Grundfos presence in Adelaide landmark green building

In bringing 900 employees from three of their former sites into this new building, including staff from two water testing sites, SA Water required multi-function building pumping systems that not only met demanding specifications, but also showcased its high-level water management standards. These have been met using systems that not only move water, but also can test, dose or filter it, depending on the need. In the case of this landmark building, specifications included the roof capture, storage and pumping of rainwater for toilet flushing or for irrigation and cooling tower use; the movement of mains water to workers at each level, after UV filtration; and trade water treatment (discarded water samples) in the basement, dosing to adjust pH to ensure that the water was not too acid or alkaline, before disposal to the sewer. Clearly, pumps don’t just move water in buildings nowadays; they must be able to treat water in various ways to improve quality depending on the requirement, and staff operating them must be confident that they can monitor every phase.

The Grundfos Solution
The tender offered the successful supplier an opportunity to not only supply best-practice product, but also involve itself with a project which would attract a lot of building industry interest. In October 2007 VS1 became the first building in South Australia to win a six-star Green Star Office Design rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. It was the largest commercially developed building in Australia to win this, and while invisible to visitors, the Grundfos state-of-the-art pumping system played a role in this accolade.

Grundfos Pumps Pty Ltd met the multi-function demands of the building’s specifications through supply of six Hydro Multi-pump Controller (MPC) systems, comprising one Hydro MPC Dual CRE32-02; one Hydro Triplex CRE10-03; three Hydro MPC Dual CRE 15-09; and one Hydro Dual CRE 10-06.
Ground floor pump systems move the water among the building's 10 levels, and others at level 10 maintain the head pressure (one potable; another non-potable). A third system moves captured rainwater throughout the building for toilet flushing. Finally, a basement tank dosage system pH-adjusts sample wastewater before gravity disposal to the sewer.
According to Steve Campbell, Jordan Plumbing, VS1 Site Manager, post-construction, the Grundfos systems met the challenge.
“Grundfos pumps are very good to use, very modern,” he said.
“They use a new computer system that makes fault-finding a lot easier.
“The interface is via a computer screen, not gauges, and you can see everything – alarms, flows, pressure, and so on.
“Pumps a few years ago didn’t do that. The new system of Grundfos pumps are the most sophisticated I’ve seen,” he said.
A crucial specification for the installation was a requirement for the pumping system to treat water for various uses. These include UV treatment to ensure that potable water is of the highest quality for drinking, through to pH testing and dosing of wastewater in the basement treatment facility, in preparation for disposal.
Adelaide's Freshwater Systems spokesman, Jeff Nicholas, said that placing the system in the basement meant that disposal occurred by gravity, simplifying the specifications.

The Outcome
This state-of-the-art facility has earned a six star rating and is an excellent example of the future of buildings within Australia. Through aligning with professional partners such as Grundfos, sustainable pumping solutions enable Green buildings to become a reality.

Grundfos Pumps Area Sales Manager, Tony Johnson, said that he was pleased about the successful installation.
“Our feedback was that the systems we supplied fitted the bill very well.
“Consultants like our systems because they are easy to use and they perform very well.
“With projects such as this they want systems that are easy to configure, and Grundfos systems are simple to control,” he said.
“We are delighted that Grundfos has been able to play a role in what has been a landmark green star-rated fit out,” he said.