Inside Green Star, 17th edition, December 2023
30 Nov 2023
Green Star: a year in focus
This financial year we saw an 80% increase in Green Star certifications, with over 800 certifications issued around Australia and across sectors. From office retrofits to sustainable home renovations, World Cup stadiums, and new resilient, better builds - the eagerness to embrace sustainability at scale for a future-ready built environment is clear.
As we come to the end of the 2023, and the end of our celebrations of 20 years of Green Star, here are some quick facts about the year we saw the biggest jump in certification since the GBCA's inception.
As of 30 June 2023, 4,500+ projects have been certified against 3,400 buildings. What does this mean?
- 825,000 people visit and heal in certified hospitals each year (inpatients + 430,000 emergency/outpatients)
- 46% of CBD office space is certified
- 3.4 million people visit a certified shopping centre each day
Project submission deadlines for 2023
A reminder for those awaiting submission guidelines for their project to please refer to the deadlines on our website.
Furthermore, GBCA will be closed from Friday 22 December 2023 to Monday 8 January 2024.
Explore the deadlines hereGuidance on NCC2022 changes from Australian Steel Institute members
Peak industry bodies have joined forces to provide online guidance to the construction industry on meeting changes to the National Construction Code (NCC).
Developed by the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) and the National Association of Steel-framed Housing (NASH), content covers NCC 2022 changes and provides valuable information on steel roof and wall cladding, bushfire design, energy efficiency for steel framed buildings and insulated sandwich panels.
The information will interest a wide range of construction industry stakeholders including manufacturers, designers, installers, builders, developers, certifiers and specialists in areas of energy efficiency and bushfire.
The following topics are now available to download or view:
- Condensation management for steel roofing
- Ventilation in steel roofing
- Steel wall cladding
- Bushfire design and construction
- Energy efficiency of insulated sandwich panels
- Energy efficiency solutions for steel framed buildings
An update on the Green Star Fitouts consultation
Thankyou to all who contributed to our survey requesting feedback on the proposed vision for the next generation of the Green Star - Interiors tool.
We were thrilled to see such high engagement throughout the consultation period from a range of GBCA member and non-member organisations.
Of the 90 submissions received, 80 different organisations were represented, demonstrating to us the vast interest in our proposal throughout industry which we hope will be of great use for many project teams to come.
Of the 25 questions posed, all were given majority support. The question covered items such as the vision for Green Star Fitouts, the focus on circularity, the types of sectors covered, volume approach as well as proposed categories, minimum expectations and star rating structure.
Some highlights from the feedback include:
- 99% of recipients supported our proposal to have circularity as a focus area in Green Star Fitouts
- 99% of recipients supported the proposed categories (Circular, Responsible, Healthy, Positive & People) as the correct focus areas of for the Green Star Fitouts rating tool
- Each of the 10 key minimum expectations received over 60% support from all recipients
We engaged respondents through many different mediums. Our podcast had a 175 downloads, and can still be listened to here.
We also hosted a webinar on Monday 9 October with 105 attendees. If you missed out on the webinar, watch the recording here.
If you would like to read the consultation paper, download the document here.
GBCA will commence development of the rating tool early next year with public consultation aimed towards the middle-second half of the year.
Who is the GBCA Market Engagement team?
The Market Engagement team supports project teams at the critical early stages of their project, which is often before registration, and where important questions around benefits, feasibility, cost and process are being explored. How can the team help you?
- They can speak through the benefits of the Green Star suite of tools, and how they may be relevant to your project
- They respond to eligibility queries, as well as complex projects that may require non standard approaches such as volume or site wide methodologies.
- They support the registration of projects, facilitating the process of onboarding through the registration portal, executing the certification of contracts and payment of fees.
If you would like to speak to the team, call the GBCA and ask to be put through to one of them (as seen below) or contact them.
Meet the team:
Nick Alsop, Senior Manager- Buildings, Precincts and Homes
Nick has been with the GBCA for over seven years, and is based in Melbourne. He has a national focus on all things business development related to Green Star, but as GBCA's strategic lead on precincts he has a particular focus on Green Star Communities and its evolution.
Jamie Wallis, Senior Manager- Buildings, Fitouts and Performance
Jamie has been with the GBCA for six years, also based in the Melbourne office. Jamie’s strategic focus is on the development, uptake and growth of Green Star Performance. He has also recently helped steer the development of GBCA’s sustainable finance program, including the recently released practical guide for sustainable finance in the Australian real estate sector.
Ella Mudie, Engagement Lead
Ella has been with the GBCA for over a year now and is a trusted source of advice on all things related to Green Star and why you might choose it on your project, assisting industry in tailoring Green Star approaches and solutions for complex developments. Through her unique background in the property sector and the arts, she is well placed to understand the holistic application of Green Star across a broad range of building types and mixed-use projects.
Finley Morgan, Market Engagement Team Administrator
Finley assists the team with processing Green Star registration applications and responding to general queries about Green Star directed to the Market Engagement Team. She also supports the team with scheduling meetings, general research, and data analysis.
Green Star Annual Satisfaction Survey results
Every year we survey users of Green Star about their experience with the Green Star certification process. We believe this is a critical step in improving our services based on your feedback from our interactions.
We have made a number of improvements to ensure you feel supported and knowledgeable in your aim to gain certifications for each project.
Because these changes are important for everyone, we decided it was high time we start talking about the work we do behind the scenes.
In 2022 we responded to feedback on Green Star Assessment timeliness and decided to streamline the certification process by making the Pre-Assessment Review optional, which is improving turnaround time across the board. And we created a Pre-Assessment Checklist to improve the quality of Green Star submission, the first time around.
We also provide additional support that you might not be aware of, including issuing more FAQs for everyone to learn from. These are published technical questions that the GBCA has anonymised for all projects to use without deducting from their allocated free technical questions.
What’s more we have increased the number of free technical questions for each project from two to five. We chose five based off the average number of technical questions projects ask during the certification process.
Keep an eye out for more ways we are improving Green Star assessments in the next issue of Inside Green Star
Frequently Asked Questions
F-00348: Is there an alternative to calculating the embodied carbon for the purpose of offset demolition works?
F-00349: Why were normalisation factors introduced in Green Star Buildings v1 for the Life Cycle Impacts credit?
F-00350: Is Minimum Expectation under the Exposure to Toxins credit only applicable in regularly occupied areas?
F-00362: What offsets projects are not accepted in Green Star Submissions?