South East Water Headquarters

The South East Water purpose-built office in Frankston, Victoria, unites almost 700 staff — previously dispersed across three different locations — into a building that embodies the company’s aspirations: providing a positive legacy and foundation for future success.

The stepped atrium design maximizes internal views and promotes transparency. This challenge required complex design and analysis of smoke exhaust systems, associated make-up air, and evacuation.

Introba (formerly Integral Group) engineers heavily utilized Computational Fluid Dynamic Modelling (CFD) due to the risk of smoke spreading through the atrium void. The CFD analysis and evacuation analysis validated the performance-based design and satisfied the relevant performance requirements. The team recognized the overall architectural vision while ensuring occupant safety.

This project achieved a Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) 5-Star Green Star rating with the vision of setting new benchmarks for institutional responsibility.