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3 Background Research: Australasia

3.1 Introduction

This section looks at the most widely accepted and relevant building assessment schemes used within Australia and New Zealand. Throughout the research process, commercial design tools have been targeted. Additionally, as part of this study we have also looked at performance-based tools such as NABERS. Each one has been examined in terms of the following:

  • overall purpose

  • types of building to which it applies

  • general methodology

  • use

  • sponsor/owner of the tool.

A summary of the types of tools available is provided in Table 3-1, below.

Table 3-1 Summary of Australasian Tools Available

View summary of Australasian tools available (large table)

3.2 Details for Australasian Tools

3.2.1 Green Globe 21: Design and Construct

Overview and Purpose

Green Globe 21 is a benchmarking and certification programme developed by The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in 1993 and officially launched in 1994. It facilitates sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communities. The design and construct component of Green Globe 21 aims to facilitate environmentally sustainable design and construction of travel and tourism infrastructure and achieve the following:

  • provide developers with guidelines for design and construction and assessment of performance

  • enable travellers to recognise and choose travel and tourism operators that operate sustainably

  • protect local ecosystems and the global environment.

Application

Green Globe 21: Design and Construct is designed for use in new and existing travel and tourism related buildings i.e. hotels, motels, guest houses, youth hostels, backpackers. Established in 1994, it is now in operation in over 60 countries worldwide, including New Zealand and Australia.

General Methodology

Green Globe 21 offers four separate tools: company, community, ecotourism and design and construct. The criteria used to define sustainable design and construction is as follows:

  • design approach and sustainability policies

  • siting

  • conservation of energy

  • selection of materials and process

  • protection of earth, air and water

  • construction processes

  • response to social and contextual issues.

In addition, the developer: should have a written sustainable design and construction policy for its implementation; should comply with regulatory framework; should provide for measurement of specified performance indicators in both the design and construction phases; and needs a system in place for integrated management of the design and construction phases.

Users

Customers for whom assessments are done include developers, building owners, project managers, building design professionals, consultants and contractors, and consumers. The assessments are carried out by independent assessors, suitably qualified, experienced and accredited by Green Globe Asia Pacific (GGAP).

Green Globe also has an awareness (affiliate) programme, to help tourism companies understand methodology, benefits and requirements. Developers may undertake benchmarking independently of full certification.

Sponsor

Green Globe 21 has been developed by the University of New South Wales and the University of Queensland, in conjunction with the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre of Australia, which comprises 17 Australian universities, government tourism bodies and tourism business partners.

3.2.2 The Green Office Scheme

Overview and Purpose

The Green Office Scheme aims to promote offices that are more resource efficient, of low environmental impact, and healthy for occupants by recognising the impact they have on their occupants and their surroundings. This will be achieved by:

  • promoting comfortable, practical designs that are environmentally sensitive

  • encouraging and recognising healthier offices

  • influencing the availability of environmentally sound products

  • rewarding building designs that are above standard New Zealand building code requirements for environmental performance.

Application

In its pilot stage, the Green Office Scheme is both a predictive and retrospective tool for rating office buildings, through the use of three separate worksheets: design, existing and refurbishment.

General Methodology

Credits are awarded in the following categories:

  • management

  • health and wellbeing

  • energy

  • transport

  • water consumption

  • materials

  • land use

  • ecology

  • pollution

  • design excellence.

These are ranked according to importance and summed to give a total score and performance rating: good, very good and excellent.

Users

Trained assessors carry out the assessment for commercial building owners, developers, designers and commercial tenants. The designer is able to improve environmental aspects of the design before the final assessment.

Sponsor

This is a commercial environmental rating tool developed by BRANZ Ltd, but based largely on BREEAM (offices) (UK); with some aspects adapted from the US LEED tool. It is funded by the Building Research Levy and the Foundation for Research Science and Technology under their Public Good Science Fund.

3.2.3 Green Star

Overview and Purpose

Green Star is widely used in Australia, and has also been applied in the New Zealand context in the past, in the absence of a New Zealand-specific tool. The Green Star scheme is voluntary and offers a suite of tools, including office design, office existing and office as built. Each tool applies a rating scale:

  • 4 Star Green Star Certified Rating: ‘Best Practice’

  • 5 Star Green Star Certified Rating: ‘Australian Excellence’

  • 6 Star Green Star Certified Rating: ‘World Leadership’.

The stated objectives that the Green Star tool aims to achieve are to:

  • establish a common rating tool

  • set a standard of measurement for green buildings

  • promote integrated, whole-building design

  • recognise environmental leadership

  • identify building life-cycle impacts

  • raise awareness of green building benefits.

Application

Green Star consists of a range of schemes to suit differing applications. Four schemes have been set up to date: office design, office as built, office interiors, and office asset, with more in development stages. To gain green star accreditation, projects must demonstrate that they meet all the requirements detailed in the relevant technical manual.

Though still relatively new to the Australian market, Green Star seems to have been well-received by the building industry.

General Methodology

Projects are evaluated against eight environmental impact categories plus innovation. The categories are:

  • management

  • indoor environmental quality

  • transport

  • energy

  • water

  • materials

  • land use and ecology

  • emissions.

Within each category, points are awarded for initiatives that demonstrate that a project has met the overall objectives of Green Star and the specific criteria of the relevant rating tool credits. Points are then weighted and an overall score is calculated, determining the project’s Green Star rating.

Users

Assessments are carried out by Green Star accredited professionals. The types of customers for whom assessments are done include building owners, developers, architects and designers, builders, facilities managers and government agencies.

Sponsor

Green Star was based on the LEED and BREEAM schemes and is sponsored and managed by Australia’s Green Building Council.

