Toyota’s new headquarters drives water recycling to new levels

The Perth Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) hydraulic team has worked with Roxby Architects to create Toyota’s new state of the art headquarters.

Toyota’s drive from the start was to create a stand out building in regards to sustainability which should match their car branding, aiming to save CO2 emissions, minimise the ecological footprint and achieve a minimum of 5 Star Green Star Rating. This drive meant the whole design team was challenged to come up with considerably more than just the standard design solutions.

WGE’s hydraulic team’s main goal was to reduce the water consumption of the building to a minimum. To achieve this goal the team looked at all water use from the type of initial tap installed, to water recycling schemes through treatment systems.

The integrated blackwater treatment system installed is traditionally designed to treat water to a certain level and discharge it back into the aquifer below ground. WGE’s hydraulic team went one step further and integrated a treatment plant which produces A class water quality, in other words almost drinking water. 100% of the wastewater discharge of the building gets fully reused on site and as a result water consumption is reduced to a minimum.

The WA Department of Health has very strict guidelines for wastewater reuse, creating quite a few challenges for the team. Open, clear communication from the WGE project engineers was needed to achieve full approval and certification of the system. These strong communication skills were again utilised when sourcing and working with the supplier of the system to ensure the correct end result.

The building is now complete and even includes a welcoming LCD screen displaying the current energy and water usage of the building – highlighting how it will sustain a positive impact on the community into the future.