Inside Green Star, 22nd edition, November 2024

A word from Elham Monavari, Head of Green Star Strategic Delivery, GBCA

The year is flying by, and we can’t believe that this will be the last Inside Green Star of 2024! 

It has been a monumental year for the team and industry alike, and we wanted to thank everyone who provided feedback in our annual satisfaction survey. 2024 was a huge year for Green Star submissions, so it’s great to see overall satisfaction has remained high at 92% through this influx. 

And on the note of submissions, we received a record number of project submissions in October 2024. As we close out the year, take a moment to look at the important deadlines webpage to help plan your submissions in 2025. 

Feedback is always welcomed at GBCA, because that’s how we keep evolving for the better. To address your feedback we’ve delivered, and will continue to deliver, support to project teams on the journey towards Green Star certification.  

A few examples of support and guidance we’ve developed based on last year’s survey results include the development of additional guidance on our certification pathways, such as volume and site wide. We heard that you wanted us to help you explain the benefits of Green Star, so we have published the business case for Green Star Performance v2. You also told us you wanted more help with setting up a new Green Star project. This is why we created a new info pack called the Green Star Certification Essential Information Guide. This guide will help new applicants and projects teams navigate Green Star and find the resources they need for each point of the Green Star certification process. 

But we won’t rest on our laurels. We will continue to act upon the feedback you give and will provide updates throughout the year.  

On the topic of feedback, we are also calling on those in the fitouts industry to contribute to our public consultation as we work to shape our new tool which will be the next generation of Green Star-Interiors. The comments we receive in this period will refine the draft credits into what will be the new Green Star Fitouts rating tool. 

Our annual A year in focus report is now live on our website. In this report you will find some standout Green Star projects, words of wisdom from our Green Star team, and statistics to bolster the business case for using Green Star and the sustainable transformation of the built environment. 

We can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for Green Star and everyone who is on the journey with us – and as always, if you have any questions, our team is ready to help you in any way they can. 

Coming soon: the next generation of Green Star – Interiors. 

GBCA is developing Green Star Fitouts, a rating tool which will supersede Green Star – Interiors.  

Our aim is to ensure that each Green Star-certified space serves as a model for others to follow, thereby amplifying our collective efforts to combat climate change, deliver better places for people to live, work, and play in and that are part of a circular economy.  

We are pleased to launch public consultation on the development of draft credits for the Green Star Fitouts rating tool. Comments received in this consultation will be incorporated as we refine the draft into what will be the new Green Star Fitouts rating tool.  

Public consultation is one of the most accessible times to engage in the Green Star Fitouts rating tool development process. 

We are seeking feedback on: 

• General support for each proposed credit in principle 
• Requirements in each credit performance level  
• Any challenges projects might face achieving requirements because of factors such as the project budget, location (e.g. regional), complexity, or sector 
• What ‘other useful information’ should be provided for each credit performance level to assist understanding and achievement of the credit requirements 

No matter if you have worked with Green Star or have not, we want to hear from you! 

Get ready for Green Star Performance v2

We are well into the transition period as we move from Green Star – Performance v1.2 to Green Star Performance v2.

A reminder for any new projects or new building portfolios (without existing Performance ratings) wanting to certify under v1.2: registration must be complete by 20 December 2024. A project is registered in the system once the project details have been entered, the Certification Agreement has been executed, and the certification fee invoice has been paid.

From 1 January 2025 all new projects must register under Green Star Performance v2.

For all buildings and portfolios with an existing Green Star – Performance v1.2 rating:

• From 1 January 2026 all projects must submit under v2

For more information and resources on Green Star Performance v2 please refer to the GBCA website.

If you would like to speak to the team about your Performance registration or transition timeframes, please contact the Market Engagement team at METeam@gbca.org.au

Green Star - A Year in Focus 

Each year we publish Green Star: A Year in Focus to showcase the certification achievements and Green Star related milestones over the prior financial year. Highlights in this year’s edition include: 

• 1,084 certifications issued in FY 2023/24 
• 5,665 certifications issued all time  
• Second and third Green Star Buildings certifications awarded 
• More than 100 projects certified under the Design & As Built or custom legacy tools 
• Record number of Green Star Performance certifications (936) 

A diverse range of case studies are profiled from fashion retail and sporting headquarters to hospitals, industrial, commercial, multi-unit residential and schools. We are also proud to highlight the efforts of our certification team in responding to a substantial increase in submissions, as well as the progress made on our Future Focus rating tool development. 

