By Tina Perinotto 29 October 2010 – White certificates, or energy savings obligations for energy suppliers, proposed by the Prime Minister’s Task Group Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto Exclusive: 23 October 2010 – After an intense lobbying campaign Victorian property owners have won important concessions on how NABERS Energy rates their office buildings, bringing them in line with a national benchmark just ahead of the 1 November deadline for the introduction of mandatory disclosure. At the lower end of the scale ratings in Victoria will jump by about one star. At the same time The Fifth Estate has also learnt that NABERS plans to soon expand to a six star framework in order to reward high performing buildings. The moves follow an extensive internal review of NABERS following persistent industry criticism. At the forefront of agitation has been the Property Council, which recently said it would conduct its own review the tool through an industry committee. In recent days a letter sent to assessors by NABERS manager Read More  
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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 change. Several of the significant amendments to Section J are outlined below. General increases in stringency across all areas of insulation requirements. Far higher thermal resistance (R-Values) are included for wall and roof/ceiling insulation. These elements will need to be factored in prior to detailed design development to avoid potentially incorrect documentation. This is particularly relevant for wall insulation where, for instance, in a Climate Zone 6 (such as Melbourne), Class 5 – Office Building: •    The thermal resistance base value under Section J – Table J1.5b(a) increased from R1.8 in 2009 to R2.8 in 2010. •    In addition, roof insulation performance... 
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by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES – 17 June 2010 – The lifecycle assessment tool that will arm designers and architects with comprehensive knowledge of the true sustainability of Australian building materials is in its final stages of development, with a release deadline set for November. The Australian Life Cycle Inventory Database Initiative is jointly funded by the Building Products Innovation Council and AusIndustry. Partners in the project include the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society CSIRO, BRANZ, and State and Federal governments. The project is being managed by Edge Environment, a research consultancy that focuses on the building industry and specialises in life cycle assessment (see our earlier story). Edge Environment’s team has just completed the crucial stage of developing weightings that will be applied to the criteria used to assess materials. To do this they travelled the country, conducting workshops in 11 locations selected to span all climate zones and... 
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Brief: 23 – July 2010 – Good Environmental Choice Australia has been recognised under the Green Building Council of Australia’s new more competitive assessment framework for Product Certification Schemes, after being sole assessor for several years. GECA is now one of four certification schemes to be recognised under the Framework. Other schemes that recently made the grade are: the Carpet Institute of Australia’s Environmental Certification Scheme, Ecospecifier’s GreenTag GreenRate and the Australasian Furnishing Research and Development Institute Limited’s Sustainability Standard. GBCA’s chief executive, Romilly Madew said the GBCA had now opened the market through its new assessment framework. “This new certification reinforces the fact that all schemes can be recognised equally, provided they meet the Framework’s stringent criteria,” Ms Madew said. GECA chairman Jack Josephson said his organisation was “very pleased to again achieve recognition... 
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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 Australian building materials and products to foster innovation in materials manufacture. The three “eco-living” display homes, to be built by building company Clarendon Homes at The Ponds development in Newbury, will highlight different themes including current best practice (house one), recycled products (house two) and independent energy, water and waste (house three). Steve Driscoll, Landcom’s Director, Sustainability and Policy, told The Fifth Estate this week that the project is an exciting one for Landcom as it will allow the government developer to provide leadership in the building sector. “It’s hard for us to be a market leader in construction because... 
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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 for so many? Or is this proliferation simply confusing, or in some cases downright misleading? Certainly some people who spoke to The Fifth Estate for this story think there are too many different tools emerging, with very little integration across the market. There is also concern that some tools being developed are driven by a desire to “claim the space” and to attract the limited pool of funding available. And that they are not truly representative of what the wider industry wants, or needs. Others felt proliferation led to innovation and that it was all part of the industry evolving and adapting. It is not easy to get your mind around the vast array of tools out there – while there are many, most are very... 
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By Lynne Blundell 30 November 2009 – There has been a battle going on. It is a battle between sections of the forestry industry and the Green Building Council of Australia and so far it has taken place behind closed doors. But it is gathering pace and the big guns have been called in – politicians at the highest level, both state and federal. They have been called upon by the timber industry to pull the GBCA into line – and they have heeded the call. Today the GBCA announced it will make concessions to the Australian forestry industry by revising the way it accredits timber used in commercial buildings. But this appears to be little more than a standoff. This is much more than a battle between two organisations – it reveals the historical divide between a core group of the Australian forestry industry and those at the forefront of the push for higher standards of sustainability. It also reveals the far reaching links between government and the resources sector. And... 
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Landcom’s Precinx tool is a winner By Tina Perinotto In the sustainability revolution, things are getting serious. You can tell by  the  number of  ratings tools that are under way. It’s as if the time for talk and promises and green bling are over and the industry wants “real measures” for “real people”. It sounds like another bit of marketing, we suppose, but let’s not  be cynical. Ratings tools are being developed for building materials (see our recent article) and neighbourhoods. There’s been a stream of new tools from the Green Building Council of Australia and from  property companies for their own internal use. Now NABERS, whose rating system is approaching the 10-year mark, has announced it will do a through review and revamp of its system (see our story in this issue). Last week Landcom dazzled Sydney’s development industry when it lifted the bonnet on its new rating tool for neighbourhoods, Precinx. At a briefing at Parramatta’s Sebel Hotel, Landcom... 
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