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The heart of modern buildings

In a modern commercial high-rise development, the heart of the building is the building management system.

Building management systems control the essential services for buildings including security, airconditioning, heating, lighting, ventilation and a host of other functions. A good system can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide security and safety for workers, create a comfortable and productive environment, and assist in the seamless operation of the building.

Honeywell Building Solutions was chosen to design, install and service a building management and security system suitable for Westpac Place, Sydney Australia, the new national operational headquarters for one of Australia's largest banks.

Westpac Place is the second largest office space in Sydney's CBD. With a construction and office fit out totalling 74 000 m² and housing 5000 Westpac employees, it is a large, complex and highly integrated building, showcasing advanced BMS and security offerings.

Building services found at Westpac Place are state-of-the-art and tailored to suit Westpac's exacting requirements, including extensive security features throughout. Intelligent use of innovative technology from the team at Honeywell has created a central point of control for all building services from security, to CCTV, to escalators, HVAC and lighting.

Operating within an 18-month time frame, Honeywell worked closely alongside developer Leighton Contractors to execute this complex project, which included installing Honeywell enterprise buildings integrator (EBI) and Honeywell digital video manager (DVM). EBI is a state-of-the-art integrated building management system which connects to DVM, a scalable, digital closed-circuit television surveillance solution.

Both products are developed in Sydney, Australia, at Honeywell's Software Centre and are exported to Honeywell customers worldwide. EBI is designed to integrate all aspects of building automation and control into a single entity, connecting and linking all the building sub-systems via an IP network into a single graphical management system.

Utilising the building's network infrastructure as a communications backbone, EBI controls all of Westpac Place's mechanical plant and equipment. The system integrates everything from environmental controls, open systems interfaces such as LonWorks, Modbus, OPC, and BACnet to security functions such as access control, intrusion detection, lift control, occupancy reporting, advanced alarm management, alarm paging and network based video surveillance.

When used in conjunction with DVM, the solution is able to intelligently capture before and after video footage of an incident. The advantage of the EBI system is that all building functions are controlled from and report to a central point, which facilitates exceptional speed and coordination between integrated functions. This reduces response times, and improves information management.

The project was also designed as a strong environmentally sustainable development initiative. The EBI systems also allows monitoring of occupancy levels, air conditioners and lighting. All these facilities can be adjusted from the one point to taking into account the requirements and usage of the tenants, again producing providing cost, energy and environmental savings.

The Honeywell solution has the potential to evolve as requirements change or as new technology becomes available, ensuring that the building remains at the forefront of smart buildings around the world. For example, surveillance cameras can be easily moved around the building and plugged directly into the network, allowing them to monitor plant and equipment or security issues as necessary.

The Honeywell solution at Westpac Place is at the core of this successful, safe and productive facility. As such, Westpac Place has become a showcase of developed technology applications in commercial buildings.

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