System Solutions Engineering - Highlights

Marquee Project/

Engineering North

System Solutions Engineering has completed construction of a new shared laboratory facility at the University of Adelaide, co-locating multiple professors within the same operational area, to provide shared resources and equipment, minimisation of equipment duplication, improved collaboration between research and teaching groups and provision of high-grade consumables for experiments.

The new shared laboratory has been created for the faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences (ECMS) and the school of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials and provides a high-end functional space to allow the professors, masters and PHD students to complete leading-edge research.

ESD/initiatives

Thermal plant connected air-conditioning
High-efficiency condensing boilers
Variable speed pumping
Pressure controlled variable outside air
Occupancy sensing setpoint control and setback
Monitored fume-cupboard sash positioning
LED lighting with local dimming control
Occupancy sensing lighting control and setback
Scrubber tanks with neutralising chemicals

Improvements:

The space has been fitted with high-grade finishes and service provisions, including:

Laboratory-grade benches
Ultra-high purity gases – oxygen, hydrogen, acetylene, nitrogen, argon, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide
Compressed air
Laboratory-grade laminar diffusion
LED lighting with occupancy sensing and CBUS control
Eight new fume cupboards.

The mechanical services for the space are connected to the thermal plant located within the adjacent building, however the existing plant was upgraded to provide greater efficiency and capacity to service the newly created thermal network. Pipework takeoffs were also provided to enable future connection of a third adjacent building.

Services:

AV integration
Electrical (power & communications)
Fire Protection
Hydraulics
Laboratory gases
Mechanical

Associated Project Partners:

Sarah Constructions
Walter Brooke & Associates
Watson Fitzgerald & Associates
Air Con Serve

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

Congratulations to Brad Maynard
for celebrating 26 years with SSE. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

ALDI Stores Limited

System Solutions Engineering is proud to have helped ALDI Stores implement their South Australian roll out, with an anticipated 50 stores within South Australia. SSE has recently completed documentation of 16 stores thus far, with several stores still in feasibility / planning stage.

The ALDI way – From our perspective, our involvement with ALDI has been refreshing while remaining challenging at times, says SSE Project Team Leader Kevin O’Reilly. Refreshing, simply because ALDI have very high expectations. This is reflected in the high level of documentation, right through to the project build and quality of equipment used within the fitouts.

Our input to the building services:

Site feasibility reports
Design and documentation stage
High level of construction phase involvement
12 month defects liability inspections completed every three months

Complex coordination

The coordination that is required on a leasehold store can often be challenging due to short time frames, the involvement of several stakeholders, and inevitably the base-building services are designed and documented by others, hence increasing the complexities and coordination required. The topography, orientation, size and geographical position of the sites also pose engineering challenges and largely determines the internal layouts of the stores – making each store unique. Our involvement typically incorporates mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire services, with vertical transportation services on certain sites.

Congratulations to Sam James and David Robinson for celebrating 14 years with SSE, and 13 years for Kylan Day and Teodora Ioja. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

Highgate Park Lifts

Department of Human Services (DHS) engaged SSE to upgrade the aged lifts operating system within the main building to provide a modern, energy efficient lift operation that would be acceptable to its clients, staff and public users of the complex.

The original lift equipment, installed circa 1975, included 6 passenger lifts and at that time was considered as the Rolls Royce of lifts operation. It was identified that the lift equipment was beyond its economic life cycle and the poor energy efficiency caused by continuous running lift drive power generators and power hungry mechanical relay control systems were obsolete with limited parts availability. It was concluded that 4 new lifts would satisfy the operational requirements for the building and would increase reliability, energy efficiency and acceptance by clients and lift passengers generally.

ENERGY USAGE Electricity Usage

Redundant lift equipment, with the exception of that housed in the overhead lift machine room, was removed, allowing for new Machine Room-less Lifts (MRL) to be installed. This equipment includes new car panels and car interior finishes, together with energy efficient variable frequency (VF) drive motors and electronic controls mounted within the existing lift shaft and new door operating equipment. Overall an energy efficiency improvement of approximately 60% is noted to be achieved with the new Variable Frequency (VF) motor drive power regeneration controls and associated lift equipment. Regeneration drives expand the efficiency of lifts by conserving energy that is wasted as heat during lifts stopping and feeding it back into the building’s electrical supply grid.

SSE were very conscious that the building housed a number of vulnerable clients and other users and developed a programme whereby two lifts were operational at all times during the upgrade. In fact, by the time two lifts were replaced, the performance exceeded that of the five collective operational lifts with breakdowns of the older lifts diminishing over the build period.

