According to the World Green Building Council, our built environment is responsible for 17 per cent of water usage, a quarter of the wood harvested, a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, up to 40 per cent of energy use and as much as half the world’s raw materials.

The statistics are alarming - and the overall impacts of buildings are too large to ignore. As we prepare for a world where pollution has a price, we can expect the total lifetime energy costs of many of our buildings to exceed the costs of the buildings themselves.

Green buildings, on the other hand, are built for energy and water efficiency, so they are cheaper to operate, use fewer resources and provide a healthier place for people to live and work. One study of green buildings in the United States, for instance, has determined that green buildings consume 26 per cent less energy than the average building and generate 33 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions. Green buildings also deliver higher returns on investment than their non-green counterparts. Research from the IPD Green Investment Index, developed in conjunction with the Property Council of Australia, indicates that Green Star-rated offices generate a 4.8 per cent better return on average in CBD areas, with a 2.7 per cent better return on average in non-CBD areas.

While the bottom line benefits of green buildings are clear, we also have solid evidence of the benefits of green building on everything from office productivity and reputational equity to retail sales and performances on school tests.

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), which operates the Green Star environmental rating system for buildings, believes that next three years will determine whether green building practices become ‘normal practice’, rather than just ‘best practice’. We are working with all levels of government on five priorities which we believe will help transition Australia’s green building practices from ‘voluntary’ to ‘vital’. These are:

• Provide visionary government leadership
• Retrofit and improve existing buildings
• Green education and healthcare facilities
• Move beyond buildings to communities and cities
• Embed green skills across all industry training.

As a starting point, the GBCA calls on federal, state and local governments to demonstrate their commitment and leadership by achieving environmental ratings for buildings they own, occupy or develop. We also want to see governments achieve Green Star ratings for all public buildings such as schools, hospitals, libraries and law courts. Green Star rating tools already exist for education and healthcare facilities, and a Green Star rating tool for public buildings is nearly complete.

Some state governments and local councils have been demonstrating leadership in this field for some time - from developing iconic buildings such as the City of Melbourne’s Council House 2 (CH2) through to mandatory local laws to ensure minimum energy efficiency standards.

The GBCA has an online portal, the Green Guide to Government Policy, free to all members, which outlines green building programs and incentives at all levels of government around Australia. This is a useful resource for governments wanting to compare and contrast their policies with best practice examples around Australia.

Calling for a co-ordinated approach
A joined-up approach is needed to meet the challenges of managing growth in our urban areas, improving quality and liveability and transitioning to a low-carbon economy while maintaining the quality of life that Australians dearly prize.

In February, the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) released a ‘call to action’ to highlight the urgent need for bold leadership and a streamlined, coordinated approach to urban management policy. ASBEC’s list of actions includes a federal minister, cabinet committee and department for cities and urban development. ASBEC is particularly concerned by the lack of co-ordination between the three levels of government in Australia, resulting in programs and policies across eight state and territory governments, and more than 500 local governments. What’s more, ASBEC has identified 45 federal government programs, strategies and initiatives which impact the built environment.

A good example of ‘joined-up thinking’ is the GBCA’s Green Star – Communities project, which will set national voluntary benchmarks for the planning, design and delivery of best practice sustainable community development projects across Australia.

The project is being led by the GBCA in conjunction with partner, VicUrban, and supported by a range of industry leaders, state and local governments and educational institutions. Importantly, every state government land organisation in Australia has agreed to participate in the tool development process. We would like to see similar collaboration occur across the breadth of the urban development agenda.

Green collar growth
As Australia transitions to a low carbon economy, we can expect a booming demand for ‘green collar workers’ across the property and construction industry. But our industry must have the skills to ensure we fully capitalise on this green collar growth. In the same way that OH&S has become an integrated part of industry training, green skills must be embedded into the curriculum to ensure we develop better, safer, greener buildings.

The GBCA has rolled out a focused capacity-building Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, which provides skills development and a pathway for further deepening of expertise, experience and connections within the green building industry. The CPD program encompasses everything from introductory courses through to highly-specialised technical training, to ensure those people making or influencing decisions across local governments can understand the latest implications of the rapid development of sustainable buildings.

Like many people from government organisations, Bronwyn Englaro, Senior Sustainability Officer at Randwick City Council, is enhancing her green skills. Bronwyn says that “by participating alongside building industry practitioners these courses provide me with insight into industry preferences” and enable her to “stay up-to-date on industry best practice in sustainable development which is taken into consideration when reviewing Council’s development controls.”

Local government action
The GBCA has also developed a local government task group to bring together the concerns of local governments and create solutions, such as bridging the planning and building gap, increasing local skills and accelerating more sustainable buildings and communities. Members include the city councils of Brisbane, Gosnells, Manningham, Onkaparinga, Parramatta, Randwick and Sydney.

While many local governments have been promoting and implementing green building programs for a number of years, the GBCA’s Local Government Task Group (LGTG) is helping to further this trend by encouraging the uptake of voluntary rating tools, offering practical advice and assistance and educating councils on best practice measures implemented by similar organisations around the world.

The LGTG is integrating local governments’ efforts with other sectors – from developers to householders – to demonstrate that significant smallscale action across our nation can be aggregated towards major change.

The GBCA continues to work with other green building councils around the world, and with the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) in particular, to keep track of the incentives, systems and processes used to accelerate the green building movement in other countries. The recent WorldGBC special report, Tackling Global Climate Change, Meeting Local Priorities, sets out the need to think global but act local and provides an overview of what proactive government and private sector initiatives can do to harness the potential of green buildings to deliver important social, economic and environmental benefits.

