The Green Building Council of Australia’s (GCBA) recently-released Green Star – Communities rating tool has been received an overwhelmingly positive response since its announcement.
“This great new tool goes to the heart of what we are seeking to achieve with our National Urban Policy – and that is to make our cities more productive, sustainable and liveable,” said Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Anthony Albanese upon the announcement of the rating tool. “The Green Building Council of Australia is to be commended for developing this tool, which will be of vast help to governments, developers and the public who want the best information to guide their decisions about sustainability.”
Already, Australia has received its first ever-registered Green Star – Communities PILOT project, which is set to be located in Canberra.
The ‘Loop’ precinct is a 40,000 square metre development at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets in Canberra.
The major focus of the development, put forward by Rock Development group, will be on creating green infrastructure, including Green Star–rated buildings, electrical vehicle infrastructure, water capture, waste management and precinct-wide energy generation.
Maria Efkarpidis of Rock Management Group explains that by providing the foundation for a green community, active and sustainable living can be achieved.
“We are proud to have the first registered Green Star – Communities PILOT project,” says Efkarpidis. “Loop will provide opportunities for everyone to participate in an active, enjoyable and community-oriented lifestyle and will set new benchmarks for world’s best practice for sustainable community living and property development.”
The developers and the GBCA will work together to benchmark the precinct against the 38 rating credits from the sections of liveability, economic prosperity, environment, design, governance and innovation. The developers have been praised by the green building authority for their undertaking, which will enable them to stand as leaders – even if it is for a short time – in the development of Green Star communities.
“We congratulate Rock Development Group for being the first registered PILOT project and hope to see many more development projects embrace Green Star – Communities in the near future,” says Robin Mellon, the GBCA’s Executive director of advocacy and business services.
Loop is expected to stand as the first of many Green Star – Communities as the rest of the Australian industry endeavours to deliver sustainability across the entirety of the built environment.
