AIRAH hosts biggest site visit ever

The tour was led by NDY lead designer Rafe McAuliffe and Yale Carden, M.AIRAH, from GeoExchange Australia, who designed the complex’s revolutionary ground-source loop system.

Attendees learnt about the highly specific HVAC requirements for the 145,000m² complex, which includes gallery spaces and archives containing AAA-grade historical artefacts. For this reason, these spaces must remain between 20–23°C year-round, with a humidity of 45–55%. The AWM project was the subject of a recent case study in Ecolibrium magazine.

The tour went behind the scenes and into the complex’s plant room to see how this all-electric geothermal system operates. Attendees got the opportunity to inspect the site’s cutting-edge technology up close.

“This site visit was memorable not just for attracting more than 90 attendees, but also for the great engagement it provided with the creators of the project,” says AIRAH Events Officer Lukáš Skaife.

“One of the highlights was the opportunity to see places inside the Australian War Memorial that aren’t open to the general public, including the CEW Bean archive building, where the AWM’s historical records are kept.”

Next year, AIRAH’s ACT division will host a follow-up site visit to Anzac Hall, which is also located within the AWM complex. Details will be available soon via the ACT events calendar on the AIRAH website.

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