Ingenuity that makes buildings better
Museums are valuable public treasures. They are record keepers, focal points for education and research, and guardians of cultural identity. Precisely because they need to be accessible and affordable for everyone, museums must also be optimally run in terms of their energy and maintenance costs.Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum, Scienceworks and the Royal Exhibition Building are all part of Museums Victoria – Australia’s largest public museums organisation. Together, they contain some 17 million objects, documents, photographs and specimens. Around 2.5 million visitors walk through their doors every year.
Buildings in general are big energy consumers. Museums, however, often have their own unique energy needs and challenges. Among the Museums Victoria exhibits, for example, are fossils that are millions of years old, and delicate rare books and documents that must be kept under strict climate-controlled conditions.
As part of the Victorian Government’s Greener Government Buildings Program, Museums Victoria searched for an energy-efficiency partner and turned to Siemens – the global leaders in intelligent building technology.
We all know that museums help us to learn from the past so we can work towards preserving the future.Lynley Marshall, CEO Museums Victoria
Utilising the latest technology, innovative delivery and a data-driven approach, Siemens completed this major project in 2019. The project has been recognised by a peak industry body as "best in class", winning a National Energy Efficiency Council award for Stage 1.
The energy performance contract (EPC) was carried out in two stages over a period of five years. Stage 1 centred around a Building Management System upgrade (Siemens Desigo CC) for Melbourne Museum, which ensures that electrical systems are switched on only when and where they need to be. This was later expanded to include Immigration Museum, supported by the cloud-based analytics platform Siemens Navigator. It also comprised HVAC and chiller upgrades; water efficiency upgrades and LED lighting upgrades (8,300 fittings) across six sites, including the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building.
The centrepiece of Stage 2 was the installation of 2,743 solar panels (1,083 MW) across four sites, as well as a further roll out of BMS upgrades, and additional LED lighting upgrades (3,500 fittings).
In total, the guaranteed minimum savings for Museums Victoria across both Stage 1 and Stage 2 are substantial:
28 percent
reduction in electricity consumption
25 percent
reduction in utility costs
20 percent
reduction in CO2 emissions
6 percent
reduction in water usage
Creating perfect places
Life begins in the perfect place – so why shouldn’t all our lives be lived in perfect places? Perfectly designed for its purpose. A place to learn, a place to develop, a place to grow, a place to succeed. Building management systems from Siemens make Museums Victoria the perfect place to preserve Australia’s heritage.
