Inside Green Star - 9th edition, June 2022

New Climate Active certification for new buildings and more resources now available

Climate Active certification for new buildings

Thanks to an expansion to our agreement with Climate Active, we can now certify new buildings in addition to building operations. Buildings registered for Green Star Buildings that meet the requirements for the Climate Positive Pathway automatically comply with the Climate Active requirements for carbon neutrality. Legacy rating tools can make use of the same credits to also achieve a rating. If you are interested in certification, please contact us for more information and to get started. 

Climate Active certification for existing buildings

Interested in Climate Active's Carbon Neutral Building certification through Green Star - Performance v1.2?

Check these out:

• Free Carbon Neutral Building certification training video
• Free Green Star and Climate Active fact sheet

For more information about achieve Climate Active's Carbon Neutral Building certification through GBCA please check out our website, or contact our Market Engagement team on MEteam@gbca.org.au or 02 8239 6200.

Improving your Green Star experience

New expanded services free of charge

Following your feedback, we are introducing additional services for all projects looking to achieve Green Star certification. All registered Green Star projects now have access to the following free services:

• A 'on-boarding' workshop to introduce project teams to the process or help clarify issues; and
• Five free technical questions (up from two queries)

Because of these changes, there are impacts to Innovation Queries that you need to be aware of. Check out the section below on "Changes to Innovation Queries for all legacy rating tools".

Speeding up the assessment process

For over 10 years we’ve been completing pre-assessment reviews on submissions prior to sending the submission to Assessors. This pre-assessment review helps ensure the submission is ready for assessment – for example, ensuring the scorecard is filled in; that documents have been attached; and ensuring files are openable. This was implemented to ensure that simple formatting issues were not preventing project teams from achieving points in their submission.

We’ve received feedback from industry that this service creates delays to assessment. With 10 years of industry experience, the pre-assessment reviews were not providing the same value as before. Feedback indicated that this service should instead be opt-in.

In response, we will phase out mandatory pre-assessment reviews and move to an optional ‘for fee’ model beginning January 2023. Between now and January 2023, project teams will be given the option to skip pre-assessment reviews but will otherwise continue to occur.

To help ensure your submission has been completed appropriately, we have developed the following guides to help project teams complete this quality assurance on their submissions themselves:

• Submission Requirements checklist
• 'What do best practice Green Star Submissions look like?'
• 'Guide on how to prepare a Green Star Submission'

More information on the changes to the pre-assessment review process will be provided in future updates.

More guides and resources

We continuously strive to improve your Green Star experience. Here are just some of our most recent improvements to make your Green Star journey easier:

Green Star – Performance: guide on how to structure your portfolio submission

Follow this structure, which makes it simple and easy to prepare your Portfolio submission.

Green Star – Communities recertification guidance

Get some helpful strategies to prepare for Green Star - Communities recertification.

Clarification of Assessment Comments template

Have questions about your assessment results? Download the Clarification of Assessment Comments templates spreadsheet and contact your project’s Technical Coordinator. We can work with you and our Assessors to ensure your results are clear, and you understand what to do for Round 2.

Want free on-demand courses?

Want to learn in your own time? There are many free on-demand courses, and also on-demand courses available for a small fee, available on our website. 

Want more information on Green Star? Check out the Resources page and the Rating system page to find the latest information available on all Green Star rating tools.

Update to certification fees

Fee increases in line with CPI and other changes apply to all rating tools beginning September 2022. In addition to the fee increases, additional services will now be included for all project teams as part of registration.

The fee increases are described here. 

Please contact the Market Engagement team if you have any questions relating to Green Star registration and certification fees on MEteam@gbca.org.au