Green Star satisfaction survey results and actions 

Quality is at the heart of everything we do at GBCA. We operate a quality management system which continues to be ISO 9001:2015 certified for the development, upkeep and delivery of Green Star certification. We do this to ensure we maintain a high standard of customer support, and address customer needs in a timely and consistent manner. 

In meeting our quality objectives, it’s important to us to hear from you, so every year we conduct the Green Star satisfaction Survey. This survey measures satisfaction with all things Green Star including communication, timeliness, rating tools, and certification processes, as well as our courses and events. In July 2024, we sent out our annual Green Star satisfaction survey to all people working on registered and recently certified Green Star projects.  We received the most responses ever to this survey, and appreciate everyone who took the time to respond. Congratulations to Deborah Davidson and Rory Eames who were the prize winners for completing the survey.

What did you tell us? 

• Overall satisfaction with Green Star continues to be consistently high at 92% (including neutral).
• Communication with GBCA staff remained strong at 81%, which was the highest of all measures.
• Satisfaction with Green Star courses and events also remained high, including Value for money of the Green Star CPD program. 
• We have seen a significant increase in project submissions and technical questions, which has meant that satisfaction in timeliness, fairness of results, and certification and assessment process has been impacted. 
• Satisfaction with the Green Star Buildings Online submission portal was benchmarked for the first time. Green Star users have experienced some early implementation issues.
• Your feedback is important to us. To address your feedback, we’ve delivered, and will continue to deliver, support to projects teams. 

Here are just a few of the things we’ve done to improve satisfaction based on last year’s and the recent survey results:

• Published more FAQs.
• Released the Green Star Buildings industrial guidance for Energy Source, Energy Use and Tenant Energy Source.
• Released the Green Star Buildings Upfront Carbon Emissions Calculation guide.
• Developed NATSPEC specifications for Green Star Buildings.
• Developed Energy and Water calculation guides for Green Star Performance v2.
• Released the Green Star Performance v1.2 to v2 gap analysis tool.
• Released the Green Star Homes - Energy Modelling guide. 
• Updated Financial Transparency Disclosure Template.

But this is just the beginning. We have plans for improvements that will address comments of this year’s satisfaction survey results. 

We’ve heard that you’d like some calculators available outside of the Online Submission App to help project team interactions during design development. We’re pleased to say that in Quarter one of 2025, the following calculators will join the Water Use calculator in being made available in excel as well as through the online submission portal: 

• Upfront Carbon Emissions;
• Energy Use; and
• Life Cycle Impacts.

As we continue to make improvements to the Green Star Buildings Online Submission Portal, we’ve also heard that you’d like improvements to the way documentation is uploaded and tagged. To make this easier, we’re making some changes to the document upload function. 

For further updates on how we’re making Green Star better, keep an eye in Inside Green Star newsletters.

Important deadlines 

Is your goal to obtain Green Star Certification by a certain deadline? We understand that many project teams have timelines set around major events. To support this, we’ve created a page, which specifies the deadlines you’ll need to meet in order to have your project certified in time. 

Regardless of when a deadline occurs, all project teams hoping to achieve review milestones by a certain date should inform their GBCA Coordinator of their specific needs. We will make every effort to accommodate reasonable requests, subject to capacity. 

The Responsible Products Guidelines – Version A have been released 

These guidelines are for product certifiers and other initiatives to be recognised under the Responsible Products Program.  

New Green Star resources 

• Green Star Certification Essential Information
• Green Star Buildings Apartments pathway (pdf)
• Tenant Energy Source – Industrial guidance (pdf)
• Innovation/Leadership Challenges: NABERS Embodied Carbon pilot program Submission Template. 
• Clarification of Assessment comments template

Free techical questions 

F-00423 - Do the requirements under the Lighting Comfort criteria apply to all internal and external regularly occupied areas?

F-00403 -  Are Green Star - Communities certified under a PILOT tool able to recertify under the PILOT tool?

F-00422 - I have a GSAP accreditation for a New Generation rating tool; can I use this for a Future Focus project?

F-00414 - I have a GSAP accreditation for Green Star Performance v2; can I use this for Green Star - Performance v1.2?

F-00404 - What is in the scope of a project's total contract value?