Melbourne Zoo Butterfly House

Quantum Engineering Group was engaged by Zoos Victoria to provide mechanical engineering consultancy and project management for the upgrade of the Butterfly House HVAC system at Melbourne Zoo. The existing six evaporative cooling units with gas-fired heating coils had reached end-of-life and were unable to maintain the stable 28C and 70-75% humidity required to replicate the tropical environment for the butterflies and fruit doves. QEG delivered design development, full D&C tender documentation, contractor selection and on-site project management for an electrified solution comprising three reverse-cycle ducted split systems with fabric duct distribution, including coordination of electrical infrastructure upgrades with Kerdar Electrics. QEG ran weekly progress meetings with Zoos Victoria, the contractor (AC Hall Air Conditioning) and animal welfare staff to schedule noisy works around hatching fruit doves and butterfly management constraints, and issued the defects and incomplete works report at handover.