NEW 200 GEORGE STREET PROJECT TO FEATURE SOMFY FAÇADE CONTROL SOLUTION

200 George Street occupies a coveted dress circle location overlooking Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour. Designed by leading architects FJMT, 200 George Street was part of a City of Sydney Design Excellence competition and will be home to project developer and builders Mirvac and EY, better known as Ernst and Young.

The façade of the building is visually striking and also one of its most innovative elements; this is the first project in the southern hemisphere to use a closed cavity façade. A closed cavity façade takes the high performance of a traditional double skin façade, as used on projects such as One Bligh Street, and brings it into a more space efficient solution.

Engineering group Permasteelisa, which specialises in architectural envelopes, has developed a unique moisture and maintenance free integrated façade panel unit that features built-in solar shading. In the case of 200 George Street, it is the timber blinds and clear glazing of this solution that will give 200 George Street façade a warm and inviting finish, unlike anything else on the Sydney skyline.

“Somfy has been working closely with Permasteelisa to design, supply, install and commission a façade control solution that befits such a cutting edge project”, says Somfy Oceania’s Commercial Specification Manager, Alistair Grice. Adding, “Utilising KNX and a building-wide IP network, the Somfy solution offers sun-tracking, shadow management and integrated web based remote controls. This ensures the occupants of the building will always have the right amount of natural light while balancing the needs of glare control and energy efficiency”.

The Somfy Electrical Services Team has been working on the electrical connection of the Somfy motors and the components of the blind control system and will soon enter the critical commissioning phase of the project which is due for completion in early 2016.

200 George St recently had a major milestone, in which the building topped out and the upper floor façade installation will soon be completed, a momentous occasion for everyone at Somfy and Permasteelisa who have worked so hard on this project.

For further information on the progress of the 200 George St project, visit the Somfy Architecture website,

www.somfy-architecture.com.au