Achievements:

DHS design requirements were achieved by SSE and compared with the original installed equipment, the upgraded lift system has provided:

Safe & Reliable lift operation
Energy efficiency and power savings
Passenger acceptance
Reduced passenger waiting times for a lift
Quiet and smooth lift ride for passenger
Passenger acceptance

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

Congratulations to Ben James, Ashley Kraft and Melissa Harris for celebrating 23 years with SSE. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

CSIRO Gas Safety Audit

comprehensive Site inspections of 31 CSIRO facilities across every state and territory throughout australia CSIRO gas sites audit

System Solutions Engineering was engaged by CSIRO to undertake a reticulated gas safety audit of their facilities. The audit was part of CSIRO’s continued commitment to safety and included the examination of gas cylinder locations and enclosures, gas bulk storage systems and enclosures including liquid form, gas manifolds and pressure reducing equipment, gas reticulation systems including piping materials and standard of construction, gas sensing and alarming systems, access control and the working environment.

The scope of the audit included referencing various Australian Standards and identifying any non-compliances to the Australian Standards. The non-compliances were graded as either lock-out, major, minor, incidental or observation. The audits were comprehensive investigations of each facility with every non-compliance identified photographed, catalogued and reported.

The audit started in September 2018 at Lindfield, NSW and continued around the country until it was completed in may 2019 at Geelong, ViC. It included a total of 31 facilities and was spread across every state and territory. The audit was an excellent opportunity to observe a vast array of scientific endeavours and the engineering services that are required to support the research. Under the guidance of Ben James, our young engineers Daniel Moult and Lachlan Earl developed a comprehensive and unique understanding of the principles behind laboratory gas design and safety.

CELEBRATING Since 1997

YEARS – Our sincere thanks to all clients and staff.

Marquee Project/

Murray Bridge Hospital

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI), requested a pilot study for building information modelling (BIM) on the Murray Bridge Hospital Project. Our mission was to prove that it was possible to implement the use of BIM technology in various ways. Primarily, to automate the process of identifying the parameters and location of equipment within the building.

For this, we used the DYNAMO Visual Studio to extract the required data from the model which was stored in Revit Schedule. We were able to transfer the data into Excel format which allowed us to manipulate data and transfer between programs. This process allowed engineers to automatically categorize MEP equipment by room number and names. As a result of these technological advancements, we can create a room data sheet which increases the rate and quality of work for DPTI.

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

System Solutions Engineering dramatically reduced the energy consumption at Wakefield House Adelaide by 194,000 kWh p.a. while improving cooling capacity across 19 floors.
Watch video >

Marquee Project/

St Andrews Hospital

Energy Usage

With the development of the site services masterplan by System Solutions Engineering, the capacity and age of the existing medical breathing air system was assessed as inadequate. The need for an upgrade to meet future capacity and quality requirements while maintaining a reliable and energy-efficient medical breathing air supply was quickly recognised as a site priority.

The original equipment consisted of two individual air compressor systems, one serving the theatre wing and the other serving the central wing. Both plants were identified as beyond their economic life cycle and both had limited parts availability. In addition, the energy consumption of both plants was deemed extreme. Seeing the new Clinical Wing was in the design stages, the ability to serve this new load was considered within the overall concept developed by SSE. Now the hospital has a main ring serving the site including the new Clinical Wing with a total of four scroll compressor packages each containing three compressors.

New air filtration, air flow and air quality monitoring has been built in for each set of compressors and all compressors are controlled by an hours’ equalisation algorithm built into the compressor packages. The site currently operates with only one compressor package online at any time and uses a fraction of the power to produce the current air demand. The entire network and all air compressors are monitored by the BMS, with any warnings being transmitted to maintenance via the BMS. The new system is ready to serve the new clinical building and the existing hospital with clean reliable medical air well into the future.

Congratulations to Brad Maynard
for celebrating 26 years with SSE. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

CSIRO Glasshouse

The aim of this project was to provide a glasshouse for CSIRO’s agricultural research on the interactions of plant pathogens and more specifically grapevine pathology. The structure was designed for and achieved PC2 and QC2 certification. One key building design feature is the flexibility to cordon off areas within the glasshouse for particular classifications of work without disrupting or cross contaminating adjacent areas.

General Information:

216sqm floor area with capability to be divided into 4 separate quadrants with an ante room at either end.

