Green Star
Green Star assesses the sustainable design, construction and operation of buildings, fitouts and communities. There are four Green Star rating tools available for certification of design, construction and operation of buildings, fitouts and communities. The tools cover a broad range of sustainable topics including energy and emissions and provide an overall rating, with 4-stars meaning “best practice, 5-star meaning Australian excellence and 6-star meaning international excellence. The program is voluntary and covers the residential, office, retail, accommodation, education and public buildings
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Showcase
Read about our Green Star-rated projects – insights into the innovative ways we're building for the future.
Advocacy
The GBCA is involved in a range of different initiatives to benefit industry.
The operational performance of buildings
Green Star – Performance assesses the operational performance of buildings across nine impact categories.
The current version of the rating tool is: Green Star - Performance v1.2. This was released on 29/11/2017.
Management
Aims to encourage and reward the adoption of practices and processes that support best practice sustainability outcomes throughout a building's ongoing operation and aims to improve a project's sustainability performance by influencing areas where decision-making is critical.
Indoor environment quality (IEQ)
Aims to improve occupants' experience of the space, by encouraging and rewarding initiatives and measured outcomes relating to attributes that enhance the comfort and well-being of occupants.
Energy
Aims to reward building owners for implementing strategies and taking actions to measure and reduce a building's operational energy use, below that of a comparable standard-practice building.
Transport
Aims to reward projects that facilitate a reduction of building occupants' dependency on single occupant motor vehicles as a means of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by influencing commuting habits based on location, and on transport-related services offered.
Water
Aims to reward building owners for implementing strategies and initiatives that reduce the consumption of potable water in building operations associated with cooling, irrigation and occupant amenities, below that of a comparable standard-practice building.
Materials
Aims to address the consumption of materials that go into, or come out of, a building during the operational phase of its life cycle, through sustainable procurement and purchasing and the management of waste.
Land use and ecology
Aims to reward buildings that minimise harm to the local ecology of the site, by discouraging environmental degradation, and by encouraging the restoration of natural environments whenever possible.
Emissions
Aims to address the environmental impacts of 'point source' pollution generated by buildings to the atmosphere and local waterways.
Innovation
Aims to recognise the implementation of innovative practices, processes and strategies that promote sustainability in the built environment.
Innovation Challenges, found within the Innovation category, are designed to encourage and direct investment in solutions that address a wide range of social, economic and environmental sustainability issues. Some Innovation Challenges will take the form of new credits, while others will simply identify sustainability issues that additional research and innovation will help to address.
NEW - Carbon Neutral Standard for Buildings Certification through Green Star – Performance
Change log
We are constantly working to improve and refine Green Star – Performance in response to industry feedback and project queries. The change log provides a record of the revisions made with each release of the rating tool.
Submission Guidelines
The Submission Guidelines provide detailed information on credit aims, criteria and compliance requirements and additional guidance, background information and resources. It is the main source of information on the technical requirements for projects pursuing Green Star certification.
Access the Submission Guidelines
The Submission Guidelines are available at our online shop. The guidelines are free to download for all members and available for purchase to non-members.
Download the submission guidelines
Scorecard
The scorecard is an interactive Excel spreadsheet that must be used by projects seeking Green Star certification. The scorecard provides a scoring tool for projects to keep track of their Green Star points claims. The scorecard is also used by the GBCA to provide the results of assessment.
For portfolio ratings, bespoke scorecards will be issued to project teams upon project registration.
Uploaded 29/11/2017 for the Green Star - Performance v1.2 release.
Submission Templates
For all credits targeted, the project team must complete the credit's Submission Template. It specifies the information and narrative required to confirm that the project complies with the Compliance Requirements of the Credit Criteria. In the Submission Template projects are also required to provide details of the evidence included in the project's submission to justify the claims made in the Submission Template. Projects must submit these Submission Templates provided and are not permitted to use an alternative document.
Submission Templates are provided in MS Word format. Please note there are no automated or 'smart' features embedded within the Submission Templates. Project teams are to fill in and edit the Submission Templates to suit their responses within the shaded areas indicated within each Submission Template. Feedback on these templates are welcomed.
A zip file containing all submission templates for the Green Star - Performance rating tool has been provided for download below (Version 1.1). For details on when to use the Initial Certification or Recertification Submission Templates refer to the submission guidelines.
Calculators and guides
Calculators
A number of credits require additional calculations to determine the number of points awarded. For these credits, a Green Star – Performance calculator has been developed.
Select a calculator below to download.
Guides
To assist project teams to use the calculators, supplementary guides are available.
Submission checklist
A completed submission requirements checklist must be submitted by all projects teams during Round 1 and Round 2 submissions.
Download the submission requirements checklist
Previous versions
For all projects registered under a previous version of Green Star – Performance, log on to your Green Star Project Manager to download all supporting resources required to complete your submission.
The table below lists all previous versions of the rating tool and their release date.
Green Star – Performance | Release date |
|---|---|
| Version 1.1 | 08/04/2016 |
| Version 1.0 | 03/03/2015 |
| Version PILOT | 10/10/2013 |
While the Rating Tool will be updated from time to time, project teams are only required to adhere to the Submission Guidelines for the rating tool that their project is registered under. If the project team chooses, a later version can be used. Project teams are not subject to clarifications or amendments made as part of a revision unless registered for that Rating Tool version.
Upgrading to the current version of the Green Star Rating Tool
If a project is registered under a previous version of the Green Star – Performance rating tool, the applicant may choose to formally update the version of the rating tool (e.g. move from version 1.0 to version 1.2), to achieve the project's certification. For additional details on this process, please contact the Green Star team.
The certification process
There are five simple steps to achieve certification:
- Register your project online.
- Get technical support.
- Compile your submission documentation.
- Submit documentation for assessment.
- Green Star certified rating achieved.
