Ageing bus duct replacement – Parmelia House, 191 St Georges Terrace, Perth

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Ageing Bus Duct Scope of Works,

Parmelia House is a 20-story A-grade commercial office building located in the heart of the Perth CBD. The client had identified a requirement to replace an ageing bus duct supplying the mechanical services switchboard located in the plantroom on the 20th floor, which dated back to the original construction of the building and had reached end-of-life. After participating in a competitive tender process Infrared Services was the successful electrical contractor.

The project required that the existing bus duct remains in service for the duration so as not to disrupt building services. A cable tray was installed within a vertical air riser shaft, and eight (8) 300mm2 XLPE cables were reticulated up the shaft originating at the site main switchboard and terminating at the main mechanical services switchboard. The total length of the cable run was approximately 170 metres. All installation work was required to be completed with no disruption to the normal operation of the mechanical plant. When the installation of the cable tray and cabling was completed, a building shutdown was coordinated with the network operator to isolate the site main switchboard and terminate the cabling at both ends. Termination was completed with less than 10 hours of downtime for the site.

Challenges included; significant risk management when reticulating cable lengths weighing more than 500kg up a 100m vertical shaft, carefully operating within a live commercial building while eliminating any disruption to the tenants, coordinating isolations with the network operator, and working to tight deadlines to ensure work was completed in a timely fashion. The total project value was approximately $170k.

Bus duct replacement – 140 St Georges Terrace, Perth

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Scope of the bus duct replacement project:

140 St Georges Terrace is an 30 storey A-grade commercial office tower located in the heart of the Perth CBD. In order to complete modernisation of the goods lift, consultants identified a requirement to remove and replace an existing 3200amp bus duct that had been installed in the lift shaft approximately 25 years earlier. Infrared Services participated in a competitive tender process and was awarded the project.

First it was necessary to create a pathway for the new bus duct, leaving the existing bus duct in-service to ensure reliable supply to the mechanical services equipment. This was achieved by working out of hours and clearing a reticulation space through the existing electrical riser. Secondly it was necessary to install approximately 150 metres of new Schneider i-Line II bus duct through the electrical riser, starting at the site main switchroom in the basement and terminating at the main mechanical services plantroom on the 30th floor. Then, utilising a brief shutdown window of less than 12 hours, the new bus duct was terminated at the site main switchboard and main mechanical services switchboard. Finally, in order to achieve compliance for the lift modernisation, our technicians removed the redundant bus duct from within the goods lift shaft.

As always this complex, difficult project was completed on time, on budget, and with zero safety incidents. The bus duct replacement project budget was approximately $270k.