Council House 2 (CH2)

Hours Open
10am - 5pm (last tour at 4:30pm)

Address
240 Little Collins Street

Architects
City of Melbourne in collaboration with Design Inc

Year Built
2006

Building Type
Office

What is Open
Ground floor foyer, Level 6 or Level 9 offices and roof top terrace

Tour Frequency
Every 20 minutes

Tram Stop
Stop 11: Swanston Street and Collins Street on routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 16, 64, 67 and 72 Stop 6: Town Hall and Collins Street on routes 31, 112 and 109

Description
Opened in 2006, Council House 2 (CH2) features sustainable technologies incorporated into every conceivable aspect of its 10 storeys. Key features include a water-mining plant in the basement, phase-change materials for cooling, automatic night-purge windows, wavy concrete ceiling, a façade of louvers (powered by photovoltaic cells) that track the sun and even the pot plant holders demonstrate a whole new way of thinking. Although most of the principles adopted in the building are not new – such as using thermal mass for cooling and using plants to filter the light – never before in Australia have they been used in such a comprehensive and interrelated fashion in an office building.

Significance
The CH2 project is the first purpose-built office building in Australia to achieve the six Green Star certified rating, where the minimum rating is one star and maximum is six. This achievement is significant because the design for the project started prior to the launch of the Green Star Rating System and Green Star – Office Design. The Green Star rating system separately evaluates the environmental design and performance of Australian buildings based on a number of criteria, including energy and water efficiency, quality of indoor environments and resource conservation.

What’s Open?
The Design and Urban Environment team from the City of Melbourne will be running guided tours of this visionary building throughout the day. Starting in the ground floor foyer, visitors will be taken to the Level 6 or Level 9 offices where the key design and environmental features will be explained. After the presentation, you will be taken up several flights of stairs to the roof top terrace with spectacular inner city views. Please note, the tour involves climbing several flights of stairs. Wheelchair access can be arranged by request on the day.

Referenced from: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au