How to take a renovated CBD building off the grid

By Giles Parkinson on 27 June 2012

Someone has found a good use for lawyers, or at least the reams of paper they produce to print their legal advice, contracts and writs.

Grocon, the redevelopers of Sydney’s historic Legion House, plans to use the waste paper to feed a biomass-driven cogeneration plant, that will allow the building to supply its own energy needs, with a zero-carbon footprint.

It won’t even be connected to the grid – becoming the first refurbished CBD building to make such a claim in Australia.

Legion House – which is heritage listed because of its connection to the YWCA and its role as a women’s refuge for more than 60 years – is being redeveloped as part of a large retail and commercial development at 161 Castlereagh Street.

It will have two stories added – and will house the NSW headquarters of Grocon – as well as the St James Ethics Centre on a pro-bono basis.