The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has reached an exciting new milestone this week, celebrating its 2000th Green Star certification.
The 2000th project to achieve certification was 105 Phillip Street, Paramatta, where GBCA CEO Romilly Madew presented a Green Star plaque to NSW Minister for Education, Rob Stokes yesterday.
Charter Hall’s 12-storey commercial development achieved 6 Star – Green Star – Office As Built v3, making it among the top performing sustainable commercial buildings in Australia and world-leading in its sustainability standard.
Designed by Bates Smart and constructed by Built, it is also the first and only 6 Star Green Star building in Parramatta.
Since its launch in 2003, Green Star has helped guide the sustainable transformation of Australia’s built environment. It is the only national, voluntary and independently certified rating system for buildings and communities.
Many of Australia’s most iconic buildings and precincts have achieved Green Star certification, including the Sydney Opera House, Barangaroo, University of Melbourne and Curtin University, Sydney Airport and Melbourne Convention Centre.
Madew said Green Star continues to evolve with the industry and global trends, paving the way to improving environmental efficiencies in our buildings and a key focus for the next iteration of Green Star, captured within the Future Focus project, is the achievement of further positive outcomes for end users including productivity gains and improved health and wellbeing outcomes for communities.
“Green Star certification is transforming the way our built environment is designed, constructed and operated and is increasingly being sought by climate conscious investors, becoming a critical distinguishing factor between developments,” Madew said.
“Environment, economic and social sustainability principles are not only embedded in Australia’s built environment outcomes, they are a point of competitive difference between companies with both investors and increasingly conscious consumers helping to carry forward the drive for high-performance buildings.
“Through Green Star, GBCA has helped Australian property companies retain the mantle of global green building leadership for eight years, as measured by GRESB. the international benchmark for environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of real assets.”
Moving forward, GBCA believes Green Star certification will continue to play an important role in reducing Australia’s carbon emissions, and to reach targets set out by the Paris Agreement.
Green Star facts:
On average, Green Star certified buildings produce 62% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than average Australian buildings.
On average, Green Star certified buildings use 66% less electricity than average Australian buildings.
On average, Green Star buildings use 51% less potable water than average buildings.
On average, Green Star As Built certified buildings recycled 96% of their construction and demolition waste.