Greening Inveresk Precinct: - Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

Greening 

Inveresk 

Precinct: 

Towards Water and 

Energy Sustainability

Launceston City Council I Greening Inveresk Precinct 

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Executive summary 

The Inveresk Green Precinct Project: Towards Energy and Water Sustainability focussed 

on cost effective changes to existing buildings to achieve energy and water savings. The 

project was based at the Launceston City Council owned Aurora Stadium and the QVMAG 

Museum at Inveresk. A further program called EcoSmartBiz assisted and encouraged local 

small businesses to carry out their own efficiency measures. 

The objectives for the Inveresk Green Precinct Project were to: 

• Minimise energy and water consumption in the Aurora Stadium and the Museum 

using cost effective measures 

• Encourage and educate the community to carry out similar achievement using the 

sites as a demonstration 

The Inveresk Green Precinct Project was completed in March 2012. The outcomes have 

been excellent and both facilities have been reinvigorated with state of the art efficiency 

systems and infrastructure. The facilities are now well established to be valuable and 

informative demonstrations to the public. 

This report provides an overview of the following: 

• QVMAG Museum 

• Aurora Stadium 

• EcoSmartBiz project with small businesses 

• Community engagement 

Overview 

The $1.576m Inveresk Green Precinct Project received $788,000 from the Australian 

Government’s Green Precincts Fund. It was one of 13 sites around the country to receive 

funding for water and energy saving projects under the Green Precincts Fund. 

Tasmania’s highest profile sporting facility, Aurora Stadium is a multi purpose venue that 

has played host to a variety of events ranging from a Rugby World Cup to regular AFL 

fixtures involving the Hawthorn Football Club at their Tasmanian home away from home. 

The QVMAG Museum is located within the former railyards site is the largest museum and 

art gallery in Australia located outside a capital city. 

The Inveresk Precinct has positioned itself as a community hub of culture, creativity, 

innovation and recreation. There are few other places where there is such a combination 

of sporting facilities, educational institutions, a gallery and museum, as well as a host of 

other community and commercial facilities. 

Both facilities are ideally placed to be the central location and focus for raising awareness 

and encouraging the uptake of efficiency measures by individuals, households, commerce 

and industry. In particular the project demonstrates how to make cost effective efficiency 

changes to existing and old buildings that improve the functionality of the facilities whilst 

saving energy and water. 

The Inveresk Precinct has positioned 

itself as a community hub of culture, 

creativity, innovation and recreation 3


QVMAG Museum 

The focus at the QVMAG Museum was to reduce energy consumption in all parts of the 

facility. Following the initial energy audit a list of opportunities was gathered and those 

with the best outcome were chosen to be implemented. The outcome of the energy 

efficiency works was a reduction in electrical consumption of 27 per cent. This equates to 

425,000kWh saved per year. 

Lighting 

Lighting accounts for 25 per cent of total energy usage in each of the facilities. This then 

was an obvious area of research and trial to find suitable efficient lights. Another issue to 

overcome was the very large number of different light fittings and lighting requirement in 

both facilities so each area had to be assessed individually. The following upgrades were 

implemented: 

• Standard fluorescent lights were changed to efficient T5 lights with electronic ballasts 

halving energy consumption whilst maintaining light levels 

• In selected areas fluorescent fittings were delamped which involves removing both 

the tubes and installing a single new quad phosphor tube with a reflector. 

• LED down lights replaced standard halogen lights saving 70 per cent energy. 

• LED flood lights were installed for outside night time security lighting 

• LED strip lighting for museum cabinet displays 

• Compact fluorescent lights 

• Motion sensors and lux controls to automatically turn lights off and on 

QVMAG Museum display using LED lights. 

In addition to changing the types of lights we also changed the way they operated by 

employing smart controls. 

A Dynalite timer system was installed to control the display lights in both the John Lees 

Atrium and the Temporary Gallery to turn on at a predetermined time just prior to the public 

opening each morning. The system allows just a few lights to turn on when employees first 

arrive so they can do their inspections in the Gallery. Then the remaining gallery lights 

automatically turn on at 9.50am before the public opening at 10.00am. The Potter Gallery 

also has a Dynalite lighting system but it was installed separately as it is on another circuit. 

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Heating and ventilation 

The heating/cooling system is the largest energy using element at the QVMAG Museum. 

Typically air handling units are set up to take in outside air to ensure sufficient fresh air 

is inside the building. However, during times when rooms are unoccupied it is possible to 

reduce the outside air intake thus reducing the volume of air requiring heating or cooling. 

CO 2 sensors were installed in the main rooms and when levels drop below a set point 

the outside air dampers close off completely and air is recirculated in the system. The 

CO 2 control will provide significant savings based on reduced heating/cooling load by 

optimising the use of recirculated air in the building. 

Radiant heater control 

Radiant heaters mounted on the ceiling are used in several buildings during winter. 

Typically the heaters were left on over night as the rooms were too cold in the morning. An 

automated timer was installed so if the rooms were to be used the following day a button 

was pressed which initiated a timer relay. This then automatically tuned the heaters on at 

a predetermined time, typically about two hours before the rooms were used. 

Timer relays 

The lighting system in the John Lees, Railway and Planetarium Galleries have also been 

upgraded with a new timer system. In these Galleries a special clock was installed so 

that when employees arrive in the morning just a few lights turn on in each gallery so 

the employees can carry out normal duties. Then just before opening to the public all the 

remaining gallery lights turn on. This saves around two hours of full lighting load each day. 

Other project benefits 

Other than the obvious benefit of reduced four energy costs the work has resulted in some 

other advantages. The use of LED lights increases the life of the fixtures and minimise 

maintenance costs. The lights run cooler than the old lights also minimising cooling costs 

in summer. 

