News in brief: December

First NABERS embodied carbon rating awarded

A warehouse within The YARDS industrial estate in Western Sydney’s Kemps Creek, has become the first official building to be awarded the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS)’s embodied carbon rating. The new tool is designed to measure “hidden emissions” created during construction, such as manufacturing building materials, transport, site energy use and waste, to strengthen the credibility of projects that have “genuinely reduced their construction emissions.”

The warehouse, which is due to house the pharmaceutical company Probiotec Multipack’s facility, was designed to meet the new rating as part of its pilot. The rating tool says developers Frasers Property Industrial and Aware Real Estate, and builders Mainbrace Constructions, implemented innovative approaches to drive down embodied carbon. These include using materials with environmental product declarations (EPDs) to ensure low carbon products are being used and collecting on-site construction data to track the carbon of all materials being delivered.

The rating tool says this would provide a clear competitive advantage in tenders and leasing, as government and corporate clients are increasingly seeking low-carbon buildings.

EVs and chargers get a boost

The NSW government has committed $39 million to increase EV charging services through round four of its EV fast charging grants program. The government hopes it will incentivise private operators to co-fund fast charging stations around the state, now with emphasis on installing units in regional and remote areas to close gaps and target “blackspots”. The state government is offering to fund up to 90 per cent of the installation cost plus several years of operating expenses to incentivise more chargers in – especially in western NSW.

Also in the news is EV charging provider JET Charge, which, along with furniture retailer IKEA, has completed what it claims is Australia’s biggest electric delivery vehicles charging network. This includes 59 chargers across seven sites across the nation, with more than 100 delivery vehicles in its fleet utilising these chargers. Currently, 83 per cent of the retailers’ deliveries are delivered by zero emission vehicles, and it estimates it will reach 90 per cent by the end of the year.

Diesel trains could become electric hybrids

Melbourne based Alta Technology said it had made several advancements in its battery electric tender system, which can be “plugged in” to a diesel train to transform it into an electric hybrid train.

One of these trains will “hit the tracks” as soon as next year in Western Australia, in a trial with Aurizon, one of Australia’s largest rail freight operators. The system requires minimal driver intervention, while being more efficient, lower emission and can be built and deployed in 12 months, which is up to 10 years faster than other electric alternatives, the company said.

Jobs and industry

Lifestyle dataset provider Neighbourlytics has been acquired by online real estate advertisers REA Group. The platform gathers information such as foot traffic patterns and visitor trends to popular businesses, amenities, lifestyle personalities and hotspots.

Perth architecture firm Carabiner has joined Architectus, allowing the architects to expand their operations in Western Australia. The practice has spent more than 30 years delivering public architecture, such as community recreation facilities, sports centres, learning facilities and major health projects.

Tessa Guastavino has been appointed as director and regional lead of Victoria for engineering consultancy ADP. Guastavino was previously operations manager at AECOM and had also been a project director at BESIX Watpac.

Associate Professor Laurence Troy has been appointed head of urbanism at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Troy is well known by the industry, including in his role as the research centre director representing the University of Sydney at the Australian Housing Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

Highlights of Norman Foster’s 60 year career now on exhibition in Sydney

Architects Foster + Partners has opened its first exhibition in Australia to showcase over 35 models of key projects from its founder and renowned architect, Norman Foster, over his 60-year career.

Foster, also known as Lord Baron Foster of Thames Bank, founded the architecture firm in 1967 and has been credited with being closely associated and inspired by high-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism.

The exhibit will be on until 21 December.

Here’s a glimpse of what you can see at the exhibition.

Fossil fuels are turning to funding education to downplay climate change

Analysis by Comms Declare has found that children as young as 9 are being taught about climate change that is shaped by the fossil fuel industry. The advocacy group found that Shell’s Queensland Gas Company has provided more than $10 million to Queensland Museum since 2015 to fund science programs and school programs being taught to thousands of young people across the country.

While the museum insists its work remains independent, the report finds educational materials with Shell’s branding downplay or omit fossil fuels as the primary driver of climate change. Instead, the educational materials push for individual responsibility and “technological distractions” such as carbon capture while portraying Shell as a responsible actor.

Other fossil fuel players have also been involved in similar movements, including concerns about Woodside’s relationship with the Western Australia Museum and Monash University, which is now moving to end its partnership, and controversy over Santos’ involvement in a school science roadshow.

Matrak launches new AI powered platform

Australian construction tech company Matrak has launched a new AI automation tool, which could cut up to 40 per cent of administrative labour spent on estimating, procurement quality checks, scheduling and materials-tracking.

The new tool Matrak Connect is said to reduce project costs by 8 to 16 per cent. It has the potential to deliver more than $US4.26 billion ($A6.57) billion in savings from costs associated with labour, which typically accounts for 30 per cent of project costs.

Co-founder Shane Hodgkins said construction firms that embed AI-powered logistics and materials tracking will see shorter build times, lower rework rates and measurable financial return on investment.

The company is known for its connection to the China Building Material Federation, a Chinese counterpart of Australia’s MECLA, which helped with the development and supported the use of its app in China to help procurers in Australia and internationally track the carbon movement of their materials. Hodgkins recently spoke at The Fifth Estate’s Circular Disruption in November, where he presented on China’s six zero policy for sustainability and its opportunities for Australia.

Decarbonising wine

If you missed it, Winemakers Hill-Smith Family Estates has received gold member status from the International Wineries for Climate Action, an international group of wineries working to encourage the industry to reduce carbon emissions.

Some of its efforts include reforestation of 215,000 native trees and shrubs since 2007, and 30,000 square metres of native bushland through GreenFleet, 20 per cent of operations powered by renewables and 100 per cent of the winery’s wastewater recycled or reused for drought-tolerant vines.

The winemaker has also reduced its 750 ml wine bottle weight to 360 to 363 grams with bottles made from about 50 per cent recycled content, which reduces carbon emissions by approximately 254 tonnes every year. 

In an interview with The Fifth Estate on World Sustainability Day, brand manager Adele Caon said the significance of reducing the weight of the wine bottle is that the glass, which is infinitely recycled, is incredibly carbon-intensive to manufacture and uses a lot of heat in the process of both making and “recycling” the bottle.

“Everyone uses a fresh bottle, we don’t just wash and reuse, [as] there’s hygiene issues around that.”

When the glass is lighter, the carbon footprint of the shipping and transportation of the product is also less, because you can physically fit more in a shipping container, Caon said.

While the pressure to be sustainable and decarbonise mostly comes from retailers, Caon said their motivation also came from hopes that they could pass the wineries down to the next generation.

Last month, the winemakers chose to move away from organic and biodynamic winemaking in favour of their own sustainability programme.