The Hunter Street project is the first heritage-listed building in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star – Office As Built V2 certified rating, which represents ‘world leadership’ in environmentally sustainable construction.
St Hilliers successfully delivered this challenging project to refurbish and upgrade the 94 year old Perpetual Trustees building as A-grade office space.
The scope of works included extensive heritage restoration, construction of a new atrium and glazed roof, modifications to the entry foyer, installation of three new lifts and plant room and upgrade to all existing services.
A key challenge for St Hilliers was the creation of the atrium to allow natural light to stream through to all eight levels of the building. Overshadowing from adjacent buildings had previously restricted natural light to the lower levels of the building.
St Hilliers undertook extensive planning and engineering to create the atrium and minimise its impact on the heritage structure. This involved demolishing approximately 80 square metres of floor space per level and employing extensive propping and floor slab re-support during construction.
Two new floors were constructed on top of the building to house the new plantroom and added additional floor space to the south-western corner of the upper levels to locate amenities.
St Hilliers introduced a raised floor for services reticulation, which included the energy efficient under-floor ventilation system. This minimised the impact to the heritage fabric of the building and enabled the ceilings to remain exposed and intact.
New lifts and some services reticulation were installed in the original lightwells of the building.
