Australia’s Sydney Opera House is hailed as one of the world’s most visually innovative structures. And now it can also claim to be a global leader in sustainability.
According to a report from Facilities Management Advisor, the Sydney Opera House was awarded a 6 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. This honor signifies “World Leadership” in environmental and social sustainability operations.
“Sustainability is in the Sydney Opera House’s DNA,” said Louise Herron, CEO of the Sydney Opera House, which opened in 1973 after a tumultuous 15-year period of construction. “Architect Jørn Utzon incorporated sustainable design into the fabric of the building in the 1960s. Now, as we approach our 50th birthday later this year, we continue to look for ways to build on this legacy by embedding sustainable thinking into everything we do.”
Working with Honeywell on its sustainability retrofits, the opera house has incorporated technology to monitor indoor air quality and relative humidity, automate outside air control, integrate more than 20 disparate subsystems to improve safety, energy and water usage, and identify potential energy-saving opportunities in the building via the installation of more than 60 water meters and more than 800 electrical meters.
“The Sydney Opera House takes a thoughtful and deliberate approach to minimize its impact on the environment while providing a world-class experience for its occupants—all while carefully protecting its UNESCO World Heritage-listed status,” said Billal Hammoud, president and CEO of Honeywell Building Technologies. “This requires a careful balance and technologies, but most importantly, teamwork.”
