Our sustainability journey continued in Sydney with a visit with Legacy Property. A former Texan and native Australian formed this new company in May 2009. Their business model was to focus on building up their consulting business for about 12-18 months in an effort to increase their client base and cash flow. To date they have done work for 18 clients.
We were given an informative comparative analysis of the real estate differences between the US and Australia. The biggest difference would be the fact that most of residential properties are sold at auction not by private treaty. This process increases prices and extends the time taken to complete the deals.
Regarding sustainable residential development in Australia, the government has mandated a set of general specifications called BASIX (www.basix.nsw.gov.au). These guidelines provide regional solutions for reducing energy and water consumption. This is definitely a step ahead of the US, where no such energy mandates exist currently.
Our next stop was a discussion with Robin Mellon, Executive Director of Advocacy with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
The role of the GBCA is to rate, educate, and advocate sustainability building practices. In developing the rating tools it was important to them to balance mandates and incentives. They currently have 900 member organizations, which is the majority of the industry in Australia. The GBCA has more rated buildings per capita than any other country. The rating categories include the following and can range from 1 to 6 stars:
· Management
· Indoor Environment Quality
· Energy
· Transport
· Water
· Materials
· Land Use and Ecology
· Emissions
· Innovation
The future plans for the GBCA include:
· Show government leadership and offer incentives
· Make education and healthcare facilities greener
· Concentrate on existing buildings
· Widen the focus from buildings to communities
· Embed green skills across the industry
Robin said they see a lot of buildings go for the design ratings in an effort to get the building sold, then later go for the as-build rating. Additionally, some green leases are put in place to ensure the builders go for the as-built to prove that they built what they said they would build. He is starting to see buildings become producers instead of just consumers.
The discussion ended with a tour of their office space. They incorporated several sustainability features in their build out including:
· Use 65% less energy than the other floors
· No hot water
· Greywater tank used to flush toilets
· CO2 monitors to regulate fresh air flow (Copy room is on a separate unit)
· Worm farming of green waste (food) used for plant food
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