29 Jul 2020
When you have a bold and ambitious vision to transform Australia’s buildings, cities and communities, it can be easy to over-promise and under-deliver.
But this year, despite all the challenges that have come our way, Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has delivered on a stack of promises that I am super-proud to share.
Today, after many years of engagement and advocacy, one step forward and two steps back, we are thrilled to launch the new draft standard for homes.
Green Star Homes has been a long time coming, but is absolutely central to our Future Homes program and our goal that every home built in Australia from 2030 onwards is healthy, resilient and positive.
For decades we’ve battled with the barriers to scale – a fragmented industry, restrictive business models, limited green finance and confused consumers.
We knew the only way to create change was through harmonisation, which is why it is so gratifying to have several early access partners signed up to pilot the draft standard – Stockland, Metricon, Rawson Homes, Mirvac, Chatham Homes, Development Victoria, Landcom and Australian Passive House Association – and the Insurance Council of Australia is backing us in.
Now that we’ve delivered on our promise to create a draft standard, it’s time to consult with industry so that we can deliver the change we all want. We still have a lot to learn, so please share your feedback with us.
I’m just as excited to deliver on another long-term promise with a fresh brand and a fresh face for both GBCA and Green Star.
Our new brands come with bold logos, simplified language and a dynamic new website that will support our activities and meet the needs of our members. This is especially important as we release the draft standard for Green Star Homes and the first of our revamped Green Star tools, Green Star Buildings.
Our brands look great, but the next exciting phase is to partner with industry to bring them to life in the places where people live, work and play.
Our next step is to digitise the Green Star rating tools – another long-term promise to industry that we will unveil in the coming months.
It isn’t just the new rating tools that we are excited about. Over the past few years, we’ve focused on improving our current services. We were heartened by your response to our Green Star survey that shows a satisfaction rate of 80%. It’s a big number, one that the team is proud of achieving. And rest assured, we plan on keeping our standards at this level.
We also continue to deliver on our advocacy promise by championing policies and programs that create healthy, resilient and positive places. We recently worked with ASBEC, the Property Council and the Energy Efficiency Council on a blueprint for action which, if implemented, could deliver nearly 92,000 job years of employment and cut household and business energy bills by $4.8 billion a year.
Meanwhile, we continue to talk to governments about how our Building to bounce back plan can use infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy and deliver for communities. Our focus on social infrastructure has seen governments embrace Green Star. Building
Queensland’s new Business Case Development Framework, developed in collaboration with GBCA, is evidence of our progress. All projects valued at more than $100 million in Queensland must now undertake a sustainability assessment guided by Green Star.
Finally, we continue to deliver on our promise to our members with a new toolkit that provides access to more benefits and services.
We’ve achieved all this while delivering on our commitment to our staff. Just last week, GBCA was named on the list of the 50 best places to work in Australia. Despite the uncertain times, we continue to build a great culture for our team.
This year has been arguably the most challenging year in GBCA’s history. Despite the difficulties, we continue to work together to deliver on our promise and our purpose: to lead the sustainable transformation of buildings, cities and communities.