Building Management System Upgrade for Melbourne Childrens Court

⁠⁠⁠The Melbourne Children Court of Victoria is a 3-level building that completed in 1999. The main functional elements of the building are public spaces linking the 8 courtrooms, 2 multi-purpose rooms, open plan office and magistrate office.

The original building control system comprises of Siebe make direct digital control (DDC) system, where a large portion of the components remain intact and functioning as part of the system. Over the subsequent years, the front-end interface has been “overlaid” by Schneider-Electric flagship software (Struxtureware), while most of the DDC controllers and field controller’s hardware has been replaced as a form of reactive maintenance. Majorifty of cabling and wiring is still from the original 1999 installation and is considered as obsolete technology.

The existing DDC/ BMS is due for an upgrade to provide more control, monitoring and measuring functionality over the existing systems and metering building energy consumption. Furthermore, the existing system installed is difficult to use and requires specific expertise, this is causing several instability and service issues.

The upgrade involves the installation of a new BMS head end pc, server network and controllers. The majority of field devices will be retained where they are in good working order and compatible, taking into consideration that the exiting Mechanical systems equipment is reaching end of economic life in the short term following the BMS upgrade.

The following is a description of the key objectives for the project:

* Energy Efficiency - A system which has the ability to carry out complex energy efficiency control strategies and energy management systems for Building Managers to control and monitor performance of the individual system. The aim is to reduce building energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. It should be noted that the potential control strategies are limited to the ability of the existing system infrastructure.
* Local Support – a system which is installed and commissioned by the awarded tenderer must have the ability to provide 24- hour local support and periodic performance maintenance for the life of the system software and hardware.

* Open Source– A system that is based on platform which source code is built on an open distribution vendor neutral application to ensure compatibilities with various devices and systems.

* Reporting – a system that is capable to generate weekly, monthly and yearly reports of key trends, usage, logs and alarms.

* Redundancy and Reliability – A systems which is adequately protected and secured that provides secure back-up and trend data. Surge protection and power filtration required for the central server.

* Flexibility – Future proof to the building for expansion provisions. The system will be specified as an open protocol and open source system. In addition, software upgrades will be specified as part of a (tender optional) maintenance contract.

* User friendly operability and monitoring – A system that is easy to carry out task or general monitoring or reading of fault detection alarm. Building Manager should be able to carry out the minimal task even with limited expertise and minimal training of the system.

* Security – A system that is secure and protected from cybersecurity.

* BMS access rights – Password protected Interfaces is to be organised by individual users to suit assorted needs and roles.

* Integration – expansion to control and monitoring the systems serving the building. The new system will aim to control and interface with the following current and future system:

* Building HVAC system
* General power systems (metering, power management)
* Lighting controls
* Blinds
* Vertical transportation system
* Hydraulic Systems (mains water supply, natural gas supply and domestic hot water)