Who are we

Crawford Architects is a multi-disciplinary practice with offices in Sydney, Australia and Kansas City, Missouri.

Where are we

The Sydney office is located on Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont, NSW.  The building is a heritage structure and hence poses its own design limitations.

Why did we become involved

We believe the importance of embracing carbon neutrality should be inherent in all work, social, and living environments and we welcome the opportunity of contributing to this research and the formulation of guidelines for small businesses.

• Since early last year, Crawford Architects has already implemented a number of initiatives as responsible global citizens including recycling; energy efficient light fittings, recycling of equipment etc. but we had no idea of its effectiveness or economy.
• These guidelines would provide encouragement for companies unaware and unsure about engaging themselves into environmentally responsible practices.
• The data collected through this process across the industry, in years to come would also serve as a valuable resource for any further research to be carried out in this area.

Office Structure

The office is around 250sq.m. with a staff of 12 people. It is split level with a central double height space and a mezzanine floor around.  The façade looking towards the water, faces west and hence is completely exposed to the afternoon sun.  The blinds help controlling the glare but don't stop the heat entering into the building.

Where did we start and how

• Data collection to see where most of our carbon emissions are generated from.
• Though the electricity bills do give us an overall figure for the carbon emissions, a breakdown helps to understand the consumption areas and where it could be cut down.

Where are we now

• With turning off the monitor screens at the end of the day, turning off power of all equipments, and turning the lights off, there were savings of about 20-25% in 2007-2008 as compared to the usage for its previous year.
• Since 2007 recycled A4 & A3 paper is bought by the office. It is difficult though, to have a translation of these savings in terms of carbon emissions.
• The major consumption of electricity comes through HVAC followed by lighting.

Where we are going - How are we going about it

• It's important to maintain what we have got right and build upon it to ensure further reductions.
• The HVAC was run through a maintenance check and certain issues were detected which are being attended to by systems maintenance.
• Looking for possible better solutions to existing set ups including the amount of equipment, duplication and greater diligence in recycling.
• The building envelope forms a major consideration in cases like ours as the western façade is a critical point of heat gain. While blinds cut the glare and some heat they are internal. The difficulty is installing external screening on a heritage building and is something that needs to be considered by the owner's corporation.
• Travel to and from work will also be investigated. Although this is difficult to control, incentives for using public transport instead of private vehicles is being considered.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT & DATA COLLECTION

The collection of data is an important yet time consuming exercise. It was vital the we obtained accurate information on consumption of energy from not only the equipment we use in the office but also how we got to and from work, how we travelled to & from the office for site meetings, consultant and client appointments, meetings with suppliers and authorities.

Allocating this task to one person was felt to be the most economical solution. We gave the process a project number and allocated time and resources. The template provided at the workshop was thought to be cumbersome but through perseverance it was completed and the data catalogued.

We believe that not everything we do can be monitored and it was decided to limit our self assessment to readily available date on equipment, travel etc. Much of the information about equipment can be found on the internet or on the equipment itself. Utility bills are another source of valuable data and many provide historical information. Travel can easily be monitored with log books.

It is very important that all employees be engaged in the process because without their input analysis and monitoring of progress cannot be accurately assessed. We need to set realistic goals, keep the staff informed of our progress and celebrate achievements