Smart buildings, Australia

Smart building technology transforms Museums Victoria

Discover how intelligent building management with Desigo CC, cloud-based analytics, HVAC upgrades, LED lighting and solar energy help Museums Victoria improve energy efficiency, reduce costs and protect valuable collections.

Preserving cultural treasures sustainably

Museums are valuable public treasures. They are record keepers, focal points for education and research and guardians of cultural identity. Precisely because they need to be accessible and affordable for everyone, museums must also be optimally run in terms of their energy and maintenance costs.

Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum, Scienceworks and the Royal Exhibition Building are all part of Museums Victoria – Australia’s largest public museums organization. Together, they contain some 17 million objects, documents, photographs and specimens. Around 2.5 million visitors walk through their doors every year.

Buildings in general are big energy consumers. Museums, however, often have their own unique energy needs and challenges. Among the Museums Victoria exhibits, for example, are fossils that are millions of years old, and delicate rare books and documents that must be kept under strict climate-controlled conditions.

As part of the Victorian Government’s Greener Government Buildings Program, Museums Victoria searched for an energy-efficiency partner and turned turned to us for our expertise in intelligent building technology.

Savings for Museums Victoria

In total, the guaranteed minimum savings for Museums Victoria across both Stage 1 and Stage 2 are substantial:

28% reduction in electricity consumption

25% reduction in utility costs

We all know that museums help us to learn from the past so we can work towards preserving the future.

Lynley Marshall, CEO, Museums Victoria

A data-driven approach to energy-efficient museum operations

Utilizing the latest technology, innovative delivery and a data-driven approach, we completed this major project in 2019. The project has been recognised by a peak industry body as "best in class", winning a National Energy Efficiency Council award for Stage 1.

The energy performance contract (EPC) was carried out in two stages over a period of five years.

Stage 1 centered included:

Building Management System upgrade (Desigo CC) at Melbourne Museum
Expansion to Immigration Museum with cloud-based analytics platform Siemens Navigator
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditionin ) and chiller upgrades
Water efficiency upgrades
LED lighting upgrades (8,300 fittings) across six sites, including the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building.

The centrepiece of Stage 2 was the installation of 2,743 solar panels (1,083 MW) across four sites, as well as a further roll out of BMS upgrades, and additional LED lighting upgrades (3,500 fittings).

The energy and water efficiency retrofits we proposed offered the best outcomes for the customer. HVAC, lighting and water improvement measures were implemented over a 15-month period within an Energy Performance Contract financing framework.

Navigator, the integrated, cloud-based platform used in the Melbourne Museum, provides powerful analytical and reporting capabilities – providing visibility into the long-term performance of facilities and infrastructure.