31 Oct 2018
GBCA Senior Manager – Strategy and Development, Rachael McGinley, explains why homes are at the heart of a new vision for our organisation.
In a first for the GBCA, we recently launched a thought leadership paper, Future Homes, which outlines our vision for better homes in Australia.
The GBCA has had enormous success in transforming the commercial buildings sector through Green Star - but we can’t stop there.
Australia’s residential sector currently accounts for 57 per cent of carbon emissions from the built environment. We believe that if we work together as an industry to design better, and build better, this number can be drastically reduced.
A great home can provide a healthy place to live, reduce energy and water bills and mitigate the impacts climate change. In line with our mission to build healthy and positive places for people, it’s important that the GBCA starts to address housing in Australia.
The potential to make a positive impact is huge. Around 200,000 homes are built every year and apartments make up around 45 per cent of new dwellings. This means that the housing industry can be a powerful lever to improve our standard of living and reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.
We have spent the past 18 months working with our members, representatives for the housing sector, government and other partners to determine how the GBCA can best support a housing industry that delivers homes fit for the future. We want to build on the inspiring work that is already happening in the commercial sector and use our existing and new networks to build support for better housing.
The message we’re getting from industry is that we need a simple way to communicate the benefits of a better home to the end user - the buyer, or renter. Our intention is to identify the most important features of a quality home and define best practice.
Over the next twelve months the GBCA is planning to develop a standard for Future Homes that marries the needs of home buyers with leading performance that will meet the challenges of the future. We are also looking to trial cost-effective verification methods through pilot projects.
It’s a bold mission and in order to make it happen, we need to engage with you. Here’s how you can get involved:
We will develop a standard that defines the features of quality new homes in Australia
We are seeking projects to work with us to develop costs-effective ways to verify the performance of new homes.
Become a Future Homes Champion and be recognised for support our program for better homes in Australia.
With thanks to our existing Future Homes Champions: Alinta Energy Geothermal, Landcom and SGCH
And National Strategic Partners: Frasers Property Australia, Lendlease and Stockland