By Lynne Blundell In the six years since Melbourne-based LAB Architecture Studio started working in China the sustainability landscape has changed dramatically. Other Australians too have found the country moving fast on its sustainability agenda- especially once the authorities get behind an initiative. Nanjing,  for instance, is almost a forest of ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 19 August 2010 - Lend Lease's Chris Carolan is a happy man right now. He's heading up a new company venture that has the potential to transform the average Australian's view of renewable energy, by making it safer, cheaper and easier to have a mini-solar energy plant on ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 20 August 2010 - Here’s a hypothetical: The new Federal Government is sworn in on Monday morning. The very first thing it does is convene a "citizen's assembly" from key parts of the sustainable property industry to ask them what are the five most important things that it ...Read More > >

18 August 2010 - Landcom was a key contributor to the voluntary code for universal housing adopted last month by coalition of property, housing, social services and government agencies. The voluntary guidelines, which aim to influence all new house constructed by 2020, are expected to make good social and economic sense. See ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 18 August 2010 - “Quality urban design does pay,” was the message of outgoing president of Living Streets Aotearoa Peter Kortegast at the recent this year’s Dollars and Sense of Walking conference held in Wellington, New Zealand. Creating walkable towns and cities through urban design – liveable communities that ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 12 July 2010 - The GPT Group last week launched the upgrade to its premium-grade office building at 530 Collins Street in Melbourne to an early morning crowd of about 100 people. The tower is expected to score 5 stars for NABERS Energy after a major refurbishment that includes ...Read More > >

13 July, 2010 - The number of rating tools, policies, reports, incentives and legal rulings on sustainable residential  development has proliferated in recent years. In this comprehensive work, legal firm Herbert Geer has created clear and focused guide through the maze. At least for the eastern seaboard. In 2020, Australian greenhouse ...Read More > >

11 August 2010 - UPDATE - Cundall has introduced a search function to its NABERS/Green Star Google Map that allows users to see which buildings have a NABERS or Green Star rating. Cundall managing director Simon Wild said that the application would assist landlords and tenants now that  mandatory disclosure will ...Read More > >

4 August 2010 - The winners of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects international ideas competition SEA-CHANGE 2030+ have been announced. The competition invited design proposals to protect the Sydney harbour foreshore from rising water or to make modifications to the environment to ensure sea level rise does not adversely affect ...Read More > >

By Michael Baker 4 August 2010 - There’s an old joke that speaks to the reliability of information received through our own senses compared with that received from what we think are trusted secondary sources. A man named Andy comes home and finds his wife and best friend Pete in bed together. ...Read More > >

by Andrew Starc 4 August 2010 - The Planning Institute of Australia has called on Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to address the issue of long term planning by issuing five key planning priorities it says are vital to Australia’s long term success. PIA national president Neil Savery said in a media ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto FAVOURITES - 10 September 2009 -Picture this: an apartment tower constructed entirely in a factory — right down to the base fit-out and even the defects’’ rectification. The walls built of new lightweight materials, pre-insulated. The whole thing shifted like Lego blocks and assembled on site, in Little ...Read More > >

By Lynne Blundell 29 July 2010 - The Melbourne co-housing group, Urban Coup, is getting closer to making its dream a reality – that is, creating a community where resources, ideas and skills are shared on a daily basis. There is a strong sense in the group that the concept ...Read More > >

By Nicola Woodward ANALYSIS - 26 July 2010 - It isn’t every Monday you wake up to the fact that a Sunday press release by the incumbent Government in the run up to a general election contains a promising policy. Yesterday the Labor party announced its Tax Breaks for Green Buildings initiative ...Read More > >

26 July 2010 - China has decided it will put a price on carbon, starting next year, it has decided to use a market mechanism because an administrative one is too expensive; and its top 1000 energy consumers have signed contracts to reduce energy consumption according to China Daily. The country ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 29 June 2010 - The Planning Institute of Australia today came out in support of the Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s “more measured approach” to population growth for Australia, but it will have a fight on its hands from the property sector. Key to the new approach, said PIA president ...Read More > >

29 June, 2010 - A series of three reports released by Parsons Brinckerhoff and the Curtin University Sustainable Policy Institute have shown that active-travel cities are 6 per cent more productive. Authors of the report, Roman Trubka, Peter Newman and Darren Bilsborough, show that higher productivity in active-travel cities – which ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 28 June 2010 - Sustainability consultant Shauna Coffey (formerly of Mirvac) and Investa’s Craig Roussac were among guests who turned out for the launch of the Energy Efficiency Council’s new policy Platform for 2010 at 260 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, one of Investa’s buildings which it retrofitted to a ...Read More > >

Brief – 25 July, 2010 – Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have agreed to embark on a project to create up to 20 low-carbon model cities using energy-efficient technologies including smart grids and renewable power generation. Announced at APEC’s forum meeting in Japan 19 June, the 21-member body will ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 25 June 2010 - Bond University’s Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building has been awarded the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Szencorp Green Building Award. The first educational building in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star – Education Pilot Certified Rating for its sustainable ...Read More > >

17 June 2010 - The fact that Sydney wasn’t listed first or second on the KPMG audit of major cities’ planning systems probably says as much as you need to know about whether or not some action is urgently needed, the audience at the Built Environment Meets Parliament summit in ...Read More > >

Brief - 16 July, 2010 - The Australian Local Government Association has launched its Local Roads and Transport Agenda, outlining a vision for the next decade. President of the ALGA Geoff Lake said that local councils play a significant role in the planning and maintenance of roads and transport infrastructure, with ...Read More > >

by Andrew Starc 15 June, 2010 - The Australian Conservation Foundation's first sustainable cities index today nominated Darwin as Australia's most liveable city among a list of 20. But though Darwin was a clear winner on several measures, particularly biodiversity and air quality,  the index ranked the city amongst the worst performing ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 11 June 2010 - The NSW Government’s decision to cap developer contributions could see new home owners in greenfields housing estates left without adequate facilities and households facing steep rises in rates, according to the Planning Institute of Australia’s NSW division. The move, which took effect on 7 June, ...Read More > >

Brief - 9 June, 2010 - The Queensland Government has appointed Umow Lai to master plan the new $1.97 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital. Umow Lai’s team will provide technical and documentation advice as well as a full range of engineering services, including mechanical, electrical, fire, communications, hydraulics, lifts, civil and ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell 21 May 2010 - The sustainable property sector is littered with tools – tools to measure, to assess, to rate – to give insight into an increasingly complex area. Every other week, it seems, there is a new tool or piece of software. But is there a need ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 19 May 2010 - Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek today scotched any notion that she would support deregulated zoning in order to create more affordable housing, despite the Productivity Commission’s recent announcement that it would look at the idea in its inquiry into development controls. A “zoning free for ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 17 May 2010 - The NSW Government today announced the country’s first legally binding bio-banking covenant to protect environmentally sensitive land in return for development rights over similar land. But The Greens have slammed the scheme, saying it will enable the destruction of endangered species. “Biobanking is a backward step ...Read More > >

Brief - 10 May 2010 - Stockland once again has affordable housing in its sights with the announcement late last week that it will offer discounts of around $30,000 on over 100 of its home and land packages in Western Australia, this time with the help of the Rudd Government. As reported by ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc 5 May 2010 - Changes to zoning and development laws to enhance environmental sustainability are part of a proposed 30-year-plan for Southbank, the City of Melbourne announced today. The Draft Southbank Structure Plan 2010 includes changes to zoning and development controls to allow residents and workers to be closer ...Read More > >