Sydney-based companies have been recognised at this year’s CitySwitch Green Office awards for slashing carbon emissions and improving building energy efficiency while saving money.
CitySwitch is a national program to help commercial tenants reduce waste and energy use with around 173 tenancies committed to the program in NSW alone, occupying more than 870,000 square metres of office space.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore congratulated winners at last night’s NSW and ACT ceremony in Sydney.
Property management group CBRE took home the NSW Signatory of the Year award for office space over 2,000 square metres, and building services consultancy Steensen Varming the award in the under 2,000 square metres.
CBRE has slashed electricity use at its George Street offices by 44 per cent leading to a rise in their NABERS energy tenancy rating from 4 to 5.5 stars. NABERS is an industry recognised tool to help tenants across Australia benchmark their greenhouse gas reduction performance.
Building services consultancy, Steensen Varming, has reduced energy by 12 per cent from its already 6 star tenancy. Initiatives include good management systems and an upgrade to energy efficient LED lighting at its office in Castlereagh Street, Sydney.
Echo Entertainment Group scooped the award for New Signatory of the Year for its ambitious energy and waste reduction targets. Projects commenced in the last year have already seen a reduction of nearly four per cent in energy and carbon emissions.
Echo is the first major entertainment group to join CitySwitch and to commit nationally to a waste reduction target as well as an energy reduction target. A national staff engagement program has educated and inspired staff to make environmentally-conscious changes both at home and at work.
The National Association of Community Legal Centres was named highly commended in the New Signatory category for initiatives including organics recycling, installation of energy efficient computers and printers and new sustainable procurement processes for cleaning products and paper.
These NSW and ACT winners are now in the running for the National Awards, which will be announced at the Victoria State and National Awards event in Melbourne tomorrow night (November 27).
A full list of winners at: cityswitch.net.au/awards