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BUSINESS NEWS BOTANICAL-INSPIRED WEST HOTEL SYDNEY OPENS NEAR UP-AND-COMING PRECINCT Located in Sydney’s central business district and next to the new waterfront leisure and commercial Barangaroo precinct, West Hotel Sydney, Curio Collection by Hilton resides in the ideal location for travellers. This property marks the first Curio Collection by Hilton hotel in Australia. The 182-room new build hotel will be managed by Hilton, under a management agreement with M&L Hospitality. Designed by Australian architecture firm Fitzpatrick and Partners , with interiors by Woods Bagot , the hotel has a modern classic design theme, featuring deep tones with marble and brass accents. A strong botanical theme runs throughout the hotel, most evident in the beautiful open-air garden atrium and white waratah motif in the lobby.

“Opening the first Curio Collection hotel in Australia is a very exciting milestone for us,” said Mark Nogal, global head, Curio Collection by Hilton. “Being such a culturally rich city and the capital of New South Wales, Sydney is the perfect location to add to our growing global collection, which now boasts nearly 50 hotels. West Hotel will offer curious travellers seeking an authentic, memorable travel experience the ideal base to discover Sydney.” The property features 182 stylish guest rooms, including four spacious suites. Each room is equipped with Bluetooth-enabled audio visual technology and an open work area, with suites offering a separate sleek living area. The hotel also features a fully equipped gym and a private meeting/dining room. Contributing to the lively Sydney dining scene

is the on-property restaurant Solander Dining and Bar. Named after the first fleet botanist who arrived in Australia from England and helped discover several plant types, Daniel Solander, the restaurant and bar offer a modern Australian all-day dining experience with a focus on seasonal and botanical produce. Leading the Solander team is executive chef David Vandenabeele who joins the hotel after working as the head chef at a leading hotel in New York. Jane Lyons, general manager, West Hotel Sydney said, “Our motivated and engaged team members very much look forward to welcoming guests to West Hotel, providing them with exceptional experiences that exude the distinctive spirit of Sydney, and offering them all the hallmarks of Hilton hospitality as part of the Curio Collection.”

ED FRIEDRICHS, from page 9

Today, we’ve designed the shared infrastructure approach into plans for the West 2 nd District in Reno, Nevada. We’ll have a central plant for 30 buildings. There will be no equipment on the rooftops, so there will be a dramatic decrease in maintenance cost and a projected savings of 36 percent in energy use. Plus, we can use the rooftops for something much more attractive than mechanical equipment. “We’ve designed the shared infrastructure approach into plans for the West 2 nd District in Reno, Nevada. We’ll have a central plant for 30 buildings. There will be no equipment on the rooftops, so there will be a dramatic decrease in maintenance cost and a projected savings of 36 percent in energy use.” In addition, a waste water treatment plant for the entire district will reduce the district’s water use by approximately 50 percent. That’s critical in Reno because of its high-desert climate. We’ll be able to recycle our water for irrigation, cooling towers, and toilet flushing. As global warming continues and water becomes increasingly scarce, this approach will become increasingly important. We will produce more recycled water than we’ll use, so, as autonomous vehicles begin to decrease parking demand, we’ll be able to grow our own fruits and vegetables in hydroponic gardens in what had formerly been parking floors. Many more centralized functions are planned, including security systems for the entire project connected directly to first responders – fire, police, emergency, and medical services. This will make our district much more secure. I’ll continue to elaborate on these systems, and the results we obtain, as the project moves forward. ED FRIEDRICHS, FAIA, FIIDA, is the former CEO and president of Gensler. Contact him at efriedrichs@zweiggroup.com.

central plant. Those shared resources could be staged into operation to accommodate demand, without having to run all of them all of the time. This was done at the time the local utility company had dramatically increased peak hour rates. We installed large tanks under the central plant filled with slurry that allowed us to chill the medium in the tanks at night when rates were low, and then use that in the chillers during the day when rates were high. In addition, we used a raised floor in the office spaces which allowed air to be delivered from under the floor at a higher temperature and at lower fan speeds than if the air was delivered through ceiling diffusers, which often caused drafts on office workers. If you’ve ever been in an office and noticed a piece of cardboard taped over a diffuser, or a space heater under a desk to keep someone’s feet warm, you’ll appreciate the advantage of this approach. Additional benefits included no discoloration around the diffusers, since air was delivered from under the floor without recirculating with room air that had dust particles and germs mixed in. It also gave us the opportunity to reconfigure wiring without drilling holes in the slab. With most of the ductwork eliminated, the floor-to-floor height was the same as a normal office where space for duct work, sprinkler pipes, and light fixtures have to be planned above the acoustic tile ceiling. Finally, since this client reconfigured their offices frequently, and the floor and ceiling were laser-level, we were able to use demountable partitions. When offices had to be reconfigured, sheet-rockers, taping, and sanding were not necessary, providing a much cleaner and more pleasant work environment. Since it was such an unusual approach at the time, we monitored the project over the next 10 years. During that time, there were no air quality complaints and absenteeism due to colds and flu was reduced. The approach proved to yield a much healthier environment, and the project was awarded the energy company’s Sustainable Building of the Year award.

THE ZWEIG LETTER March 12, 2018, ISSUE 1239

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