Melbourne City Council’s Council House 2 (aka CH2) building was the first commercial project to be awarded a 6-star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of Australia.

Completed in 2006, the building’s innovative design was a flagship green office, known as the “world’s greenest office” at the time. As with other green buildings, chilled beams and other environmentally friendly elements result in very low background sound levels.

The Council House 2 building was so quiet that it required the addition of a masking sound to raise the ambient sound levels.

Under floor services

Part of the design included a green rated ceiling. With no suspended ceiling, the services were installed under a raised access floor.

Fortunately, Soundmask’s under floor transducers were perfect for the job. This floor was manufactured from steel and concrete composite, and required powerful transducers to ensure the correct penetration of sound.

This proved extremely successful in introducing a non-intrusive background sound. Raising the background sound levels ensures comfort and speech confidentiality, and reduces the intrusion of surrounding noise.

Green Star Rating

The green star regime includes acoustic elements including ambient noise level. Satisfying these criteria adds points to the overall green star rating. An easy addition is a sound masking system, which helps to meet the requirements. Indeed sound masking is compulsory in many international green rating regimes like WELLS and LEED.

In 2010, the Council House 2 building achieved a 6 Star – As Built rating. This means that the building itself meets the requirements for a 6 Star Green Star rating, thanks in part to Soundmask’s system (which as of 2024 is still going strong!).