Inside Green Star - 13th edition, April 2023
05 Apr 2023
20 years of Green Star
The Green Building Council and Green Star has come a long way since it's first certification at 8 Brindabella Circuit in Canberra - over 4,000 projects long!
Some of the key projects we have been highlighting so far this year have included:
Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre. 6 Star Green Star - Design & As Built v1.1 certification.
What makes it special?
🌿Biophilia - nature soundscapes, natural light and ventilation
🏢 Material selection including Burwood Brickworks bricks from 1950s Toorak houses
🥕 A 2,500sqm rooftop urban farm
☀ The project is naturally powered and sends a surplus of energy back to the grid
🚰 All grey and black water is captured, treated and recycled on-site.
Find out more here.
Ginninderry community in the Australian Capital Territory. 6 Star Green Star Communities.
What makes Ginninderry special? When fully built, it will be:
⚡ All electric, powered by renewables
🔋 Installation of a community-scale battery providing grid support to Canberra.
🔌 Space for EV charging points at schools, commercial centres and parks.
♻ Recycling of over three million plastic bags, 600,000 glass bottles and 75,600 printer cartridges through the use of Reconophalt in place of standard asphalt
🌲 Within Ginninderry’s suburb, Strathnairn, 80% of existing trees were retained and within the 2nd suburb, Macnamara, 92% of trees have been retained
🐝 Selection of street trees and shrubs that flower throughout the year creating bee pollinator corridors through our suburbs
🌿 Foraging foods, like thyme, rosemary and feijoa, have been planted throughout the community to support local food production and an InvertiGro indoor vertical farm has been installed
Find out more here.
U City. 6 Star Green Star Design and As Built v1.1 certification.
Here's what makes it special:
♻ 96% of materials were recycled from the previous structure, along with the frame of the new building constructed with recycled reinforced steel.
⚡ 45% less energy usage and 30% less water than a comparable new building.
🌿A strong focus on inclusivity where people of all ages and abilities can flourish in one vertical village reflects United Communities' ethos.
Find out more here.
If you have a favourite Green Star project, please send it through to marketing@gbca.org.au!
Green Building Day
Green Building Day is back for 2023!
Join us in your capital city, or at our virtual event, for an immersive experience that will deep dive into key strategy areas through a local and national lens.
Learn about the latest updates in Green Star and discover how they are working in practice, listen to the latest and most innovative case studies from around the country and hear from industry experts who will share their experience and learnings on key challenges in the built environment.
From embodied carbon, electrification, nature and biodiversity and more this is your chance to connect, engage and further your knowledge on all things Green Star.
You will get 6 CPD points when you attend Green Building Day.
Book here to secure your spot!
Green Star Performance v2
Online launch update
We’ve been working behind the scenes to get the new version of Green Star Performance ready for industry.
Green Star Performance v2 will improve and monitor the health, productivity and decarbonisation of all types of buildings and will set all existing buildings on a path to net zero.
We are currently refining the new online platform which will ensure the submission and reporting requirements under Performance v2 are more streamlined. We need to ensure it is ready to support the requirements of the updated tool before it is available to industry, so we have therefore made the decision to delay the launch of Performance v2 until 2024.
The projects that have been working with us through the early access program will have the opportunity to submit a manual application for Performance v2 certification from July 2023. This will assist us in further refining the development of the digital submission platform for the new tool.
Submission Guidelines, along with helpful technical guidance documents on preparing for the new requirements are now available through the Green Star portal.
We look forward to opening registrations for all other new and existing portfolios in 2024.
We will work with projects that have an existing v1 certification, to transition to v2 by January 2026.
Additional resources
To help you on your way, we’ve released even more resources including:
- Gap Analysis: understand what you can carry over from your current strategy with the existing tool and what else you need to do to achieve points in the new rating tool
- Credit Substitution Matrix: understand what credits from the new tool you can try out under the existing version before upgrading completely
- Submission form guidance: examples of what you can expect from the submission forms on the new online platform
- Submission planner:
You can access these along with other guidance documents released last year on our Resources portal. Click here and filter by the Green Star Performance tool.
Improvements to Green Star Online
We've released an updated version of the Green Star Buildings app to improve the speed and usability of the application.
We’ve also updated the Green Star Online: Introduction to the platform document, which is available for download in the Green Star Resources.
If you encounter any issues please, reach out to your technical coordinator or refer to the Green Star Online platform status updates web page
Building with Nature 2.0
Nature and biodiversity are important for many reasons: nature helps us deal with climate change, manage water, and improve our health and wellbeing.
Natural sources can also help us reduce the carbon emissions from our buildings and cities.
In preparing this paper, we consulted with stakeholders from across the built environment sector and identified several clear themes:
- The built environment sector must rapidly move towards nature positive outcomes
- Collaborative action must occur between government, private and not-for profit sectors
- Nature must be viewed as being connected to all other sustainability issues
- Nature must be considered throughout the built environment’s value chain
- Indigenous knowledge and ownership must be prioritised
- All stakeholders must have an opportunity to create positive nature impacts
Improvements to make your certification journey easier
As mentioned in the last Inside Green Star Newsletter, the Pre-Assessment Review is now offered as an optional fee for service.
All projects proceed straight to assessment once submitted, unless the Submitter requests a Pre-Assessment Review (PAR) to be completed by GBCA when they submit for assessment, by filing out Pre-Assessment checklist. At which time an invoice for $220 (excl gst) will be sent.
Over the next few months we would like to receive your feedback on this new process. Please provide your feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/YyNnCmpWDT