The use of presence and lux sensors means the lights turn on and off automatically which 

employees readily get used to and it means lights are no longer left on over night. 

The use of LED lights has been embraced by QVMAG Museum employees for exhibit 

lighting through out the Museum as this lighting has no UV and is available in many 

different forms which suit the large range of displays requirements. 

The knowledge gained from this project has been used in other Council facilities to reduce 

energy consumption and improve lighting conditions. 

The outcome of the energy efficiency 

works was a reduction in electrical 

consumption of 27 per cent. This 

equates to 425,000kWh saved per year. 5


The expected water savings will be 15,400KL per year 

across Aurora Stadium, Invermay Park and the QVMAG 

Museum grounds which will be a 22 per cent reduction. 

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Aurora Stadium 

Water efficiency 

The majority of water consumption at the ground is used for toilet flushing and irrigation. 

The project focussed on capturing rain water from the Stadium roofs and storing for use in 

toilets around the ground. The new northern stand was fitted out with water tanks holding 

36,000 litres of rain water. The Railway Workers Hill was fitted with tanks to store 75,000 

litres and the adjacent Invermay Park has tanks to store 60,000 litres of water. The building 

management system is linked to all storages so water usage can be calculated. 

The irrigation of the lawns near the Inveresk Car Park was upgraded to more efficient 

sprinklers with a centrally located control point. Sprinklers are turned on with a telemetry 

system allowing for much easier control of the irrigation cycle resulting in less wastage. 

The water consumption data for January to March 2012 compared to similar periods prior 

to the efficiency works show the daily consumption dropping from 130kL/day to 65KL/ 

day. However it will not be until a full 12 months that we will know the exact reduction. The 

expected savings will be 15,400KL per year across Aurora Stadium, Invermay Park and the 

QVMAG Museum grounds which will be a 22 per cent reduction. 

Energy efficiency 

All down lights were changed to LED lights and fluorescent tubes were changed to T5 22 

watt lights. Where possible movement sensors were fitted to automatically turn lights off 

when areas are not used. Outside flood lights were changed over to LED floods using a 

fraction of the power. Security/exit signs originally using 10 watt globes were replaced 

with new LED signs using 1.7 watts. 

The new Northern Stand and the renovated Invermay Park change rooms were fitted with 

natural gas showers instead of the standard electric hot water storage units. 

The outcome of the work has resulted in reducing the annual energy consumption by 

approximately 100,000kWh per year which is a 15 per cent reduction. 

The old lights that were replaced at Aurora Stadium. 

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EcoSmartBiz 

The EcoSmartBiz Program was aimed to assist a number of small businesses become more 

sustainable and at the same time as promoting their achievements to the wider business 

community. The Program initially attracted 16 small businesses which were assisted with 

energy, water and waste audits and action plans for improvements. The businesses were 

assisted with workshops and one on one help. In the end eight businesses completed the 

program saving $9,700 in energy costs which on average is $1212 per business. A total of 

43,190kWh were saved through the Program with the eight businesses. 

A new LED floodlight on one of the buildings at QVMAG. 

Community engagement 

A number of events and strategies have been used to engage with the wider community 

regarding the project and the benefits of a more sustainable life. 

• Green Precinct Open Day involving energy efficiency workshops, lectures, site tours and 

an evening of conversations with sustainability guru Tanya Ha and Professor Chris Ryan. 

• Opening of the new Northern Stand at Aurora Stadium by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 

• At Aurora Stadium a partnership with the Hawthorn Football Club resulted in a massive 

recycling scheme to reduce material going to landfill 

• Tours of the facilities are available to interested groups to showcase the efficiency 

measures 

• Completion of a nine minute animation film called the “Adventures of Shane and 

Captain Sparks” which is permanently displayed on a monitor at the QVMAG Museum. 

The film explains in an entertaining and informative way where energy comes from, 

what energy efficiency is and what was achieved at the Museum. There are also 

tips for the public on what they can do at home and the work place to become more 

efficient. 

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Partnerships 

The Green Precinct Project involved a number of partners which all played their part to 

make the project an outstanding success. The partners involved were: 

University of Tasmania 

Tasmanian Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and Arts 

NRM North 

Net Balance 

Mance Electrical 

Contact Electrical 

Brown Bread and Butter


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The project demonstrates that through well planned 

efficiency measures it is possible to save significant 

amounts of energy and water. 

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Lessons learnt 

1. The users of the buildings need to be involved from day one. 

The specific use of rooms and work places needs to be understood before any changes 

are made. The best way to achieve this is to involve those who use the space so they are 

part of the solution. 

2. Complete small scale trials first 

Trials are beneficial so that the technology can be tested and measured before committing 

to a large scale retrofit. Unforseen circumstances will be come evident during this process 

avoiding costly and time consuming issues arising later on. 

3. You get what you pay for 

Lights, particularly new LED ones require some research to ensure you are getting what 

you require. Cheap lights invariably have some drawbacks. We found it better to buy top 

of the range fittings as they are better quality. 

4. Question everything 

We found that the way buildings are operated is often a result of habit. Invariably building 

management personnel stated “that’s the way we have always done it” when questioned 

why they heated some rooms or left lights on. We challenged everything they did and 

suggested how it could be done differently to save energy or water. Invariably we made 

changes that also improved the operation of the facility and reduced maintenance costs 

at the same time. 

Replacing fluorescent tubes with T5 lights. 

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Town Hall, St John Street 

PO Box 396, LAUNCESTON TAS 7250 

T 03 6323 3000 TTY 03 6323 3003 F 03 6323 3001 

E council@launceston.tas.gov.au 

www.launceston.tas.gov.au

Greening Inveresk Precinct: - Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

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