Communities

Alkimos Beach, WA, Lendlease & Western Australian Land Authority 6 star Green Star - Communities PILOT v0.1

Planning, design and construction

Green Star – Communities assesses the planning, design and construction of large scale development projects at a precinct, neighbourhood and/or community scale. It provides a rigorous and holistic rating across five impact categories.

Current rating tool: Green Star -  Communities v1.1, released 13/09/2016

Updated rating tool: Green Star Communities v2, consultations closed.


Green Star – Communities highlights:

  • Over 50 projects have been certified, including a small handful in New Zealand and South Africa
  • Certified precincts are diverse: from airports to university campuses, greenfield residential projects to mixed use urban regeneration areas.
  • The size of certified projects is also diverse:
    • 23% of projects are under 10ha
    • 29%  between 10 and 100ha
    • 38% between 100 and 1,000ha
    • 10% over 1,000ha
  • Certified developments are being delivered by a range of stakeholders: local governments, universities, airport corporations, government owned developers and private developers
  • Over 480,000 people are currently moving into Green Star – Communities to live, and more to visit or work


Recertify Every Five Years

Precinct and land development projects are complex and can take a long time to deliver. For this reason, Green Star – Communities certification lasts a maximum of five years, after which the project can recertify. This allows projects to re-assess their approach, improve on their approach, and be recognised for progress made in delivering on the ground.

While Green Star – Communities will continue to be updated, projects are recertified with the version of the rating tool under which they achieved their previous certification. As such, project teams are not subject to clarifications or amendments made as part of later revisions.

However projects may choose to upgrade to the most up-to-date version for their recertification.

Categories and credits 

Governance

Aims to encourage and recognise developers and projects that demonstrate leadership within the sector, by establishing and maintaining strong governance practices. The category promotes engagement, transparency, as well as community and industry capacity building. It also seeks to ensure that community projects are resilient to a changing climate.

Liveability

Aims to encourage and recognise developments that deliver safe, accessible and culturally rich communities. The category encourages the development of healthy and active lifestyles, and rewards communities that have a high level of amenity, activity, and inclusiveness.

Economic prosperity

Aims to encourage and recognise projects that promote prosperity and productivity. The category encourages affordable living and housing, investment in education and skills development, and community capacity building. This category also promotes greater productivity through emerging opportunities in the digital economy.

Environment

Aims to reduce the impact of urban development on ecosystems. It encourages resource management and efficiency by promoting infrastructure, transport, and buildings, with reduced ecological footprints. The Environment category seeks to reduce the impacts of projects on land, water, and the atmosphere.

Innovation

Aims to recognise the implementation of innovative practices, processes and strategies that promote sustainability in the built environment.

Green Star – Communities Framework 

The Green Star – Communities Framework is a vision, a set of principles and aspirations to help guide and support the development of sustainable communities.

Green Star – Communities Framework


Cross Claim from Green Star – Communities to Green Star – Design & As Built

The Cross Claim approach has been developed for circumstances where there are buildings located within the boundary of a Green Star – Communities project seeking to be assessed under the Green Star – Design & As Built rating tool.

The approach recognizes that there are commonalities in the sustainability attributes that have been certified at a site wide level that are applicable at a building level. Where these commonalities apply the Cross Claim approach is intended to help streamline a buildings’ Green Star – Design & As Built certification.

The results of a Green Star – Communities assessment are applicable to all buildings located within the boundary of the related Green Star – Communities project.

The development of a Cross Claim Certification Technical Amendment document for your projects is a three stage process.

Download Cross Claim Approach: Green Star – Communities and Green Star – Design & As Built

It you would like to develop a Cross Claim Certification Technical Amendment document for your project please contact the Green Star Solutions team.


Green Star – Communities Project inception checklist

The purpose of the project inception checklist is to ensure that project teams embed the principles of the Green Star – Communities rating tool into the early project planning activities.

Download the Green – Star Communities project inception checklist


Green Star – Communities Credit and credit criteria substitution

All projects are encouraged to use the latest version of the rating tool.

The following documents detail the process required for projects substituting credits or credit criteria from newer versions of the Green Star – Communities rating tool.

Credit and credit criteria substitution instructions

Substitution matrix

Previous versions

For all projects registered under a previous version of Green Star – Performance,  search the Green Star Resources page to download all supporting resources required to complete your submission (a general overview of resources is provided on the Resources and Roles section of our website).

Green Star – CommunitiesRelease date
Version 1.101/08/2016
Version 1.007/08/2015
PILOT Version 0.201/02/2015
PILOT Version 0.111/05/2014
PILOT Version 0.014/06/2012

While Green Star – Communities will continue to be updated, projects are recertified with the version of the rating tool under which they received their previous certification, unless they specifically choose to upgrade to the most up-to-date version of the tool.

Upcoming courses and events

Wed 25 Oct 2023

Insights into Green Star and Healthcare

Where: online
Category: Webinars
CPD Points: 2
More info
Thu 26 Oct 2023

Nature & biodiversity masterclass

Where: Online
Category: Seminars & Courses
CPD Points: 4
More info
Tue 31 Oct 2023

Green Star Foundations

Where: Online
Category: Green Star Training
CPD Points: 4
More info
Wed 13 Mar - Thu 21 Mar 2024

TRANSFORM in-person plus

Where: Sydney
Category: Conferences
CPD Points: 8
More info
Wed 13 Mar - Thu 21 Mar 2024

TRANSFORM virtual

Where: online
Category: Conferences
CPD Points: 8
More info

For more technical resources to support your submission for assessment visit the roles and resources overview page and the Green Star Resources portal.

Go the the Green Star Resources portal