The GPT Group is partnering with Shell Energy to turn its Chirnside Park retail centre into its first Climate Active carbon neutral certified shopping centre, as both the company and the broader shopping centre industry increasingly embraces sustainability.
The company claims the “smart energy hub” project – the first to be rolled out at one of its centres – will lead to a 50 per improvement in energy efficiency. It will also include a switch to renewable electricity and offsets for its residual emissions.
As part of the upgrade, the company will install a 2 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery coupled with a 650 kilowatt (kW) solar array. The array is predicted to save more than 800,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year – equivalent to the energy use of around 350 homes.
The company will also use a demand management program, called Loadflex, to reward tenants for cutting their energy use in peak times. It claims the use of this predictive technology will enable peak loads to be reduced by up to 70 per cent, leading to lower total energy costs.
The Victorian Government is supporting the project by providing a $500,000 grant to pilot the battery.
The medium-sized 39,100 square metre regional shopping centre has 117 tenants, including two discount department stores, three supermarkets and an eight-screen Reading Cinema.
It is located along the Maroondah Highway in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, around 30 kilometres northeast of the Melbourne CBD, between the suburbs of Croydon and Lilydale.
Part of a bigger industry trend: greener malls
In the past, Australia’s shopping centre industry has come under criticism from sustainability advocates for its high level of car dependence, high energy use for cooling, and reluctance to embrace sustainability standards such as NABERS.
But the sector now appears to be turning a corner, with some of the biggest players increasingly embracing sustainability initiatives.
Recently, Scentre Group signed a deal to use renewable power at its Westfield centres in Queensland, through a deal with state-owned energy company CleanCo. It also generated 7931 MWh last year from its solar installations at its Carousel, Coomera, Kotara, Marion and Plenty Valley malls.
Vicinity group is taking it a step further, unveiling plans to redevelop its Box Hill Central shopping complex in Melbourne’s east into a high-density transit-oriented mixed-use precinct, featuring Green Star rated buildings.
The urban regeneration plan will see Box Hill Central transformed over the next 10 years into a 5.5 hectares mixed-use and retail precinct, including office space for 6000 workers and 3800 apartments for residents by 2030.
GPT pushing forwards towards net zero
The Chirnside Park upgrade is part of a broader push by GPT to achieve net zero across its portfolio of managed assets by 2024, which it first announced back in 2020. The strategy includes an energy master plan, which covers its demand response and management.
The company’s retail sustainability push is significant because its portfolio includes some of Melbourne’s largest shopping centres, including Highpoint, Melbourne Central, and Northland, along with the smaller Parkmore regional shopping centre near Dandenong.
Its retail portfolio also includes a number of centres across NSW and Queensland, including Westfield Penrith, Rouse Hill Town Centre, Macarthur Square (in Campbelltown), Charlestown Square (south of Newcastle), and Sunshine Plaza (on the Sunshine Coast).
GPT’s chief executive officer Bob Johnston said: “The adoption of the smart energy hub approach, wherever feasible across the GPT portfolio, will be a focus for the group and will achieve both improved environmental outcomes and enhance the resilience of the electricity grid, to also benefit the broader community.”