Schneider Electric is upgrading the digital infrastructure of the iconic office tower at 400 George Street in Brisbane, Australia.

The project marks the building’s first life-cycle renovation since the premium office-cum-retail tower was established 12 years ago.

As part of the building’s technology upgrade and end-of-trip facility refurbishment programme, Schneider’s role as project partner is chiefly aimed at increasing building efficiencies, optimising tenants’ wellness and productivity, as well as increasing building value for the 33-level skyscraper. Those goals have been achieved through Schneider’s connected products, edge control, apps, analytics and ongoing services, under its EcoStruxure framework.

Keith Miller, sales director for digital buildings at Schneider Electric, said: “400 George Street is one of the most sought-after locations in Brisbane, hosting a list of high-profile organisations. We’re thrilled to further boost its appeal and deliver the best workplace experience to future tenants.”

The project is delivered in partnership with Cromwell Property Group, who oversees the overall refurbishment programme for 400 George Street in Brisbane.

“We have collaborated with Schneider on multiple projects and 400 George Street can be regarded as one of our more complex installations, largely thanks to its scale and depth of engagement,” said Stuart Deacon, Cromwell’s head of project services. “Schneider has also once again proved itself to be a trusted tech advisor for building systems having worked with us on previous projects. We look forward to achieving best-in-class outcomes for this iconic building together.”

Empowered by EcoStruxure Security Expert, Schneider’s installation has the scope to optimise visitor management. An electronic kiosk has been designed to streamline the visiting process, from logging building visits, helping visitors select who they are visiting, to notifying automatically the person that is being visited and granting secure access to the visitor.

Bluetooth readers and mobile credentials replace the traditional access cards and enable a secure, flexible access control for the building. As a result, future tenants will no longer need to hold physical cards for building entry; instead, mobile devices in combination with Bluetooth enabled readers will become their keys to the office.

Via Schneider’s building management and energy expert systems, the facility management team will be able to monitor the existing site energy meters, enabling quick response to outages to reduce downtime. The exact look and capability of the dashboards and reports will also be created and tailored to the facility management team’s requirements.

A three-year building advisor service plan is in place to allow Schneider to adopt a more proactive approach to ongoing maintenance for the building. The plan is expected to provide a 29% decrease in reactive maintenance and 10 to 20% energy cost reduction.

Using cloud-based triage and support, experts at Schneider will be able to offer maintenance advice while increasing the use of on-site engineering resources and maintaining the levels of occupant comfort, safety and productivity.

The EcoStruxure Security Expert will also provide a unified view into multiple systems in the building, such as the upgraded Dali lighting control, fire safety and video surveillance.