widespread introduction began after World War 2. Simple systems to provide heating and ventilation have evolved into a sophisticated technology that controls the indoor environment maintaining temperature, humidity and air quality.

What of the future of HVAC? Whilst predicting the future is always a risky endeavour, particularly with anything to do with technology, there is always something to be gained from analysing current drivers of change and trends and speculating over how they may affect matters. At the very least you gain a better insight into why things are the way they are and at best you are enabled to successfully prepare yourself for future changes.

So let's take a quick look at some of the drivers of change in commercial buildings and speculate on how these may affect air conditioning.

[Advisory Note] Replacement of the Australian Standard for Maintenance

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:18:00 +1100

The amended version of AS1851 - Maintenance of Fire Protection Equipment was published in September 2005. This new Standard replaces the previous AS1851suite of Australian Standards. Apart from consolidating the Standards suite into a single document there are broadly two significant changes.The first is a more rigorous testing regime at longer intervals than the previous Standard, and the second is the introduction of an annual survey of selected... read more...

[Advisory Note] Draft Replacement for the Australian Standard for Maintenance of Fire Protection Equipment

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 14:56:00 +1100

Public comments closed in November 2004 for the Draft Standard DR 04463 - Maintenance of Fire Protection Equipment. This new Standard is set to replace the existing Australian Standards suite AS 1851. Apart from consolidating the suite of Standards into a single document there are two significant changes. The first is a more rigorous testing regime at frequencies that are different to the current Standard, and the second is the introduction of an... read more...