Relevant Standards:

AS/NZS 2243.3:2010, Section 7.3 Requirements for Plant PC2 Facilities
DAFF QAP Criteria 6.1 Closed Quarantine Facilities for Medium Risk Nursery Stock
Temperature controlled and monitored environment.

While the glasshouse itself and project was delivered through a design and construct model, the engineering services required a more detailed approach and so a typical design-bid-build strategy was integrated into the design and construction framework. This approach ensured the detail and quality of finish required for PC2 and QC2 certification was successfully achieved. Engineering containment facilities for pathogen control is not new to SSE. Earlier in 2015, we completed the only PC3 compliant laboratory in South Australia, designed with standards fit for the World Health Organisation.

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

Congratulations to Sam James and David Robinson for celebrating 14 years with SSE, and 13 years for Kylan Day and Teodora Ioja. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

Sunfresh Salads

The chilled water temperature is monitored to 0.01 degree accuracy to give ultimate temperature control and system reaction.

System Solutions Engineering were called to Sunfresh Salads to resolve issues associated with repetitive failures of their pasta chiller heat exchanger and refrigeration failures. Following an assessment of the issues, previous experience indicated that the current method of chilling water for product cooling could never be reliable in the long term, because at the time, temperature control needed to be achieved through the refrigeration system’s pressure control.

In addition to this, the client advised that they planned to purchase a new 1400kg pasta cooker and any resolution to the existing problems would have to take into account the additional capacity.

In response to this challenge, SSE proposed that the client use existing refrigeration infrastructure to build an integrated package of refrigeration, controls and pumping. Together, this would create a circulating glycol system which would be utilised to provide cooling for a submerged coiltype chilled water heat exchanger. This resolution provided a new degree of reliability with increased cooling capacity and production potential. The new glycol system is expandable with the opportunity of serving a number of product chilling applications throughout the factory.

CELEBRATING Since 1997

YEARS – Our sincere thanks to all clients and staff.

Marquee Project/

55 Currie Street

ELECTRICITY USAGE

GAS USAGE

NABERS RATING

ESD/initiatives

Dramatic decrease in energy consumption
Base building electricity down by 45%
Gas is now down by 35% from its peak
Comfort levels greatly improved
Building now capable of coping with Adelaide’s most extreme conditions
Staggering improvement in the NABERS rating with a rise from 2.96 to 4.72 stars in 2.5 years

System Solutions Engineering designed and project-managed the refurbishment of the mechanical and thermal plant including a BMS upgrade between July 2011 and January 2012.

The building’s initial NABERS rating was below 3.0 (approximately 2.96) prior to the upgrade works taking place. As soon as the new plant was commissioned, the reduction in electrical energy was apparent. As the building’s data was collected and analysed by System Solutions Engineering, tuning strategies were introduced, continually analysed and refined over a period of two years, until the building comfort levels were optimised and the consumption of electricity and gas was honed to its optimal levels.

To see how your building can perform like this contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email mail@syssoleng.com.au

System Solutions Engineering dramatically reduced the energy consumption at Wakefield House Adelaide by 194,000 kWh p.a. while improving cooling capacity across 19 floors.
Watch video >

Marquee Project/

99 Gawler Place

Electricity Usage

Gas Usage

System Solutions Engineering has been involved at 99 Gawler Place since 2010. During this period, the base-building electrical usage has been reduced by over 54%, from 1,164,958 kWh p.a. to 530,556 kWh p.a. and steady improvements have been made to natural gas usage, resulting in an overall increase of approximately 0.84 NABERS stars, from NABERS 3.5 stars to 4.34 stars (unofficial).

While energy improvements have resulted, the greatest gains have been with internal conditions – which have been significantly improved through modifications to the existing mechanical plant and the installation of new automatic controls, providing more stable conditions within the tenancy spaces. Additional return air pathways have also been added to reduce drafts within the occupied spaces – which was previously an unresolved problem within the building.

ESD/initiatives

SSE introduced a total of 12 ESD strategies
The building achieved NABERS 4.34 in May 2014
Building now targeting NABERS 4.5

Congratulations to Fiona Salter for celebrating 18 years with SSE. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

IMVS PC3 LABORATORY

System Solutions Engineering is proud of its involvement in the health and science sector by being part of the team that delivered the State’s first certified Physical Containment Level 3 (PC3) lab.
The facility meets the requirements of AS2243.3:2010 – Safety in Laboratories Part 3: Microbiological safety and containment.

