By Leon Gettler From The Age: 1 February 2011 – From Urbanisation, climate change and globalisation are leading to more and bigger catastrophes. THE floods that ravaged Queensland and Victoria are a warning for businesses to overhaul their risk-management strategies. They are events that tell us we are now in a very different world. See Leon Gettler’s special report on the flood crisis for The Fifth Estate How different? Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of the Wharton Business School’s Risk Centre in the US and chairman of the OECD secretary-general’s advisory board on financial management of catastrophes, says that in the 21st century there has not been a six-month period without a major crisis that simultaneously affected several countries or industry sectors. We are seeing more and bigger catastrophes created by increasing urbanisation, climate change and globalisation. The world has become an interdependent village. Examples include September 11, hurricane... 
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1 February 2011 – South Africa’s task at the 17th UN conference of the parties on climate change in November, 2011 is both “appealing and unenviable” judging by the results at the Cancun, Mexico, COP, according to a Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report. The report on the Cancun conference from 29 November to 10 December 2010 by the company’s global team acknowledged that agreements were reached on some key issues providing a platform for relatively smooth progress.  But the lack of consensus on the legal form of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol was an unenviable challenge for the Durban meeting. Observers generally concluded that Cancun provided a reprieve to the seemingly quite threatened UN multilateral negotiation process, but if this year’s Durban conference ended with a legal agreement still unresolved the UN cannot be guaranteed continued smooth sailing.  Companies would do well to continue to monitor the process and how it may affect them, the report concluded. Report highlights... 
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28 January 2011 – The federal government should fund the flood recovery program by ending fossil fuel tax breaks and subsidies that cost the Australia taxpayer $5 billion a year and go mostly to the pockets of the mining industry, the Australian Conservation Foundation today said. Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday announced cuts to the green car innovation fund, the cleaner car rebate scheme, the solar flagships program, the solar hot water rebate scheme [but not in its entirety according to the industry; see our separate story ) and the green start program to help pay for flood reconstruction. “It’s right for the government to help people rebuild after these devastating floods, but it should use fossil fuel subsidies to fund the work,” said ACF executive director Don Henry. “The largest of these fossil fuel subsidies is the fuel tax credits program, which costs taxpayers more than $5 billion a year, the vast majority of which goes to mining companies as credits for... 
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28 January 2011 – Green Building Council of Australia and World Green Building Council chair Tony Arnel this week told the G’Day USA conference in Boston that the business case for green buildings was increasingly compelling but that several myths needed to be busted in order to realise the sector’s full potential. Among the myths were that green buildings cost too much and that high rise buildings are more environmentally friendly than the suburban home. In newspaper reports this week  Mr Arnel scotched these ideas and using results found by Allen Consulting in a report for the Victorian Building Commission Read More  
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27 January 2011 –The Government will spend $5.6 billion to rebuild flood-affected regions across Australia, PM Julia Gillard announced today. The funds will be delivered through a one year levy on people earning more than $50 000, abolishing certain climate change programs such as the green car innovation fund, the solar hot water rebate  and capping funding for the renewable energy bonus scheme. Some infrastructure projects will also be deferred to save cash as well as free up skilled workers. The Australian Greens, while supporting the flood levy, insist that the climate program cuts make no sense.  Read More  
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27 January 2011 – CB Richard Ellis will co-ordinate the Property Industry Flood Relief Benefit for the Queensland floods with the Property Council of Australia, supported by The Australian Property Institute, HIA, Master Builders, Planning Institute Australia, Shopping Centre Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia. The function will be  at Friday’s at the Riverside Centre, the use of which has been donated by the Weller Group. CBRE’s senior managing director, Queensland, Bruce Baker said up to 30 sponsors were being sought for the function, which will include a major charity auction.  More than a dozen property groups have already agreed to each provide $10,000 in sponsorship. Read More  
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27 January 2011 – Sustainability has finally made it as one of the big six trends for 2011 and will become a key divider between the “haves” and the “have nots” in the commercial market, according to leading researcher Kevin Stanley of CB Richard Ellis. Mr Stanley, executive director, global research and consulting for CBRE  has named sustainability fourth on his list of the six big trends for 2011.  “Sustainability will have a bigger impact from now on,” he said. “Sustainability may have struggled for priority during the global financial crisis and post the failed Copenhagen negotiations but as this new property cycle picks up it will grow in importance, becoming a central and permanent feature of the industry. “The next round of commercial developments now being designed and approved will all feature high on the well-developed sustainability ratings scale.” And Mr Stanley includes in his forecasts advice for developers to start... 
