TRANSFORM provides opportunities to workshop solutions to industry roadblocks

We’re less than a month out from our first TRANSFORM event, the GBCA’s new flagship conference for the sustainable built environment. With over 100 speakers confirmed from Australia and across the globe, this is an opportunity for sustainability professionals to come together and figure out long term solutions to the current roadblocks are industry is facing. From carbon to climate change, resilience and modern slavery, no stone will be left unturned at TRANSFORM 2019.

TRANSFORM also provides the opportunity to consider two key topics of our Green Star future in more depth.  Our workshops on the 18 March, will examine embodied carbon in the morning, followed by biodiversity in the afternoon. 

Firstly, we’ll explore embodied carbon.  Is it the new hotspot when designing buildings for a low carbon economy? As the use of our buildings becomes more energy and carbon efficient, the role of materials increases. Future rating systems will therefore require us to drastically reduce embodied carbon. In this interactive workshop we will use a mix of case studies and hands on activities to get a better understanding of the issue. 

We will explore the following questions:

• How to identify reliable emission factors?
• How to interpret embodied carbon information?
• Which standards are relevant?
• What is the relationship between EPDs, LCA and embodied carbon?

Led by Dr Barbara Nebel, Chief Executive Officer, Thinkstep, Barbara’s passion is to enable organisations to succeed sustainably.

Then join us to examine biodiversity.  Building on the recent GBCA paper Building with Nature: Prioritising ecology and biodiversity for better buildings and cities, this workshop will examine the importance of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems as part of the built environment. Focussing on both product and place, the session will be used to explore current methods and tools for supporting the re-introduction of biodiversity into healthy urban environments.

Key learning points: 

• Consider how to measure the biodiversity impact of your project through effective science-based targets.
• Gain an overview of key environmental stewardship standards as they apply to built products.
• Explore possible changes to Green Star to better accommodate the role of biodiversity and ecological value in the built environment.
• Understand how you can contribute to changing emerging urban landscapes to serve as connected healthy ecosystems.
• Explore new technologies, design and construction practices that value biodiversity throughout life of project.

Join breakout groups to develop an ecosystem risk profile and biodiversity offset strategy for a common building products and a theoretical 2020 precinct project.

Led by Guy Williams, Senior Principal Consultant, The Biodiversity Consultancy.Guy works as a Senior Principal Consultant with The Biodiversity Consultancy in biodiversity related aspects of environmental impact assessment and corporate sustainability. 

For more information on TRANSFORM and to purchase conference tickets, head here.