InterfaceFLOR's newly refurbished Chalmers Street headquarters in Sydney's historic Railway Institute Building is functional, historic, and most importantly, sustainable.Cube Projects worked closely with the developer, architect and client to ensure InterfaceFlor’s new headquarters were environmentally sustainable while restoring it to its former glory. The aim of the project team was to attain green-star certification for office interiors (Green Building Council of Australia).

Refurbishment features include:

• Bike racks, lockers and change rooms
• Energy-efficient light fittings
• Low volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as adhesives, sealers and paints (Dulux)
• Use of sustainable timber sources
• Use of low formaldehyde wood products
• Removal of all asbestos - above and beyond legal requirements
• Ceiling insulation - not typically used in heritage buildings
• Mechanical air conditioning (not water cooled) - low emissions and high efficiency
• Electrical metering - this allows for sub metering to monitor different area usage
• Waste management plans - including wastage, recycling and specific cleaning products.
• Carpets - InterfaceFLOR carpets are all 100% climate neutral
• Fabrics - recycled & recyclable materials
• Materials - Good Environment Choice Australia endorsed products used where possible
• InterfaceFLOR's existing furniture has been recycled, for example desk chairs

All new additions to the base build have been designed to be visually separate from the existing building, to retain the heritage look and to ensure they can be removed at a later date. For example, the new boardroom is sitting atop the Institute's theatre balcony

Fortunately InterfaceFlor found the building prior to Cube Projects starting the refurbishment of the base building (showcased in Heritage Restoration). This allowed InterfaceFlor to work with the building owner and builder to ensure that all materials used would comply to Greenstar and meet InterfaceFlor’s target of a 5 Star building fit-out. The building will be the second Heritage listed building in Australia to achieve a 5 Star Greenstar rating (subject to GBCA's final certification outcome). This in itself is a great achievement which will add value to our fitout credentials and will give architects and design community further reason to consider Cube Projects for future work.