WINNER - 2025 Outstanding Commercial Electrification Project
Congratulations to UNSW Sydney for winning the award for Outstanding Commercial Electrification Project in our 2025 Australian Renewable Heat Awards.
The Awards recognise the innovative work out there which is leading the transition to renewable heat and setting the benchmarks for projects that follow.
Learn more about this winning project below.
UNSW Electrification Program - Stage 1
Industry sector: Higher education
Location: Several locations in Sydney, NSW
Completed: March 2025
Project partners:
-
UNSW Sydney
-
ADP (principal consultant)
-
Intrec (principal contractor)
-
Slattery (QS)
-
Burtenshaw Scoufis (Architect)
-
Mecone (planner)
Project summary
UNSW Sydney has completed Stage 1 of its Electrification Program, retrofitting 13 major buildings across 80,000 m² GFA, removing all fossil gas use. Powered by 100% renewable electricity, Stage 1 avoids over 800 tonnes of CO2e annually, while demonstrating a scalable, and sector-leading blueprint for zero-emissions university infrastructure with minimal disruption. The project delivered full electrification of buildings across Kensington, Paddington, and David Phillips Field campuses, including commercial kitchens, student housing, galleries, and childcare.
The heating challenge addressed by the project
Several heating systems were part of the stage including:
-
Space heating for university buildings serving standard areas and critical areas (events venue, and 24/7 art gallery with strict temperature and RH requirements);
-
Domestic hot water heating for university buildings, student accommodation, and change rooms in sport fields;
-
Commercial laundries for student accommodation (washers and dryers);
-
Commercial kitchen serving 400,000 meals per year, including induction stoves, electric fryers, electric combi-ovens and electric Bratt pans.
The technologies featured in this project
The program has already eliminated gas use across 80,000 m² of building space, with expected annual emissions savings of 800-1000 tonnes of CO₂e, equivalent to removing 465 cars from the road or planting 22,000 trees annually. The total program will remove more than 6,500 tonnes of CO2e per year once completed by 2030, covering around 400,000 m2 of GFA. Stage 1, completed in March 2025, included replacing 31 gas cooktops with induction units, installing 10 electric barbecues, 6 heat pumps for space heating (totalling 1.2 MW), and replacing 8 gas powered domestic hot water systems with heat pumps (totalling 400 kW). More than 1,000 students living on campus at the Kensington colleges now benefit from quieter, safer, and healthier electric kitchens and laundries, with positive feedback captured through surveys. Replacing gas with induction has improved indoor air quality, reduced burn and fire risks, and lowered operational noise. On the environmental side, construction efforts aimed to divert 90% of waste from landfill and the reuse of redundant appliances (e.g., dryers and dishwashers) has further supported circular economy outcomes.
This initiative redefined how electrification can be delivered in dense, legacy campuses. The project’s core innovation lies in its retrofit-first approach, adapting all-electric technologies to complex existing infrastructure with minimal disruption. This preserved embodied carbon, reduced capital costs, and ensured the continuous function of high-demand facilities such as the campus’s main commercial kitchen (serving 400,000+ meals annually), event venues, and student accommodation facilities. Integrated design strategies included optimising ventilation and energy performance by lowering heating water temperatures and replacing outdated AHUs and FCUs, incorporating redundant hot water systems for critical buildings, and applying a refrigerant hierarchy to prioritise low-GWP alternatives aligned with UNSW’s climate targets.
Results and benefits from this project
Stage 1of the electrification program started in August 2024 and was completed in March 2025, although most systems were already operational by mid January. The stage is expected to save around 16 TJ of natural gas per year, and its associated emissions, with 8 TJ already saved to date respect last year in Kensington Campus alone. UNSW has a Solar Power Purchace Agreement in place since 2020, providing 100% renewable electricity to all it's campuses, hence this is a clean electrification program, with focus on operational efficiencies and emissions reductions.
Special innovations in this project
-
Development of a refrigerant hierarchy to help the design team make decisions on the best refrigerants to use, according with UNSW sustainability targets and risk appetite.
-
Delivering of electrification works in live buildings with little or no downtime, noting UNSW only shutdowns for 2 weeks, from mid December to early Jan.
-
Detailed noise impact assessment, with ad-hoc solutions to eliminate heat pump noise in residential areas.
-
Commissioning on live buildings required a high level of coordination with occupants and stakeholders.
-
Systems were sized based on historical data, resulting on a reduction of the capacity of most systems, saving space and capex, while being fit for purpose.
-
Hot water temperature for space heating was lowered to 55 deg C, to improve system performance. The team use the fact that AHUs and FCUs were end of life, so to replace them with coils that would deliver the heat required at a lower temperature.
Funding received for this project
No federal or state funding so far, but the project is submitting a proposal to receive heat pump rebates though the generation of Energy Savings Certificates.