What they’re reading –  month to 8 December 2010 Forests and the battle to save them Sydney could soon have a Frank Gehry building of its own Grocon restructure Interview: Ken Maher – a design eye on everything More money – Green Building Fund to open for Round 7 More money – Green Building Fund […]

6 October 2010 – A workshop hosted by Paul Edmiston and Lachlan MacDonald of Savills Incoll Australia at the 2010 Sustainable Buildings Conference  highlighted the effect that the drive toward sustainability has had on the property market. The workshop focused on the refurbishment of 170 Phillip St, Sydney, as a case study highlighting the decisions […]

8 December 2010 – A  development control plan for the huge Sydney Business Park near Blacktown in Sydney’s north west has come with minimum four star Green Star obligations for all proposed buildings. Development director for the project Owen Walsh of project manager APP Corporation, which has managed the project for about six years, told […]

FAVOURITES – 2 OCTOBER 2009 – A new life cycle assessment tool being developed by a consortium of industry and government bodies is set to raise the sustainability bar for building materials and to push manufacturers to be more competitive and innovative. It should also help cut through the green marketing dross. The environmental impact of […]

by Peter Fagan FAVOURITES – 3 June 2009 – According to a recent study by researchers at James Cook University and the Australian National University, the Murray Darling Basin, which drives the rural economy of eastern Australia, has lost approximately 200 cubic kilometres of water since 2001. This water loss – equivalent to 400 Sydney […]

Brief: 3 December 2010 – Six projects to help communities adjust to climate change were announced yesterday by the Federal Government. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet said the Climate Adaptation Research Grants Program would provide seed-funding of $2.87 million for priority research identified through National Adaptation Research Plans for the […]

2 December 2010 – A new report from the Australian Carbon Trust and ClimateWorks Australia today said the majority of carbon emissions savings possible from commercial buildings were from retail, office and education buildings. But to unlock the $3.5 billion of energy savings a year that was possible from efficiencies, Australia would need to find […]

2 December 2010 – Biopharmaceutical company CSL Ltd was named Australian Sustainable Company of the Year and Lend Lease Australian Sustainable Company of the Decade at this week’s Ethical Investor 10th annual Australian Sustainability Awards. The awards, now in their 10th year, recognise best practice in corporate sustainability across Australian companies. CLS Ltd, which researches, […]

Brief: 2 December 2010 – Engineers Australia’s National Congress has elected Professor David Hood as its deputy president for 2011. At the end of next year he will succeed Merv Lindsay as the national president for 2012. Professor Hood is the founding member and current chair of the Australian Green Infrastructure Council but will step […]

By Joel Quintal 2 November 2010 – The UK closely watches sustainability initiatives around the globe and is not shy about throwing its hat into the ring to try out something new. In the first instalment of a two-part series, Jones Lang LaSalle’s Australian head of sustainability, Joel Quintal looks at current sustainability trends in […]

1 December 2010 – Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet today announced that solar credits would be phased out a year ahead of schedule, partly because the cost of installing solar panels had dropped.

2 December 2010 – WSP Lincolne Scott celebrated its 100th year in October with an online campaign, 100 Years of Pure Thinking, and client events across the country. The firm is recognised for its green building services and has more than 400 staff in 12 offices across Australia and the Asia Pacific. Andrew Mather, regional […]

14 October 2010 – Alfonso Ponce Alvarez was one of the speakers at the World Green Building Council Congress in Singapore in September.  He spoke with The Fifth Estate on his work with the United Nations to develop a common carbon metric and on green building drivers in Europe. Following is an edited transcript of […]

By Tina Perinotto 30 November 2010 – The federal government has bowed to industry pressure and agreed to a temporary reprieve over the more complex requirements of the new mandatory disclosure regime for some categories of buildings. From 29 November mixed use buildings, such as industrial buildings that have less than 75 per cent offices […]

