The winners of this year’s Property Council of Australia /Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation and Excellence Awards include a number of developments that have raised the bar on sustainability.
Winner of the major Development of the Year award, 50 Martin Place, is a good example.
In 2014, it became the largest heritage building to achieve a 6 Star Green Star rating, and in 2015, the building registered to achieve WELL Building Certification.
“50 Martin Place is a landmark example of how retrofitting can transform tired old offices into highly connected, high-performance workplaces without compromising character, charm or contemporary standards of sustainability,” PCA chief executive Ken Morrison said.
In addition to the major award, 50 Martin Place also won the SAS International Award for Best Office Development and the JLL Award for Best Sustainable Development – Existing Buildings.
Another high-performance development, the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, won the WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff Award for Best Sustainable Development – New Buildings.
Designed by HASSELL, the GCI was one of the first buildings in Australia to register for the Living Building Challenge. It has been designed to operate at net zero for energy and water use, and incorporates biomimicry principles in its design and operation. The GCI also has a 6 Star Green Star rating.
The Woods Bagot Award for Best Public Building went to the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building at the University of Technology.
The 5 Star Green Star-rated building has a number of sustainability features which the UTS School of Business aims to use as part of its teaching curriculum, as well as the kinds of elements we’re seeing more often in green projects like high performance glazing, monitors showing real-time energy and water use, and a design that encourages people to use the stirs, rather that the lifts.
While the Frank Gehry-designed architecture has often been the building’s major talking point, the engineering thinking that went into the building’s construction was where the major sustainability gains were achieved in terms of materials efficiency and energy efficiency.
The new TransGrid HQ designed by Bates Smart, Enstruct and Arup, and constructed by Built, won the Eagle Lighting Award for Best Workplace Project. The building was the first in NSW to achieve a 6 Star Green Star Office Interiors V1 rating in its first assessment round.
Its sustainability initiatives included a dematerialised fitout that incorporated recycled timber, and a focus on employee wellness through aspects including extensive natural lighting, low-VOC materials and fitout and high levels of natural ventilation.
The client, TransGrid, also engaged a workplace ergonomics consultant on the project to work with staff to optimise workstation design and provide training on looking after their health in the workplace.
Other winners included:
- Landcorp’s Enterprise Park (WA) – LJ Hooker Commercial Award for Best Business or Industrial Park
- Ceerose’s Eliza (NSW) – Gough Recruitment Award for Best residential Development
- PAYCE’s East Village (NSW) – GHD Woodhead Award for Best Mixed Use Development
- AMP Capital’s Macquarie Centre (NSW) – Yardi Award for Best Shopping Centre Development
- Shrine of Remembrance Galleries (Vic) – S4B Studio Award for Best heritage Development
- Ibis Adelaide (SA) – Brain & Poulter Award for Best Tourism and Leisure Development
- Franklin (ACT) – UrbanGrowth NSW Award for Best Masterplanned Community
- Glen Waverley Station Precinct Ikon Development (Vic) – Cellence Plus Award for Government Leadership
- Greengate Group’s St Brigids Green (NSW) – Lendlease Award for Best retirement Living Development
- One on Aberdeen, WA Housing Authority (WA) – BHC Award for Best Affordable Housing Development
- Lendlease – the KONE Award for Innovation for the Barangaroo Skills Exchange
- Mirvac – inaugural Moulis Legal Award for Diversity
- Lendlease business transformation manager Sarah Kinsela – the du Chateau Chun Award for Future Leader of the Year