ARBS 2014 AWARDS

Congratulations to all the 2014 ARBS Industry Awards winners.

Young Achiever 2014

Brett Saunders – Hiflow Industries

Brett Saunders the 32 year old founder and Managing Director of Hiflow Industries Pty Ltd, is passionate about business and the HVAC&R industry. Since Hiflow’s conception in November 2005, Brett has continued to lead his team to success through instilling his vision of being the industry’s leader in

providing exceptional service delivery to his clients. Now boasting of offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and working with some of the largest clients and buildings within Australia, Brett continues with his hunger to expand his knowledge and identify future innovative ways to improve service delivery and operational efficiency across our industry sector.

HVAC Project Excellence Award 2014

Queen Elizabeth II, Courts of Law, Brisbane – Aurecon Australia

Aurecon provided multi-disciplinary engineering design services for the $570 million project to deliver well concealed services that are sympathetic to the extraordinary degree of transparency and simplicity that the architectural vision demands. One of the key features of the building is the unique, dynamically adaptable, double-skin façade which provides the building with a practical solution to privacy, sunlight penetration control and enhanced energy efficiency.

Extensive use of modelling software across a broad range of disciplines was undertaken to meet this design challenge, particularly across the wind, acoustics, structural, fire engineering and mechanical fields.

Located in Brisbane’s CBD, the project will see the transformation of an entire block between George, Roma and Turbot Streets, with the new building linking with a major public square and the existing Brisbane Magistrate’s Court.

 

Product Excellence Award 2014

Hercules TM Packaged Air Conditioning Unit –  ActronAir

ActronAir’s commitment to product excellence has been evident since the company was first established by Garry Mundy and his two sons, Kevin and Robert, in 1984. Considered as the quiet achiever of Australia’s air conditioning

industry, and having evolved a fully integrated design, development and manufacturing facility in New South Wales, ActronAir is uniquely placed to respond to the changing demands of the Australian HVAC industry.

In 2012, ActronAir conducted extensive customer research and following consultation and collaborative work with key stakeholders and partners, ActronAir recognised the opportunity to revolutionise the >100kW rooftop packaged unit category. It was from this research that the Hercules™ product concept was born.

Considered to be the most advanced, energy efficient packaged unit to ever be engineered in Australia, the Hercules™ range has been optimised for seasonal energy efficient performance. Independently conducted field testing and energy analysis has found that the performance of Hercules™ in the field surpasses initial research estimates.

Offering improved reliability, flexibility, noise emissions, occupant comfort, controls and BMS connectivity, it is also an excellent alternative to chillers and VRF systems. With an IEER2 of 5.45 and what ActronAir believes to be the lowest product life-cycle costs of any product in its class, Hercules has changed the game for current rooftop systems.

Refrigeration Project Excellence Award 2014

Coles, Hallam, (Vic) – COLES

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning have always been major sources of carbon emission. Coles are actively committed to ensuring a sustainable footprint for future stores. Through the Hallam (VIC) project, a 20% reduction in energy consumption was realised through better Engineering design of Refrigeration

and Air Conditioning plants along with initiatives in lighting, mechanical services and water and waste management.

The energy initiatives that were implemented are as follows:
Synthetic refrigerants quantity was reduced by approximately 60% resulting in overall reduction in Global Warming Potential ; Innovative plant design by using Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as the primary refrigerant, cascaded with R134A for refrigeration plant ; Innovative plant design by combining Air conditioning and refrigeration plants and using chilled water as refrigeration medium for Air conditioning plant ; LED lighting throughout the entire store including refrigeration case lighting ; Outside air management in order to have precise control of quantity and quality of outside air ; Reduction in embodied energy in materials of construction ; Harvest, store and use rainwater.

Hallam has now become our base model with a focus towards obtaining 4 star green star rating for new Coles stores.

Outstanding Service & Maintenance Provider 2014

Precise Air – Homebush NSW

Precise Air is the fresh alternative in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) industry. In just 12 years they have grown to over 100 employees across NSW, Queensland,

Victoria and the ACT, with an annual turnover approaching $35 million and a customer retention rate of 98%. Their customer base includes some of Australia’s largest privately owned and listed companies, property owners, facility managers and public institutions.

Precise Air’s “Fresh Thinking” customer service strategy is driven by its flexibility. It centres on partnering with their customers to develop efficient, sustainable and cost effective solutions specific to each customers’ needs. They pride themselves on establishing collaborative relationships with their customers, implementing programmes to reduce ad hoc calls, increasing and/or maintaining NABERS ratings and improving the safety of their customers, employees and the general public.

Precise Air’s front-line technicians, engineers and technical specialists are integral to the success of the company. They are rewarded with interesting careers, professional development and opportunities to cross- and up-skill to meet customer needs and changes in the industry. As a result, they are increasingly called on for their expert advice, particularly in the sustainability and energy efficiency space, raising the professional profile of HVAC specialists.

Outstanding Industry Education & Training Award 2014

Web Based Training – Daikin Australia

In 2009 Daikin Australia’s state of the art training centre opened in Sydney to provide hands on training to technicians. The range of units that can be found in the centre start from 2.5 kW high wall splits and all the way to an operational 3 pipe heat recovery system.

Daikin feels training is an investment to ensure product reliability with correct installation and customer satisfaction.

Over the course of 12 months Daikin trains approximately 1500 technicians and internal sales staff on technical, behavioural and WHS subjects. The scale of the training made available to technicians is large as 3 trainers working full time to cover all of Australia and New Zealand.

Up until the end of 2012 the training has been delivered face to face, but new to 2013 online training for both service and sales people was introduced to increase access to training for people involved with Daikin. Also introduced in 2013 were computer tablets and software to allow fault finding and commissioning VRV product when the trainers are traveling interstate as it’s difficult to set up an operating system.

The main benefit of the new online training system is that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The subjects are comprehensive and easy to follow and participants can learn at their own pace as well as having the support from a Daikin trainer for any assistance.