Alpine Energy Adopts Sustainable Approach to Its New Home

Alpine Energy Adopts Sustainable Approach to Its New Home

Energy-efficiency will be one of the key features of the newly consolidated Alpine Energy, NETcon offices to be built on the company’s current site in Washdyke.

The community-owned network company has now handed the construction site over to contractors and Meadows Road neighbours, Thompson Construction and Engineering (TCE), for initial earth works on what will be a two-storey 3,000sqm administrative building – incorporating a communications tower and yard operations for NETcon.

The building will consolidate more than 170 Alpine Energy and NETcon staff and operations into one main office block, making it one of the most significant mixed office and industrial builds in the growing Washdyke industrial area.

It will sit behind the existing NETcon building on the company’s 5.5 hectare site off Meadows Road. The companies are currently spread across three buildings and several portacoms on the site.

The new $12 million development will also include additional parking facilities and is scheduled for completion by early 2018.

Alpine Energy Chief Executive Andrew Tombs said the current Alpine Energy offices would eventually be dismantled and removed to provide additional yard space while the existing NETcon buildings would be retained and used for training purposes.

“We’ve also removed a number of sheds that had been on the build site and donated them to local charitable organisations, so where we can we are adopting a sustainable approach to repurposing the older buildings as potentially reusable community assets.”

Tombs said the Boards of Alpine Energy and NETcon had taken a long term view. “This development is aimed at ‘future proofing’ our business taking into account growth and staff expansion in a building that is energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

“While the building is industrial in nature it is also modern with its use of open and shared meeting spaces, ensuring staff will work in a comfortable, efficient environment.”

TCE construction and design manager, John Wilson, said the approach to the Alpine Energy office design had been a collaborative one. “We’ve effectively taken a fairly simple, industrially slanted concept and refined it into a modern, purpose built landmark.”

Tombs said it was pleasing to be able to use local expertise in the build of the project, supporting the company’s ethos of contributing back to the community. “This is the end result of a six-month process during which we carefully evaluated capabilities and logistics. In that time we’ve built a great working relationship with the contractor and we are all looking forward to seeing the building take shape over the coming months.”

Tombs said the company had also received pleasing levels of enquiry around initial leasing opportunities on 11,000sqm site beside Elginshire Street, which has been earmarked as a new light industrial park.

- ENDS -

© Scoop Media