News & Press — The Race to 2030: Lessons in Electrification From Monash University
For asset owners across Victoria with net zero targets approaching in 2030, the window to plan for electrification is narrowing. Over the past decade, Monash University has been steadily transitioning away from fossil fuels, confronting many of the challenges that universities, councils and other asset owners are now beginning to navigate themselves.
On a live, operational site like a university campus, electrification is rarely as simple as replacing one piece of a plant with another. Existing infrastructure, building performance, operational requirements, staging and coordination all shape how successfully the transition can be delivered in practice.
For Declan Langston, Project Manager at Alchemy Flex, successful delivery on a live site means keeping the building operational throughout the transition with “the goal to carry out electrification works in a way that is almost unnoticeable to the people using the building.”
Monash’s Decade-Long Head Start
Monash University’s Net Zero Initiative has set a target of eliminating operational emissions by 2030. With that deadline now approaching, the university’s experience demonstrates why transitioning complex existing assets requires planning well ahead of the target date.
For Rob Brimblecombe, Director at n0de and pioneer of Monash’s Net Zero Initiative, the journey began by looking beyond energy efficiency towards how the university could move away from fossil fuels altogether. Early electrification projects started small, including hot water services and smaller buildings, helping demonstrate what was possible and build confidence before progressing to larger projects.
The challenge became greater when attention turned to the university’s existing buildings. Unlike new buildings that could be designed for high efficiency and electrification from the outset, retrofitting existing assets meant working around established infrastructure, including the campus’s high-temperature hot water network.
It’s a challenge we’ve come to know well at Alchemy. Through Alchemy Flex, our specialist division for complex and technically demanding works, we’ve built deep expertise in delivering electrification across active environments, including hospitals and laboratories where uninterrupted operations are critical, to schools and universities where people continue to learn and thrive. Our work at Monash’s Clayton campus has reinforced the careful planning, technical expertise and collaboration required to deliver electrification while keeping people at the centre.
Why Early Investigation Matters
When it comes to electrifying existing buildings, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Michael Snow from Turner & Townsend says understanding how an existing building actually operates is critical before determining what new infrastructure it needs. Existing plant capacity may be significantly higher than actual demand, meaning a like-for-like replacement can result in an oversized and unnecessarily costly solution.
By interrogating operational data, understanding peak loads and testing how existing systems perform at lower temperatures, teams can make more informed decisions about what is actually required. This can help reduce plant size, avoid unnecessary infrastructure upgrades and prevent time being lost pursuing solutions that may not be right for the asset.
Bring Delivery Expertise In Early
With the pathway to 2030 getting shorter, decisions made early in the process can have a significant impact on what can ultimately be delivered, and when.
Bringing the builder in early allows constructability, sequencing, procurement and site constraints to be considered alongside the technical solution, helping identify risks before decisions become difficult or costly to change.
It’s an approach that sits at the heart of Alchemy. According to Declan, this early involvement also creates an opportunity to validate whether the proposed plant will meet or exceed the requirements of the existing mechanical systems before works reach site. This proved particularly important on Monash’s IRP Electrification project, where the lead times for chillers and heat pumps were a key variable in determining when construction could begin.
“Early contractor engagement allowed us to validate the proposed plant and move quickly on the key equipment,” Declan says. “Without that early validation and procurement, the project program could have been delayed.”
Delivering Without Disruption
For an operational university campus, finding the right technical solution is only part of the challenge. The works also need to be carefully staged around the people and services that rely on the building every day.
Michael says this requires looking at sequencing through a risk lens, including when system cutovers take place. Replacing heating infrastructure in winter, for example, introduces greater operational risk. Where possible, temporarily retaining existing infrastructure, ideally for at least a year, can provide a valuable backup while a new system is commissioned, tested and proven.
At Monash Clayton’s 13F building, home to medical laboratories and research facilities, careful planning around the changeover of the mechanical electrical board was critical to maintaining operations. We worked with incumbent services contractors and building users to identify conditions that may not be captured in drawings. This enabled our understanding of how the works will interact with existing infrastructure and occupants.
“Once we understand the impact, we can plan temporary provisions, shutdowns and sequencing so everyone knows what is required before the disruptive works begin,” Declan says.
The Road to 2030
The lessons from electrifying Monash are increasingly relevant beyond the education sector. With 2030 approaching, councils transitioning gas-reliant aquatic centres, institutions upgrading existing facilities and organisations working towards broader emissions targets face many of the same delivery challenges.
For asset owners yet to begin that transition, Monash’s experience demonstrates why electrification cannot be treated as a last-minute infrastructure upgrade.
“Understanding where a new plant can go, how it will integrate with the existing building and what that means for delivery early on can make the transition much smoother,” Declan says.
Through Alchemy Flex, we work alongside clients, consultants and project partners from the outset to understand these constraints and establish a practical pathway through to construction.