Offices nation's greenest
Figures from the Green Building Council of Australia show Brisbane has the most green-star certified office space in the country followed by Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra and then Sydney.
NSW also lags behind on total numbers of certified green star-rated projects either in the planning stage or completed, a category in which Victoria leads.
The difference between the states was partly attributable to more local and state government incentives in Victoria and more building in Melbourne's CBD.
But Sydney was likely to make up the deficit fast, said the Green Building Council of Australia chief operating officer Robin Mellon.
In the past decade Sydney's CBD has added 667,077 square metres of new or refurbished commercial buildings of which 91 per cent had a green star rating.
"As we see huge areas like Barangaroo South being developed, we are going to see that square meterage catching up very fast," Mr Mellon said.
The construction of a four or five-star green building should be cost-neutral, he said.
At the end of the 2011-12 financial year, 20 per cent of Australia's CBD office space was green star-certified, up from 18 per cent in 2010-11, the council's figures show.
Victoria has 176 green star-rated projects, NSW 137 and Queensland 131 of a total of nearly 600 nationally.
Melbourne's Docklands has the highest concentration of green star-rated buildings in Australia.
Council House 2 and Albert Road's Szencorp building were among the city's earliest sustainable architecture.
Melbourne council's push to enshrine green principles in its planning scheme last April would also help, said Jones Lang Lasalle's national director of sustainability Joel Quintal said.
"It's going to require developers to be quite active in their energy efficiency savings," he said.
For a long time the industry had concentrated on green commercial buildings but the focus was now changing to retail, education and other sectors, he said.
Government-sponsored services such as CitySwitch for commercial office tenants and Smart Blocks, for apartment buildings, were having an impact, Mr Mellon said.
GREEN STAR RATED
PROJECTS
VIC 176
NSW 137
QLD 131
SA 53
WA 45
ACT 43
TAS 7
NT 7
TOTAL 599
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
At the end of the 2011–12 financial year, about 20% of Australia’s CBD office space was Green Star-certified, up from 18% in 2010–11, so the share was increasing according to the Green Building Council of Australia figures in the article.
Brisbane has the most Green Star-certified office space, followed in the ranking by Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra and then Sydney, as reported by the Green Building Council of Australia.
Victoria leads with 176 Green Star-rated projects. The article lists NSW with 137, Queensland with 131, South Australia 53, Western Australia 45, the ACT 43, Tasmania 7 and the Northern Territory 7, for a national total of about 599 projects.
The article notes Sydney has fallen behind Melbourne in converting city buildings to Green Star-rated assets, but Green Building Council COO Robin Mellon said Sydney is likely to catch up quickly — Sydney’s CBD added 667,077 square metres of new or refurbished commercial buildings over the past decade, 91% of which had a Green Star rating, and large developments like Barangaroo South will boost that further.
According to Robin Mellon quoted in the article, constructing a four- or five-star Green Star building should be cost-neutral, suggesting higher sustainability ratings don’t necessarily mean higher construction costs.
The article attributes part of the difference between states to stronger local and state government incentives in Victoria and cites Melbourne council’s move to enshrine green principles in its planning scheme; government-sponsored services such as CitySwitch for commercial tenants and Smart Blocks for apartments were also described as having a positive impact.
Melbourne’s Docklands has the highest concentration of Green Star-rated buildings in Australia, and early examples of sustainable architecture in the city include Council House 2 and the Szencorp building on Albert Road.
Yes — the article says the industry’s focus is shifting beyond green commercial buildings into retail, education and other sectors, reflecting broader demand for sustainability across property types.
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