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By Tina Perinotto 21 January 2011 –21 January 2011 –As the damage from the Queensland floods becomes clearer calls are emerging for rebuilding and repairs to be more sustainable and resilient and at least one sustainability consultancy is offering subsidised design services to assist. Cundall state manager Queensland Ben O’Callaghan this week said a rethink was needed on how new construction could proceed. “It’s obvious that we need to start building in more resilience,” Mr O’Callaghan said. “It’s now critical that we design to cater for the environment and it’s disappointing that some people aren’t starting to learn the lesson of past extreme weather because there will be more of it as climate change increases. Read More  
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23 January 2011 - Sinclair Knight Merz reported during the week that although its offices on South Bank in Brisbane were flooded at ground level and in the basement car park, the collective technical expertise of staff was able to quickly repair damage. Queensland regional manager Steve Raby said that the office situated close to the to the Brisbane River was evacuated but that “thanks to the efforts of SKM’s local team, the office was reopened on Tuesday 18 January. Essential services, including power, water, toilets, IT, telephones, fire alarms and airconditioning have now been restored.” He said that majority of SKM’s Brisbane-based staff was now back at work. Chief executive officer Paul Dougas said: “Fortunately the majority of our staff did not experience significant impact to their homes or suffer personally. However, we recognise that many people at SKM and in the broader community will be deeply affected by this disaster and we will continue to support... 
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From Climate Spectator – 23 January 2011 – It seems that governments everywhere are continuing to grossly underestimate the enthusiasm for rooftop solar. The NSW government has been so overwhelmed by applications to install rooftop solar panels that it is poised to cancel its solar bonus scheme altogether, less than three months after reducing the feed-in tariff by 67 per cent. Applications for rooftop solar installations in the state have already passed the 300MW cap set by the state in its tariff review at the end of October – a level it did not expect to pass until some time in 2012. But it seems the response from more than 140,000 householders across the state has been so overwhelming that applications are already at 326MW, meaning that some applications from customers who have made non-refundable deposits to solar installers will not qualify for the scheme. The take-up of solar in NSW has defied all government expectations, even though it was warned by the industry itself... 
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By Leon Gettler Special report:  21 January 2011 – With more extreme weather events expected, the Queensland flood crisis could represent the “new normal” that will challenge the property market. Experts have told The Fifth Estate that planning and infrastructure will have to change. Just another sign of what we can expect from a world transformed by global warming. Geography and planning specialist Professor Brian Finlayson from the University of Melbourne says that the only way to tackle floods Read More  
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by Michael French, partner Queensland, Norton Rose 21 January 2011 – The floods affecting Queensland, Victoria and NSW have been described as unprecedented and their impact on the economy will indeed be extraordinary.  Early estimates place the cost of direct damages to the Queensland economy alone in the vicinity of billions of dollars. Although perhaps not yet fully understood, consequential damages resulting from the floods have the potential to be equally severe. The series of floods that have affected and continue to affect Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are likely to become collectively the most expensive disaster in Australian history. Following is a series of briefings in relation to the impact of the floods on various sectors of the economy. Whether you are a developer, owner, landlord or tenant of real estate in the affected regions the floods and inclement weather create not only usually dangerous on site conditions but also raises various legal issues that require... 
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By Tina Perinotto 21 January 2011 – The federal government has released a consultation paper on the tax breaks for green buildings program which will be worth up to $1 billion. It has even provided a handy set of questions as a starting point for ironing out how things might work in practice. Closing date for submissions is 18 February. Consultation information sessions will be held in major cities: Read More  
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LETTER – 20 January 2011 – I was told last Friday (14 January) that the Glebe Post Office will close as “planned” on 4 February and that stuff was already being moved out. The senior management of Australia Post don’t care about the needs of Glebe or its unusually large number of elderly pensioner residents. They also don’t give a stuff about the expensive “Future Ready” strategy they launched last year, which is sprinkled with words like “transparency” “community participation” “collaboration” “accountability” -   all rubbish as evidenced by their current behaviour. The first “Notice of Closure” appeared in the window of the post office in the first week of January – the middle of the Christmas Holidays. It said that there had been a “significant decline in customer numbers” even though no-one who uses the place had noticed any lessening of queue lengths.  It said “you can go to Annandale” – how many pensioners did they send on... 
