Philip Pollard’s Phd thesis, Campus as Place, details the the transformation of Newcastle University into one of the world’s leading sustainability exemplars. See Chapter One here. Chapter 2: A collaborative approach to delivering the... 
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By Lynne Blundell 17 March 2011 –One of the biggest challenges facing designers and construction companies today is the selection of building materials for minimum environmental impact. In his keynote address at Green Cities, Michael Green, principal... 
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16 June 2011 – A blend of the pragmatic and the poetic won a South Australian regional school the top award at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2011 SA Architecture Awards. The Caritas College Junior School’s external covered area in Port... 
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16 June 2011 –The Australian War Memorial took most of the honours at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2011 ACT Architecture Awards. ACT jury chair Shelley Penn said the recent work Read More > >  
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By Lynne Blundell Lighting is far more complex than meets the eye. Greater efficiency might come with dangerous levels of mercury, or metals that need to be disposed of. July 2010  – FAVOURITES: Lighting is hot right now. Every week, Read More... 
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By Jane Jose  15 June 2011 Five simple engagement lessons In seeking to bottle the mystery ingredients in the fourth dimension of place-making here are a few lessons. Lesson 1: keep it authentic The authenticity of a place keeps it alive because... 
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By Jane Jose 9 June 2011 – We are living in a time of back to the high street. It is more than 20 years since the mainstreet movement began and on 3 May the National Mainstreet conference in Adelaide had the fervour of a prayer meeting. Lord Mayor... 
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8 June 2011 – Sustainable villages, high density housing projects, urban squares and foreshore parks are vying for honours at this year’s national awards for urban design. The awards will be presented as part of the Built Environment Meets Parliament,... 
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By David Burns 8 June 2011 – The Manly Council’s 2015 master plan is a great initiative but the plan could be improved if the council considered Green Building Council of Australia Green Star ratings and sustainable intensity metric benchmarks. Proposed... 
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8 June 2011 – The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating, assisted by the Victorian government, has launched an online resource, Mycoolingtower.com.au to calculate efficiency of water in cooling towers. AIRAH chief operations... 
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2 June 2011 – Victoria’s Planning Minister Matthew Guy has announced the establishment of a new Urban Renewal Authority, which will absorb the current VicUrban with no loss of jobs, but with the board disbanded. Read More > >  
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31 May 2011 – Arup has launched a competition to describe the concept of soft infrastructure in urban planning – elements such as branding, community engagement and cohesion, to complement the “hard” elements of roads, rail, tunnels and buildings. The... 
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In search of the jumping joyous urban jumble 20 May 2011 –[Updated 21 May 2011] When Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese launched the official national urban policy – which was rather hard to separate from the “other”... 
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20 May 2011 – The federal government this week released three major urban policies and reports on planning. They are: The Productivity Commission’s Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: Planning, Zoning and Development Assessments ... 
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By Tina Perinotto 16 May 2011 – Grocon and the GPT Group today  unveiled plans for the refurbished officer tower in heritage listed Legion House  in Sydney’s CBD to be powered by off-grid bio mass gas, with enough energy to supply the... 
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By Caroline Noller Caroline Noller has delved into the secrets of six of our world’s most important materials – those that contribute most of our carbon emissions. Here is part two of her investigations: See Part I here Aluminium 25 March... 
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By Leon Gettler 12 May 2011 – Queensland, the state of floods and cyclones that devastated property, has become Australia’s laboratory for sustainable building, for creating resilient homes, offices and structures in the face of climatic volatility. In... 
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11 May 2011 – As the federal government slashes solar schemes and renewable energy programs and NSW prepares to do the same, the Queensland government has found a more measured way to rein in costs stemming from the runaway popularity of its solar schemes. The... 
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6 May 2011 – Matthew Clark former manager of the NABERS building performance rating program for the NSW government is on the lookout for a new manager to replace him after his move to a more senior position. But be warned: the job will be demanding.... 
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6 May 2011 – Bluescope Steel last night won the Insurance Council of Australia Resilience Award Competition with an innovative home design, by Caroline Pidcock of Pidcock Architects, aimed at preparing Australian communities for extreme weather conditions... 
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By Amy Kelly Michael Rayner is one of Brisbane’s most high profile architects and contributor to the city fabric. After the recent floods he has also come up with strong ideas about how to interact with the city’s “snaking river.” 6... 
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5 May 2011 – The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, today joined the chorus of blame on solar energy for rising electricity prices when he announced solar credits would be pared back. The move he said in a media statement... 
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By Lynne Blundell A second case study from the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating, conference, held in September in Melbourne, on the theme of  just how critical good facilities management is for achieving energy efficiency... 
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4 May 2011 – Aurecon engineering has won a major contract to work on one of the world’s largest solar projects – the $104.7 million Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project near Chinchilla, Queensland. CS Energy’s 750 megawatt coal-fired Kogan Creek... 
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3 May 2011 _ Dieter Helm, writing in Prospect magazine says peak oil is a furphy. Gas is on the rise and rising fast. Fossil fuels are not about to run out. That’s our biggest problem— and our big opportunity Peak oil—the idea that we have passed... 
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By Tina Perinotto 29 April 2011 – The NSW government has all but axed the solar bonus scheme, citing a major blowout in costs after high take-up by consumers. The scheme was officially suspended for two months from midnight Thursday, but NSW resources... 
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By Tina Perinotto 29 April 2011 – More than 200 people attended a “flicking of the switch” ceremony on Thursday morning at Investa’s Coca-Cola Place in North Sydney to send gas fired trigeneration energy into the Sydney grid. The... 
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28 April – Developers and community groups could at last be able to see the impact of new developments thanks to a new free app, Walkabout3d from UK based Deliverance Software. The app’s 3d panoramas shows users how their surroundings may appear once... 
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FAVOURITES: 9 September 2011. [Updated] The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, published recently by Beyond Zero Emissions, has received widespread support from eminent scientists, academics, industry leaders and energy sector businesses. At... 
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Antony Hing was one of the featured guests at an green building fringe event held in Melbourne in February to co-incide with  Green Cities 2010 conference. By Andrew Starc - 25 March 2010 – Since its widespread establishment in the late... 
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