There are probably a lot of things that excite Amanda Steele in her role as group executive and head of property for ISPT but the one she singles out as a favourite is the retrofit of the company’s major office building at 500 Bourke Street in Melbourne.
In a candid interview for The Fifth Estate’s podcast How to Build a Better World, Steele says the building is now a major contributor to the notion that you can save a lot of embodied carbon if you think hard enough at the start of a project about how you tackle an asset in need of rejuvenation and do it in a way that plugs directly into your ESG and business strategy.
Getting that combination right is the key to sustainability, she says.
At 500 Bourke Street, the project delivered at all levels, she says, and the result is “beautiful.”
The building is a former bank, and a rare example of brutalist architecture. Instead of the easy option of demolition the building was retained and in addition much of the internal fitout and even the furniture was repurposed and saved from landfill.
Among the most striking result is a huge number of tiles in the foyer.
“I love it because you walk into the foyer and the tiles were the original tiles.” The “tenant partners” also love them, she says, showing them off to visitors with a sense of pride.
The project has paid off commercially too, because Steele claims there are not many other developments right now that can say they are ahead of feasibility for rent and occupancy, as this one does.
“a real testament” to the value of circularity and, as the tenant partners clearly value the “ESG narrative”, perhaps even “borrowing” from the sustainability halo of the building.
“It’s a really great news story for us, and it gave us the impetus to really develop that story around circularity and invest more and more in not just the construction, and ensuring that we’re retaining that embodied energy, but also how we could be smarter about recycling, furniture, recycling ceiling tiles [and even the] blinds.”
The amount that goes to waste, rather than to recycling, is something that needs to be changed but the opportunity to turn that story around has been one that’s been “incredibly positive” for the company.
“Our team love it, and our partners love it as well. So that’s a really big focus for us, and it’s really resonated very well in the market.
It also fits perfectly into the company’s ambitious ESG goals that it’s her job to craft a delivery pathway for.
Steele didn’t always work in sustainability and her route to her current role has been perhaps more circuitous than most.
“I actually studied international politics and public policy, and what I really loved about that was how systems worked or didn’t work, and so a lot around community development, which is where I actually started my career, in sustainability. It was very good for me, because it was an area that was really growing and exploring the opportunities that it could provide to improve the world”.
When she landed a job at Insurance Australia Group there was a stroke of luck. Her boss and mentor was none other than Sam Mostyn, who is now Governor General.
“Sam was a really instrumental leader in my career. She was so empowering, and, you know, taught me how to be a leader in a lot of ways, by trusting your team, giving the tools to deliver, not micromanaging, focusing on strengths. So yeah, I was very, very lucky to have Sam as my boss.”
“That was a really great opportunity, because it was very much about strategy and risk and how the systems worked or didn’t. I did a lot around non-financial reporting.”
Then came Stockland and with it Steele discovered a love of property.
“It was when property was really trying to understand its impact and opportunity in sustainability.”
It was a kind of “golden age” in sustainability where so many stars were nurtured. She names Christina Hughes, Greg Johnson, Davina Rooney, Margot Black and Ramana James.
Next came CBRE where Steele rose through the ranks to become executive managing director.
“When I look at how far the industry has come in this space, and how holistic and interconnected the ESG strategies are from business strategies, it makes me very pleased to see just how sophisticated the industry’s become.”