EXCLUSIVE: It’s been a big year for NABERS, with shopping centres flocking to the environmental rating tool, indoor environment ratings on the rise, and an expansion into the UK.

Thirty years after its inception, Passivhaus design, which results in high-performing buildings that use hardly any energy, looks set to hit the mainstream.

The UK’s Better Buildings Partnership (BPP) has published details of the vital elements that have contributed to the success of the hugely transformational Australian NABERS scheme.

It’s like green buildings 2.0 as the building and construction industry shapes up for one of its most dramatic challenge yet – a transition to net zero embodied carbon emissions with a 2050 deadline.

Builders and specifiers may need to check the labels on aluminium composite panels (ACPs) being supplied for building projects because of a proposed out-of-cycle amendment to the 2019 National Construction Code (NCC).

Melbourne’s inner north is home to some of Australia’s best sustainable housing projects and more are on the way.

As resources become scarcer, building owners may one day be able to sell walls, ceilings and floors to other developers, instead of demolishing them.

Family-run building materials manufacturer Casafico has been quietly turning waste into building materials for over 15 years, including prefabricated wall panels and coatings made from up to 50 per cent recycled materials.

The ultimate eco construction, straw bale buildings are no longer just the preserve of home builders and “green” enthusiasts. In the UK, public authorities are commissioning them via public tenders.

Across our cities we see more and more smart buildings, equipped with sophisticated technology to monitor almost every aspect of their environment, but not all buildings are operating smartly.

I recently attended a conference in the UK that discussed future trends affecting the global construction industry, and what struck me was the stark lack of consensus, clarity and strategy we have in Australia around the future of our construction and engineering industry, compared with many other countries.

PROFILE: Coliving operator Hmlet only set up shop in Sydney early this year but its portfolio has grown quickly to more than 200 rooms across Paddington, Newtown, Marrickville, Alexandria, and most recently the Western Sydney suburb of Parramatta.

You might not have picked it but an old hospital actually makes for a great library. The new Marrickville Library in the inner west of Sydney combines the old with the new in a way that leverages the best of existing assets while meeting the vast and varied needs of modern library-goers.

Only about 5 per cent of buildings are equipped with the right infrastructure to make them smart but a new low cost wireless canopy technology has the potential to “make every building a smart building”.

The Victorian government is developing a circular economy policy and action plan for the state that will be released later, this year. But critics say the strategy is missing a…