Geelong’s healthiest office building revealed

THE Geelong headquarters of WorkSafe Victoria has been recognised as the city’s healthiest office building.

The $120 million, 14-storey building at 1 Malop Street was awarded the highly prized 5.5 Star NABERS Base Building Energy rating.

NABERS stands for National Australian Built Environment Rating System and is a nationally recognised sustainability measure that assesses the efficiency and environmental performance of buildings. The building was completed in 2017 and incorporated the historic Dalgety & Co building in the design.

Quintessential Equity, the developer behind the project, also received a 5.5 Star Tenancy Energy rating and a 5 Star Base Building Water rating for the building. Chief executive officer Russell Bullen said the building is at the global forefront of sustainability and continues to raise the bar for occupant wellbeing and environmental standards.

“As proud advocates for healthy and sustainable buildings, we are thrilled to have achieved our NABERS rating … we have delivered on our vision for a world-class sustainable office building in Geelong’s centre,” Mr Bullen said.

The building previously received a 6 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia and a host of other accolades, and Mr Bullen says it is crucial that Geelong capitalises on this momentum.

“As the country continues to navigate a global pandemic and rebuild after a devastating bushfire season last year, there has never been a more important time to develop and regenerate buildings with the health and wellbeing of the tenants at its core,” Mr Bullen said.

“In the wake of COVID-19 we’re seeing regional cities continuing to grow, and with its existing amenity, infrastructure, affordability and quality of life, Geelong is well positioned to be at the forefront of sustainable and healthy office design, which will attract top talent and businesses.”

The WorkSafe building was also one of the first properties to secure comprehensive finance through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to focus on its energy efficiency performance.

CEFC director and joint head of property, Michael Di Russo, said the project was a green game-changer.

“We are excited to see the development set new standards in commercial office sustainability and congratulate Quintessential Equity on achieving these NABERS ratings.”

Quintessential Equity is currently working on the new $220 million Geelong Civic Precinct in partnership with the City of Greater Geelong and the new headquarters for health insurer GMHBA at 60 Moorabool Street, which is due for completion mid-2021.