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By Cameron Jewell
27 March 2014 — McGraw Hill Construction has released a report on building information modelling in Australian and New Zealand economies, finding that the region is an international leader in BIM adoption, though barriers still need to be overcome, and a government mandate would help.
By Willow Aliento
25 March 2014 — Increasing demand for commercial projects to have sustainability credentials is translating into an increase in price of specialist consulting and subcontracting services, according to WT Partnership Review of Construction Market Conditions released this month.
FAVOURITES, SPECIAL REPORT: We talk to manufacturers and sustainability expert Dr Chris Reardon; we check the councils such as Pittwater and Woollahra to see why they don’t like light roofs; take a look at City of Melbourne’s study; and even the argument for dark roofs.
By Willow Aliento
13 March 2013 — Legal firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth has signed a lease for space in Brisbane’s Premium Grade One One One Eagle Street and, according to partner Peter Caloy, high performance buildings are the only way to go.
The company has offices in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, with Sydney’s 347 staff the first to make the shift into sustainable space at Mirvac’s 8 Chifley Square in October last year.
By Tim Horton,
5 March 2014 — What’s important is not how we tender but what we tender, says Tim Horton.
6 March 2014 — Design practice HASSELL has created a pop-up hub for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, which encourages visitors to think about how they use water.
By Matthew Trigg 3 March 2014 – After receiving the 2014 Royal Gold Medal for architecture in London on 24 February, Joseph Rykwert gave a lecture in which he discussed how it is impossible to divorce politics from architecture, going so far as to declare that architecture is a political art.
By Cameron Jewell
25 February 2014 — Botanica Residences in South Brisbane has achieved the highest sustainability rating under the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s EnviroDevelopment tool.
27 February 2014 — New Zealand has hit 100 Green Star buildings with the country’s first 6 Star education building.
The Te Mirumiru building, in Kawakawa, Northland, is also New Zealand’s first commercial earth-bank building.
By Louis White, for Holcim Foundation
25 February 2014 — Green has become a brand preoccupied with extracting efficiencies, while sustainable is a more local, holistic approach, the National University of Singapore’s Dr Nirmal Kishnani tells Louis White ahead of an Australian lecture series.
By Tony Arnel, Norman Disney & Young
25 February 2014 — Modular construction can deliver a six per cent reduction in costs, according to research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. In a market where a one per cent saving can mean the difference between profit and loss, modular makes business sense. And, in a world of finite resources, modular makes environmental sense.
By Cameron Jewell
24 February 2014 — Energy efficient houses are cheaper to run and build, a CSIRO study into the effectiveness of increased energy efficiency standards for houses has found, challenging the fierce counter moves to greener housing from the building and housing lobbies.
By Willow Aliento
19 February 2014 — Eradicating commonly found toxins in indoor environments can make a real difference to quality of life, especiallyfor those living in aged care facilities, sustainable design consultant Megan Norgate of Brave New Eco says.
By Cameron Jewell
18 February 2014 — Construction has officially begun on Leighton Properties’ newest commercial tower at 177 Pacific Highway, North Sydney.
11 February 2014 — The fifth edition of Your Home, a consumer guide and technical manual for creating sustainable homes, has been released by the Department of Industry.
Your Home contains practical, comprehensive information on environmentally sustainable design and building to homeowners and the building industry, with the latest edition containing the latest research on sustainable design and technology.
By Willow Aliento
10 February 2014 — Greenwashing, cost perceptions and design trends are three of the biggest stumbling blocks for genuine residential sustainability, according to Nest Architects principal Emilio Fuscaldo.
By Erik Moore, Arup
6 February 2014 — As reported on The Fifth Estate on 16 July last year, 8 Chifley Square is one of a new breed of buildings currently being introduced to the Sydney commercial market.
This new breed is providing the City of Sydney with ingenious and unorthodox designs that are leading the international field in sustainable building design in their technology and systems, along with the less tangible element of societal change.
By Leon Gettler
20 January 2014 — Green MashUP: The next big trend in property is the net zero energy building. These are structures with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually.
By Willow Aliento
18 December 2013 – NSW’s Building and Sustainability Index for new residential building is currently being reviewed, with a view to increasing targets for energy and water efficiency and thermal comfort.
The proposed targets, , expected to yield significant economic benefits, and supporting documents are now out for public comment until 31 January 2014.
By Josh Meadows 20 January 2014 – Sue Turner is a property developer with a difference. In 10 years Sue transformed a “scruffy flat paddock” with an existing subdivision into a thriving community
9 December 2013 — The Australian Institute of Architects’ National Council has officially approved the organisation’s first gender equity policy.