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21 January 2011 – The Gold Coast City Council said on Friday that its Hinze Dam was “good planning” and would help protect the city from floods, as it released what it said were among Australia’s most sophisticated flood maps. The statement to reassure its residents came as a council meeting this endorsed $450,000 in financial support for flood reconstruction. A spokeswoman for the council said the Queensland  floods could well inform policy changes on the Gold Coast but these were under constant review. “We have in place robust and adaptive planning which envisages situations like that experienced in the recent Queensland floods,” the spokeswoman said. “As new knowledge about climate change comes to hand these council’s planning, mitigation and response programs are under constant review and improvement. “We will be looking at the Queensland floods to see if there are any new lessons to be learned or information which could help us... 
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By Lyn Drummond 19 January 2011 – With some economists putting a figure of $20 billion on the Queensland flood damage, the terms of reference for the state government’s Commission of Inquiry has already come under fire for not being broad enough. The Federal Government has also established a business taskforce to mobilise flood recovery efforts. Architects are concerned that a preferred system of designing and building resilient homes is essential in the terms of reference and will submit proposals. (See our report ) Queensland Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek’s criticism that the inquiry lacked the ability to examine issues outside its specific terms was disputed on the ABC this week when Premier Anna Bligh said the terms of reference “go to every aspect of the management of this disaster.” Queensland inquiry’s terms of reference The Queensland Commission of Inquiry’s panel of three is headed by Queensland Justice Cate Holmes with Deputy Commissioners Jim O’Sullivan,... 
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By Lyn Drummond 19 January 2011 – Architects will propose to the Queensland government that building design be considered in its terms of reference for its Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland floods, as industry bodies respond to the crisis. According to the chief executive officer of the Australian Institute of Architects David Parken a preferred system of designing and building resilient homes is essential in the terms of reference. The interim report is due in August this year and due to be released by January, 2012. Mr Parken was not prepared to comment on what a preferred design could be at this point, but said any preferences for the traditional Queenslander house on stilts did not hold weight when there were instances of these homes being swept off their footings by the water. Read More  
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18 January 2011 – Australia’s GDP may fall and vegetable prices will soar, but some industries are poised to benefit from the flood disaster in Queensland and northern NSW, according to business information analysts IBISWorld. IBISWorld today downgraded Australia’s GDP forecast from 2.9 per cent to 2.6 per cent but said the construction industry in particular would benefit. “Industries set to decline rapidly are perhaps more obvious and include agriculture – especially cotton and cane growers – Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto and Lyn Drummond 20 January 2011 – An estimated 600 residents and local politicians rallied in Sydney’s inner city suburb of Glebe on Thursday morning this week brandishing more than 4000 signatures in protest against the planned closure of the local post office. The closure will be one of 27 post offices that Australia Post seems determined to shut nationally, citing falls of 5 per cent in business. All except one perhaps – Woollahra, in the electorate of former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 14 January 2011 – The Planning Institute of Australia said on Friday that the Queensland flood crisis had focused the need for climate change to be considered in planning for the future and proved that modern planning protocols could work to protect communities, even in low lying areas. PIA national president Neil Savery said that major natural disasters had challenged civilisations throughout history and each time “the human endeavour rebounds with better built environments arising from the lessons learned. “In this case the extent of the influence of climate change on these floods and future similar events will need to be considered.” Read More  
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By  Keith Orchison 13 January 2011 – From Business Spectator – A question mark hangs over the future of one of Australia’s largest power generators as we enter the new year and a new decade – and because of this there is also a query over cost-efficient east coast electricity supply. Located in the Upper Hunter Valley near Newcastle, Macquarie Generation has been the queen bee of eastern Australian power production since emerging from the 1990s break-up of Pacific Power. Critics of the original New South Wales restructuring have long held that it is too dominant – that Bayswater and Liddell power stations should be separate businesses. With their combined capacity of 4,700 megawatts, Macquarie Generation is a major contributor to low-cost power supply – and to substantial greenhouse gas emissions because it uses a large part of the 30 million tonnes of black coal burned every year in NSW to produce electricity. In a world managed by power engineers, ground would long... 
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13 January 2011- Jerry Yudelson, leading US green building and sustainability consultant and a speaker at last year’s Green Cities 2010 conference in Melbourne has released a list of top worldwide green building trends for 2011. “What we’re seeing is that more people are going green each year, and there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend, ” Mr Yudelson said. Green building and sustainability consultant Jerry Yudelson says that the green building industry will rebound in 2011 in spite of the continuing economic difficulties in most developed countries, citing 10 major trends. Speaking about his annual “Top Ten” list of green building trends, the green building expert and author said, “What we’re seeing is that more people are going green each year, and there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend.” In a global media release Mr Yudelson said: “In 2010, the slowdown in commercial real estate put a crimp in the start up rate... 
