WESLEY PLACE, MELBOURNE Merging luxury and sustainability with Geberit bathroom solutions

In the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, flanked by some of the city’s finest restaurants, hotels and cultural icons, sits a glistening new commercial precinct – Wesley Place. As one of the three tower buildings within the precinct, 130 Lonsdale Street redefines the workplace environment, both internally and externally. Surrounded by greenery and five immaculately maintained heritage buildings, 130 Lonsdale combines beautiful outdoor spaces with the height of luxury and sustainability – designed to achieve a 6 Green Star and 4.5 Star NABERS Water rating, amongst others.

The hugely ambitious sustainability goals for the building reflected the aim to attract forward-thinking businesses to the precinct. However, achieving such high standards meant that attention to detail was paramount – particularly when it came to managing the building’s water, sanitary, storm water and trade waste requirements, which was left to industry experts, Complete Plumbing Contracting.

For Alex Rodwell, Hydraulic Services Designer at Complete Plumbing Contracting, there were a number of key considerations. “When working on green star projects, we have to consider water recycling and stormwater collection, water waste, re-use and re-entry”, explains Alex. “When thinking about these issues, we not only need to ensure we’re using products that will stand the test of time and require little or zero maintenance, but also efficiency. We also need to ensure that, for the products that will be visible to people using the building, we’re maintaining aesthetics and quality”.

The Solution

Having used many Geberit products in the past, Alex and his team looked no further than the Geberit Sovent system for drainage throughout the entire building, as well as the Geberit Sigma80 touchless flush buttons for all toilets. “The original design for the building specified a fully-vented modified drainage system and standard push-button for all toilets”, reveals Alex, “but we’re big believers in Geberit products and knew that the Sovent system and Sigma80 were the best fit solutions”.

Key advantages of the Sovent system over competing products included being made from HDPE instead of PVC – a material that is more green and more robust therefore minimising ongoing maintenance – and an innovative design that eliminates the need for additional vents and piping, creating significant space gains. “The Sovent system can hold up to 150% of the fully-vented modified system and enabled us to remove five 100mm vertical vents.” Alex enthuses, “so it wins hands-down on capacity and is more reliable as it removes unnecessary parts which can be prone to failure. It’s incredibly advanced and creates obvious time and cost savings for us in the long-term”.

The Sigma80, Geberit’s sensor-activated, glass plate flush button, was also an easy decision, with 482 being installed across the building’s 32 storeys. “In a public building, hygiene is an increasing concern, so it simply made sense to aim for the best, both in style and touchless technology”, Alex notes. “On big projects, you can’t afford to make bad decisions, and Geberit’s aftercare is second to none. If something doesn’t go smoothly, Geberit offers a level of extra reassurance and will work with us to fix any issues. They’re brilliant to work with”.