By David Wilson 8 September 2010 - In a paper first presented at the 3rd International Urban Design Conference in Canberra, August 2010, David Wilson argues that since “Big Australia” was announced by former prime minister Kevin Rudd in October 2009, the new Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s call for  a sustainable ...Read More > >

7 September 2010 - In part one of a three part series, Anthony Szatow of the CSIRO presents the results of the three year Intelligent Grid Project, an investigation into how distributed energy can reduce both carbon emissions and energy costs. The Australian energy market ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 3 September 2010 - Arup launched its new visionary venture The New Agenda website  in Sydney and Melbourne last week with some provocative thinking on how to shape Australia's future. Moderated by Boss editor Narelle Hooper, debate coursed through population size, Australia's future positioning and so called geographic and ...Read More > >

By Ken Maher Following is the AS Hook Memorial Address delivered by Australian Institute of Architects 2009  Gold Medalist, Ken Maher. FAVOURITES: 29 October 2009 - I believe designing in the future will need to be an organic process, an ecological process, where landscape and nature are integrated and interpreted. This will ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell     FAVOURITES - 1 October 2009 - The construction of GPT's sustainable office tower at 111 Eagle St Brisbane is another vote of confidence in the ability of premium sustainable buildings to attract tenants in difficult economic times. The building, touted to be one of Australia’s most sustainable office developments ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES - 25 February 2010 - Christoph Ingenhoven, principal of German architectural firm Ingenhoven Architects, had the audience at Green Cities 2010 spellbound during an impressive presentation of his firm’s cutting edge sustainable architecture. He and his team have designed buildings for cities around the world, collectively winning ...Read More > >

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 > >

FAVOURITES -  20 May 2010 - Early this year leading Sydney planner and vocal advocate for planning reform in NSW Julie Bindon joined The Fifth Estate on a mini scouting expedition to Melbourne to see if the Victorians could shed any light on better planning systems. As part of this expedition ...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 > >

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 > >

by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES - 21 April 2010 - Carbon neutrality, the sustainable holy grail for buildings, is likely to remain just as elusive as that legendary object unless those who design and operate them up the ante. This was the message in a session on carbon emissions at the Australian ...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 Gary Wertheimer FAVOURITES - May 5 2010 - The Building Code of Australia 2010 has been in effect from 1 May. Section J, dealing with energy efficiency, has been updated but few people understand what is involved. The way buildings are designed, documented, cost estimated and constructed will need to ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell July 14, 2010 - Landcom hopes to inspire builders to be more adventurous about building sustainable houses in it latest development project – three sustainable display homes to be built in northwest Sydney. At the same time the project will use the latest information about lifecycle assessment in ...Read More > >

21 July 2010 - City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore will today report on how the ambitious 2030 plan for Sydney has progressed at a seminar for stakeholders at Sydney Town Hall. As part of the grand scheme, the council also yesterday called for tenders to develop a master plan ...Read More > >

BRIEF - 12 July 2010 - In Seoul, Korea, local authorities inspired by the whimsical reminiscences of a univerisity professor,  ripped down a freeway and restored a river. See this inspiring documentary narrated by Brad Pitt before it expires in the next nine days. The result? Traffic disappeared and people flocked ...Read More > >

By Tina Perinotto 5 July 2010 - Frasers Property has copped a $1500 fine from the City of Sydney for stormwater runnoff at its huge Broadway site on the edge of the CBD during heavy rains in June. The site and runnoff problems, which Frasers said were the result of unusally heavy ...Read More > >

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 ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 1 July 2010 - Romilly Madew has a lot on her plate. As CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia, Madew is leading a major restructure of the organisation, which she acknowledges is at a crossroads and is in the process of redefining itself. It has ...Read More > >

By Lynne Blundell 28 June 2010 - The healthcare sector is the monster of sustainability, using vast quantities of water and energy, day and night. And it will stay that way until there is a major commitment from government to provide incentives to the sector, including funding and resources to address ...Read More > >

For 10 years the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment has had a significant influence on urban design in the UK. Now Garnering attention from Australians for its achievements, many urban leaders in this country are now calling for a local n Australian equivalent of CABE to be established. At a meeting held ...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 Michael Mobbs This Burr has some soft tips, prickly spikes, an oddity here and there, and some speechless wonder. Enjoy. Count the spikes:  500 million farmers can’t be wrong La Via Campesina,  an international peasant’s movement is visiting Australia, and Robert Pekin the founder of Brisbane’s Food Connect Foundation has organised some farmers ...Read More > >

By Adrian McGregor, McGregor Coxall FAVOURITES - 7 October 2009 - "The so-called global economy was not a permanent institution, but a set of transient circumstances peculiar to a time, the Indian Summer of the fossil fuel era". – James Kunstler, The Long Emergency: surviving the converging catastrophes of the twenty-first century ...Read More > >

by Lynne Blundell 3 June 2010 High rise apartment blocks, it turns out, are the biggest energy guzzlers in the residential market. But they are falling through the cracks when it comes to energy and water efficiency incentive schemes. It is something that local councils are acutely aware of while state ...Read More > >

By Andrew Starc  25 May 2010 - Australia’s first public on-street electric car charging station has opened in Sydeny’s inner-west, as part of a planned national rollout. Installed by Visionstream and managed by ChargePoint, the station is located in Derby Place, Glebe. The station can recharge a converted plug-in Toyota Prius in ...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 > >

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 ...Read More > >

By Romilly Madew 6 May 2010 - NSW Housing Minister David Borger sounded a clarion call to the property and construction sector recently. Speaking at the Green Building Council of Australia’s “Meet the Stars” breakfast on 21 April, Minister Borger said if Housing NSW can build 5 Star Green Star residential developments ...Read More > >