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By Greg Paine Part of a series, Walking with the Elephant, on mindfulness Problem Acting alone to improve behaviours can be discomforting if you appear too different: “Almost no-one in society doing it”; and can lead to frustration if you think others are not as equally caring. Further, nagging and lecturing may not be positive models to encourage change: “When I started preaching his sort of thing … she got fed up … I was pricking her conscience. Which was difficult.” Solution In response, there is now growing acknowledgment of the importance of the self as example. It can have a number of self-reinforcing outcomes: consistent with the idea of small steps (Pattern 1), seeing each individual action as important to the greater, cumulative whole increases its value and promotes a sense of personal empowerment – that personal choices can make a difference, and may be an antidote to “society apathy/disinterest/ disengagement”. “Don’t view it as a burden, focus... 
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By Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES – 15 April 2010 -Susan Roaf doesn’t have much time for architects. She thinks that most are little more than “building hairdressers” and she accuses the profession of undermining the fight against climate change. Roaf, a well known architect, author on sustainable buildings, and a professor of architectural engineering, was in Sydney this week as a keynote speaker at the Air conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Services Exhibition, or ARBS. In an interview with The Fifth Estate she said the future for truly sustainable building design lies not with architects but with architectural engineers. But the real momentum for climate change action is coming from communities – from Transition Town Movements, says Roaf. Transition Towns is a movement that started in the UK and is based on communities taking action on two key challenges – climate change and peak oil. Climate change is now well understood; the peak oil concept is not so widely known. Simply... 
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By David Baggs, ecospecifier 13 October 2011 – FAVOURITES: Green marketing has increased dramatically in recent years as marketeers have become more aware of the increased importance consumers are placing on the effects of their purchases on their health and the environment. Read More  
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By Lynne Blundell 25 November 2010 – Better air quality, views, large windows, patient and staff focus – not doctors – and cities within cities…it’s all part of an evolving greener profile for hospitals. Hospitals have long been major energy munchers – they operate 24/7, their equipment is energy intensive and design has focused on medical priorities, not sustainability. And the worst of it all is that many of these highly institutionalised, inflexible monoliths with unhealthy air and depressing interiors are terrible places for the unwell. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 18 November 2010 -Two announcements this morning  from the heartland of the capital markets may be about to usher in a new era for green buildings that can finally provide evidence of their greater value. In Sydney Adrian Harrington,  chairman of  IPD, said the  property Read More  
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22 December 2010 – DEXUS has put together a team to help Habitat for Humanity to fund a new campaign for 100 Australian women to travel to Nepal and help build homes for some of the poorest female-headed families in the world. The team comprising of chief operating officer Tanya Cox, head of human resources Pat Daniels and head of marketing & communications  Emma Parry has chipped in $1000 from each member as well as travel and accommodation expenses. “We are seeking to raise together at least $15,000 in donations and welcome your support, large or small,” the team said this week. “All donations are tax deductible and go directly to the Nepal Build fundraising campaign.” According to a note distributed by the team, “Nepal is a desperately poor country where more than half the population earns less than $1 per day. Nepali women are particularly disadvantaged, with a life expectancy as low as 52 years.” The project extends for 1 week from Sunday,... 
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By Lynne Blundell 530 Collins Street Melbourne 6 May 2010 – When GPT’s building at 530 Collins Street was coming up to 20 years old, the property group decided it was time for an upgrade with energy performance a key focus. Originally completed in 1989, it is a landmark building with approximately 68,335 square metres of office accommodation over 38 floors. The building was rated at 2.5 Star NABERS energy efficiency in 2004  – an industry average. Prior to the upgrade GPT purchased 25 per cent Green Power for the building, a contract that commenced in 2007. This brought it up to 4 Star NABERS. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 24 November 2010 – Gavin Gilchrist’s Big Switch Projects has increased staff levels this year after a moderate uptick in demand for energy audits following the introduction of  the mandatory disclosure regime. The requirements are that offices of 2000 square metres or more disclose their NABERS energy rating on sale or lease. According to Mr Gilchrist assistance through government subsidies for audits – up to 60 per cent in South Australia and a new rebate program of 80 per cent in Blacktown in Sydney -  has helped to stimulate demand. The rebates are available for companies with large electricity bills. Audit costs  average about $15,000 for a typical office building of about $10,000 square metres, Mr Gilchrist. Read More  
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