The lab performs microscopy, culture, drug susceptibility testing, molecular species identification and diagnostic nucleic acid amplification tests for tuberculosis (TB) for all public hospital patients in South Australia. It is also a World Health Organisation (WHO) supranational TB reference laboratory. Furthermore the lab also provides testing of specimens for BT agents.

As part of a successful and integrated team System Solutions Engineering provided the design of the mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire protection services. This specialist facility included the refurbishment of existing laboratory space adjacent to an operational suite of PC2 laboratories.

Features of the services design include stable operation, monitoring and alarming of pressure differentials for the air lock and laboratory, flexible decontamination infrastructure allowing the client to select various compartments for decontamination. Successful coordination of services with the architectural and building detail ensured the required leakage rate of less than 2 L/s at 200 Pa pressure differential was achieved.

Congratulations to Ben James, Ashley Kraft and Melissa Harris for celebrating 23 years with SSE. Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

Flinders Medical Centre

Energy Usage

CO2 Emissions

WATER Usage

System Solutions Engineering has worked with SA Health for over 14 years in the sustainment of existing facilities and in many cases has assisted with the briefing of many of the Major Projects in both Metro and SA Country Health.

ESD/initiatives

Reinitiating economy cycle systems
Heat recovery from exhaust air paths
Major site-wide proliferation and replacement of BMS controls
Use of high efficiency chillers and boilers
Reduction in the use of High Temperature Heating Hot Water
Use of variable speed drive technology for pumping and air handling systems
Halving the outside air to theatres combined with heat recovery
Use of the Shaw Method of Air Conditioning to control humidity
Installation of a solar hot water system for the whole of the site (60% Contribution)
Energy efficient lighting systems to all areas of the redevelopment
Introduction of 3C coolers (50% water saving over traditional cooling towers)
Collection of all rainwater from new south wing for use in toilets
Collection of waste water from the reverse osmosis process for use in toilets
Generally optimising the efficiency of all energy/water appliances

Prior to the Flinders Medical Centre’s Major Project being conceived, in 2006/7, SSE was asked by SA Health to develop a brief for the overall sustainment of the engineering services across the site, which was expected to be as much as 25% of the overall $160M notional budget.

SSE audited the engineering infrastructure, analysed the operation of the plant, serviceability, compliance, OH&S issues and energy performance and then prepared a brief to consultants tendering for the overall redevelopment. The briefing included a sustainment plan for all engineering disciplines as well as an overall strategy for energy improvements in line with SA Health and SA Government targets.

SSE were subsequently asked by consulting firm Aecom in 2007/8 to collaborate with them for the delivery of the engineering designs within the overall redevelopment. SSE participated in Stage 1, being the main infrastructure upgrading works of some $30M and were directly responsible for:

Conversion of the High Temperature Heating Hot Water to Medium Temperature Heating Hot Water;
Steam Rationalisation & improved reticulation;
Upgrade of eight (8) passenger lifts;
Site-wide BMS Upgrade, completely replacing the older I-Net7 BMS and legacy pneumatic systems.

SSE also assisted Aecom with peer reviews of their completed designs prior to tendering to specialist trades. Since completing our initial works, SSE has continued to provide a reviewing and supporting role to the Flinders Medical Centre in the areas of sustainment and energy performance.

System Solutions Engineering
were awarded the 2011 Best Sustainable Retrofit
for 19 Grenfell Street by AIRAH.

Marquee Project/

19 Grenfell Street

POWER DISTRIBUTION

ELECTRICITY USAGE

CO2 Emissions

ESD/initiatives

New high efficiency centrifugal
variable speed chillers
Variable speed drives on main fans
Variable speed drives on new pumps
Shaw Method of Air Conditioning
Induction variable air volume boxes
CO2 and economy cycle outdoor air control
New Building Management System
with energy saving control strategies

System Solutions Engineering is heavily involved in building energy efficiency upgrades, and was awarded by AIRAH, the 2011 Best Sustainable Retrofit for 19 Grenfell St.

The building, originally a NABERS 2 star building, consumed approximately 1,700,000 kWh of electricity per annum. Through the installation of a new chilled water plant, variable speed drives on the main fans and pumps, induction VAV boxes, control upgrades and installation of the Shaw Method of Air Conditioning, electrical energy consumption was reduced to approximately 750,000 kWh of electricity per annum, achieving a predicted NABERS 4 star rating and saving approximately 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum. The target is to achieve NABERS 5 star energy rating once the project is finally completed.

Our own Top Gun - Sam James nominated as the
Top Gun consultant for a project at 55 Currie Street. Go Sam!