3.2.4 LCA Design

Overview and Purpose

The LCA design project was initiated to assess the status of life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools in the building and construction sector and to develop strategies to improve the uptake and use of these tools. This project aimed to improve the environmental performance of the building and construction sector, by promoting LCA as a tool for eco-efficient design, enhanced decision-making and reduction of environmental impacts. Within the industry, impacts occur through the manufacture of building materials, as well as throughout the design, construction, operation and demolition phases of all buildings. LCA is a widely recognised tool which can be used to improve understanding of the environmental impacts of this sector.

Application

The LCA Design package is intended primarily as a commercial design tool; though it is still under development and is not commercially available.

General Methodology

Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method of evaluating environmental impacts of an activity throughout its life, from extraction of raw materials, to processing, transport, use and finally disposal. It is now an internationally accepted approach guided by international standards in the ISO 14000 series, and is being used by many organisations to model, analyse and guide environmental decision-making. Behind the LCA design tool is a software engine, which calculates:

  • the volume and cost of all construction materials

  • the environmental impact of those materials

  • compliance with current industry standards

so users may redesign the building based on its economic and environmental impact.

Users

The tool is used by a range of people including building designers, purchasers, owners, developers, manufacturers and researchers. Use of the scheme is currently self-initiated, but it may be used in conjunction with other schemes involving formal assessment.

Sponsor

Developed in the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation, with CSIRO as the principal researchers.

3.2.5 NABERS

Overview and Purpose

The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) is a voluntary tool that provides information on the sustainability of existing buildings in Australia.

It was developed to promote a shift in attitude towards the built environment. This in turn should lead to greater investment in sustainable building alternatives.

Application

NABERS is a newly developed retrospective tool, formally introduced in 2005. NABERS is different to most of the tools examined in that it targets existing buildings only, with separate rating systems for commercial office base buildings and commercial office tenancies. It was the intention that NABERS would be used in conjunction with design stage rating systems.

General Methodology

The developers of NABERS sought to provide an explicit and consistent rating system methodology, with a clear performance-based structure and a realistic and quantitative rating scale that recognises and rewards current performance levels and promotes best practice. The system is performance based, and works by assessment of the previous 12 months against the prescribed categories listed below to give a final percentage mark:

  • energy use and greenhouse emissions

  • refrigerant use

  • water use

  • stormwater run-off

  • stormwater pollution

  • sewage outfall volume

  • transport

  • landscape diversity

  • toxic materials

  • waste

  • indoor air quality

  • occupant satisfaction.

Scores of 35% are achieved through normal, sound architectural design; scores of 50% require serious consideration of environmental factors; and scores of 60% or more require a concerted and holistic approach to sustainability.

Users

NABERS Commercial is now in place for use by office building owners, managers and occupants.

However, government agencies and councils, planning and housing authorities, and utilities agencies may use the information provided by NABERS to encourage environmental improvements. Spreadsheets are free and publicly available to allow individuals to complete an assessment, as there is not yet a system for verification of ratings and accreditation or certification.

Sponsor

The Australian Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage. In August 2004, the NSW Government’s Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability (DEUS) was awarded the tender to make NABERS a commercial reality and are responsible for the full roll-out of the scheme.

3.2.6 TUSC

Overview and Purpose

Tools for Urban Sustainability Code of Practice, or TUSC, is a web-based analysis tool. Its purpose is to develop an interactive code of practice to ensure that urban planning and engineering is sustainable, and to improve sustainable management practices by raising awareness and understanding of sustainability issues by providing practitioners and decision-makers with appropriate tools and guidelines to ensure cost-effective sustainable urban development.

Application

The Tool for Urban Sustainability: Code-of-Practice (TUSC) will provide developers, practitioners, policy makers and compliance officers a single user-friendly web-based engineering and planning tool that will deliver cost-effective urban sustainability outcomes in both new developments and urban retrofit or intensification projects. The tool is primarily aimed at residential developments but can also assist with planning for commercial projects. It is the flexibility of use and how the data is accessed that was of interest to our research.

General Methodology

The Code of Practice for neighbourhoods is to be provided as a user-friendly, web-based toolbox system that includes linkages to models. It will provide performance standards for all key areas including social, economic and cultural as well as environmental, and works at both macro and micro scales, by assessing at the neighbourhood level, and considering infrastructure, etc. Though still under development, it is intended as a planning tool rather than a rating tool, and will be useful for resource consent procedures and site specific planning, such as land use and subdivision consents. As it is continually updated, the Code of Practice is more flexible and adaptable than some of the other tools.

This planning tool uses latest technology and can only be accessed via the internet. The development location can be selected using GIS, and further development plans added through a series of wizards and graphical tools. Proposed plans will be scored according to effect on the environment and prompts suggest sustainability techniques and technologies that would reduce these impacts. With time, as new features are added and improved, TUSC will become a powerful research and design tool. It will also be fully integrated with CAD and GIS packages.

Users

Due to its holistic approach, a multitude of potential users would benefit from TUSC. For best results it requires input from the broadest range of user groups. This includes developers, designers, homeowners, building owners, utility and infrastructure providers, council staff, planners and building consent officers. As a web-based tool it is readily available to any individual.

Sponsor

TUSC is a Sustainable Management Fund Project being developed by Waitakere District Council.

3.3 Concluding Comments

By far the most widely used tool within Australasia is Green Star, though NABERS may prove an effective tool for the assessment of existing buildings (or ‘in-use’ buildings) once it is more well-established. In New Zealand, only a pilot commercial tool has been developed, no scheme for commercial buildings has been formally adopted as yet.

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