26 November 2010 – The federal government’s Australian Carbon Trust on Friday announced funding and strategic partnerships that could leverage up to $300 million of energy and other efficiency measures for the property sector in the next few years. Key beneficiaries of $23.7 in initial funding to develop the programs are  Eureka Funds Management, NAB, […]

1 December 2010 – Monday’s annual general meeting of the Green Building Council of Australia reported that the green building movement was alive and thriving if GBCA numbers were anything to go by. The AGM was soon followed on Wednesday by the announcement of a revised Green Star “concrete” credit to encourage the use of […]

29 November 2010 – The Energy Efficiency Council and the Carbon Trust are bringing oe of the world’s top energy efficiency experts, Dr Eoin Lees to Sydney this week to discuss ways that efficiency schemes can help keep energy affordable. Dr Lees will speak at the Energy Efficiency Council’s National Conference on 2 December 2010. […]

From The Economist 29 November 2010 – ON NOVEMBER 29th representatives of countries from around the world will gather in Cancún, Mexico, for the first high-level climate talks since those in Copenhagen last December. The organisers hope the meeting in Mexico, unlike the one in Denmark, will be unshowy but solid, leading to decisions about […]

26 November 2010 – Business leaders meeting today in the first sitting of the  Business Roundtable on Climate Change said there was a need for a carbon price to support long-term investment. Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet said the meeting set the ground rules for […]

From The Australian – 26 November 2010 – Editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, said he will sue journalism academic and prolific twitter user Julie Posetti for defamation. This follows Posetti’s tweet yesterday from a journalism conference at the University of Technology Sydney in which Posetti quoted The Australian’s former rural reporter Asa Walhquist as allegedly saying “in […]

29 November 2010 –The NSW government late last week passed legislation that will provide easier access to finance for building upgrades, with loans secured alongside council charges and ahead of mortgages along. The move which mirrors legislation in Victoria to facilitate the Melbourne City Council’s 1200 Buildings program allows low cost loans to be attached […]

24 November 2010 – The CitySwitch energy efficiency program has announced winners for its Signatory of the Year awards for Queensland, Western Australia the ACT. The ACT government also announced a new 50 per cent rebate for NABERS assessments for CitySwitch signatories as an incentive to the office sector to join the Green Office Program […]

By Mark Willers What is the value of a green building? The issues is starting to become top of mind for many investors and valuers. Here CB Richard Ellis senior valuer Mark Willers steps through the current thinking. 19 November 2010 – As a practising valuer in the Sydney CBD commercial marketplace the issue of […]

By David Wilson 22 December 2010 – Last year some of Sydney’s most prominent arts personalities debated whether Sydney had lost its cultural edge at the Creative Sydney debate. Moderated by Peter Carr from the Sydney Development Agency, the speakers considered what creative culture means in Sydney, and whether through our nightlife, cultural institutions and […]

22 November 2010 – It was highly controversial when it started 10 years ago but the anecdotal evidence is that residents love the relatively high rise, high density apartment living at Jacksons Landing at Pyrmont, perched on Sydney’s doorstep on an extensive former industrial site. On Friday Lend Lease launched c0nstruction of the Silk apartment […]

Sustainable communities–it’s the catchphrase on everyone’s lips as 2010 draws to a close.  Companies are using it in their annual reports, developers are embracing it, the federal government has put out a policy paper on it and now the Green Building Council is not only developing a tool for it, but plans to include the […]

19 November 2010 – The price of car parking and its availability has a powerful, yet under-appreciated, impact on our transport patterns according to the organisers of a seminar on 4 November 2010, to highlight the latest, evidence-based practice on parking policy. The Institute for Sensible Transport brought together over 120 transport professionals to the […]

23 November 2010 –The race to outperform on  sustainability is back on with today’s announcement that the NABERS Energy rating for office buildings would be “stretched” to six or even seven stars. NABERS manager the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water today confirmed the move, which was  first flagged in The Fifth Estate […]