Marquee Project/

Modbury Hospital

System Solutions Engineering is continuing its work for SA Health with the upgrade of building services infrastructure at Modbury Hospital. The Sustainment Works project includes the upgrade of building services infrastructure over a six year period.

SSE is responsible for the Project and Cost Management, as well as the design, documentation and construction management of the Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic, Fire Protection and Vertical Transportation Services. Tracking on time and on budget, the project aims to improve efficiencies of operation which includes multiple ESD measures.

ESD/initiatives

Rainwater harvesting
Solar domestic hot water system
Site steam rationalisation
Variable speed chilled & heating hot water pumping
Complete upgrade of the site’s Building Management System
Roof replacement; and
Associated building works

Tony Edmunds’ Retirement.

From all your work family here at SSE, we say thank you for your valuable contribution over the past 15 years, your tireless attention to detail and your good humour under pressure. We wish you a fun and exciting next chapter, whatever the story you choose to write. Best wishes from this family to you and yours. Congratulations Tony! >

Marquee Project/

Red Cross Blood Service, Regent Arcade

System Solutions Engineering has a long serving involvement with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and provided electrical, fire, hydraulics and mechanical engineering services for the new blood donor centre in Regent Arcade.

SSE designed the systems for the general collection and office areas, as well as the critical systems for the processing and storage of the blood products donated. The systems incorporated temperature and humidity monitoring and control and essential services for electrical and communication systems throughout the building to meet Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) requirements.

Congratulations to David Klemm for celebrating 17 years with SSE and 16 years for Peter Sefton & Brian Westwood.
Say Hello! >

Marquee Project/

The Northern Festival Centre, Port Pirie

The new high-efficiency chiller is fitted with adiabatic cooling pads so that even at high ambient temperatures of over 40 degrees C, the chiller sees an air temperature of no more than 29 degrees. This greatly reduces the maximum power demand and improves the available capacity during hot weather. Energy Usage

Country Arts SA approached System Solutions Engineering to assist them with the development of concepts and budgets for the upgrade of air conditioning plant including improvements to the Northern Festival Centre’s ballroom which was currently air conditioned using evaporative coolers and gas air heating.

SSE developed an approach which allowed the centre to remain fully operational for much of the construction period. The solution enabled the expansion of mechanical plant designed to provide air conditioning to the ballroom, as well as refurbishment of the existing mechanical plant... all within budget.

The features of the plant which provide energy efficiency and performance include adiabatic cooling on the chiller, high efficiency condensing boilers which also provide domestic hot water via a heat exchanger and new pumps, economy cycles and new BMS controls with the latest energy efficiency strategies including time scheduling for functions.

ESD/initiatives

Improvements:

Services:

Associated Project Partners:

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

System Solutions Engineering is proud to have helped ALDI Stores implement their South Australian roll out, with an anticipated 50 stores within South Australia. SSE has recently completed documentation of 16 stores thus far, with several stores still in feasibility / planning stage.

Our input to the building services:

Complex coordination

Department of Human Services (DHS) engaged SSE to upgrade the aged lifts operating system within the main building to provide a modern, energy efficient lift operation that would be acceptable to its clients, staff and public users of the complex.

Achievements:

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

General Information:

Relevant Standards:

To learn more about the engineering potential of your building, contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.

In addition to this, the client advised that they planned to purchase a new 1400kg pasta cooker and any resolution to the existing problems would have to take into account the additional capacity.

ESD/initiatives

System Solutions Engineering designed and project-managed the refurbishment of the mechanical and thermal plant including a BMS upgrade between July 2011 and January 2012.

To see how your building can perform like this contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email mail@syssoleng.com.au

ESD/initiatives

System Solutions Engineering has worked with SA Health for over 14 years in the sustainment of existing facilities and in many cases has assisted with the briefing of many of the Major Projects in both Metro and SA Country Health.

ESD/initiatives

Prior to the Flinders Medical Centre’s Major Project being conceived, in 2006/7, SSE was asked by SA Health to develop a brief for the overall sustainment of the engineering services across the site, which was expected to be as much as 25% of the overall $160M notional budget.

ESD/initiatives

System Solutions Engineering is heavily involved in building energy efficiency upgrades, and was awarded by AIRAH, the 2011 Best Sustainable Retrofit for 19 Grenfell St.

ESD/initiatives

System Solutions Engineering has a long serving involvement with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and provided electrical, fire, hydraulics and mechanical engineering services for the new blood donor centre in Regent Arcade.

To see how your building can benefit from good engineering contact SSE on 8333 1855 or email us.