Located in the heart of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, the Central Precinct Retail Building (C4) complex incorporates a 2600m² supermarket, small atrium, mall and a number of specialist retails, 3000m² of 5 Star Green-Star and 4.5 NABERS offices and a basement car park for 99 cars.

The refrigeration, air conditioning, artificial lighting, natural lighting and building materials were all designed to reduce the building’s environmental footprint. WGE provided the mechanical, electrical and vertical transportation services for this challenging yet rewarding project.

One of the standout features in the C4 development is the Woolworths supermarket. WGE went well beyond the standard supermarket design brief to deliver a supermarket that has astounded those involved with its energy efficiency.

Woolworths have confirmed that this is their most energy efficient store in Australia. The specific energy efficient provisions of the design which were incorporated include:

• Economy cycles.
• Combined refrigeration and air conditioning environmentally friendly CO₂ cooling system.
• Four separate non-interlaced cooling coils which provide dehumidification at part load.
• ‘Displacement’ supply air delivery system in the supermarket where low velocity supply air is delivered below the shelving and conditions the occupied zone to 2m above the floor.
• No heating was necessary apart from heat reclaim.
• T5 fluorescent luminaires.

WGE pushed the boundaries of traditional supermarket mechanical system design. The team met the Woolworths standards of specification while also ensuring the design met the efficiency required by the precinct. Such is its impact it might rewrite the rulebook on supermarket design!

Read Ecolibrium’s case study on the super market.