We aim to see more state and local governments take on the role of ‘green change agents’ and lead the way in the adoption of sustainable building and eco-friendly business practices. Strong and contemporary leadership is needed to ensure we tackle climate change. Our challenge – and our opportunity - is to work together to realise the full economic and environmental potential of the building sector and overcome the skills deficits and institutional barriers that impede action.

Case study: Global challenges, local solutions
The City of Gosnells has recently achieved a 5 Star Green Star – Office Design v2 rating, signifying Australian Excellence, for the retrofit and extension of its Civic Centre building. In doing so, the local council has demonstrated that retrofits of old buildings can make environmental and economic sense.

Paul McAllister, Project Manager, City of Gosnells, explains “We were concerned that the age and condition of the building would make a sustainable retrofit unviable financially. Once we investigated the options, we realised that for a 2.3 per cent increase in our outlay we could deliver a leading sustainable building without breaching our commitment of fiscal responsibility to our rate payers”.

This has proved to be a smart financial decision, with a predicted five year payback period for the $600,000 extra spent to deliver the 5 Star Green Star rating. One of these environmental features includes a thermal energy storage tank which will store ‘cool’ energy in the form of ice. It is charged overnight to avoid peak energy tariffs and then releases the ‘cool’ energy during the day, reducing reliance on traditional air conditioning. This will save the council money by reducing energy demand at peak periods. Overall, the building is expected to reduce energy usage by around 316,000 kilowatts hours of electricity each year – the equivalent of taking 43 cars off the road for a year.

To minimise water use, the Civic Centre features water-efficient fittings and fixtures, as well as the use of captured rainwater to flush toilets within the building. These small measures are expected to cut the City of Gosnells water use by 35 per cent, saving 840KL of water from being flushed down the drain each year.

The Civic Centre, which was originally built in 1972, has also been completely transformed from an environmental dinosaur with declining functionality into a sustainability showcase that helps the City of Gosnells meet its energy and water saving targets, retain staff and reduce costs.

Case study: Green living – environmentally, economically and socially sustainable
The Redfern Housing Redevelopment in Sydney was only the second public housing development in Australia to achieve a Green Star rating, and was awarded a 5 Star Green Star rating under the Multi Unit Residential PILOT in 2009.

Representing ‘Australian Excellence’ in environmentally sustainable design, this project for Housing NSW sets a new standard for social housing developments, and demonstrates that environmentally, economically and socially sustainable outcomes are achievable.

Green initiatives within the Redfern redevelopment, such as rainwater collection and greywater treatment, solar hot water systems, solar photovoltaic cells for lighting and passive ventilation, will deliver cost savings for both Housing NSW and the low-income tenants who live in the development.

The project’s design aims to reduce energy consumption by 74 per cent when compared with standard residential buildings of similar size. What’s more, the energy efficiency measures are predicted to save around $26,000 across the entire development in energy consumption each year alone.

The reuse of rainwater and use of treated greywater will ensure around 45 per cent of all water demand on the site is met by nonpotable water, and water-efficient fittings and fixtures are being installed throughout. The predicted saving of 4,700 cubic metres of water a year is equivalent to around two Olympic-sized swimming pools or 33,571 bathtubs. Based on current Sydney Water prices, the cost savings will be around $7,500 a year across the entire tenancy.

Australia’s indigenous people have a long association with Redfern, moving to the suburb in the 1920s for employment opportunities and affordable housing. They formed a strong and vibrant community which is still in evidence today. Recognising the links between indigenous people and the suburb, a minimum of 20 construction workers on the project were required to be indigenous. This was a ‘first’ for a public housing project in Australia, and was rewarded with a Green Star Innovation point.

Empowering the local community was an integral part of the sustainable development, and Housing NSW provided employment opportunities to both Aboriginal and long-term unemployed people to enhance their business skills, increase their knowledge of ESD issues and improve the social and economic conditions for both the individuals and their community.

Case study: Passive design, active learning
Australia’s first Green Star - Education Design v1 primary school, Peregian Springs State School on the Sunshine Coast, is already reaping the benefit of its sustainability status, attracting the highest pre-enrolment of any school in Queensland.

The school’s 4 Star Green Star rating recognises it as an example of ‘Best Practice’ in environmentally sustainable design, and heralds a new era of schools that provide better productivity outcomes for staff and students and better environmental outcomes for our planet.

Principal Gwen Sands says that “it is a pleasure to work in a school which has been built to the highest environmental standards. Studying and working in this facility encourages both our staff and students to act in a more sustainable manner and will help improve learning outcomes for our students.”

The design of Peregian Springs State School has ensured that its students have access to natural light, fresh air and views. With clever design and larger-than-average windows, 91 per cent of the usable floor area has a view outside, allowing for optimum ventilation and penetration of natural light.

The school was also designed to reduce its dependence on the mains water supply through the installation of above- and below-ground water tanks. A 65,000 litre underground water tank stores harvested rainwater for use in flushing the toilet facilities throughout the school. This tank is complemented by two above-ground tanks, which are used for irrigation, and the installation of efficient plumbing fixtures throughout the premises. Furthermore, to ensure that the school doesn’t contribute to watercourse pollution of nearby wetlands, bio-retention basins have been installed to control the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff.

Peregian Springs provides its students with a living lesson in sustainability. Displays fitted throughout the school provide up-to-theminute data on solar power generation, potable water consumption and stormwater treatment. This is a valuable learning resource for students, enabling them to observe first-hand the impact that activities within the school have on the environment. What’s more, it is a crucial source of information for the building’s managers, ensuring the school’s environmental performance matches its impressive design.