News in brief: March

Tesla’s rival, BYD is introducing its new ultra-fast EV charging technology

25 March: BYD stocks are seeing record high numbers, rising to 3 per cent on Wednesday, following the company’s announcement of a new charging system that is available in two models, the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV, according to the Australian Financial Review. The charging system coined the “super e-platform” offers charging speeds of one megawatt which is twice as powerful as Tesla’s fastest superchargers. The company said the new technology would provide enough power for 400 kilometres of driving range in five minutes.

The company is also looking towards plans of building over 4000 ultra-fast charging stations across China and had previously developed its silicon carbide power chips and lithium-iron phosphate batteries – named BYD Blade. Meanwhile, Tesla sales continue to decline.

Sydney’s tallest office building was awarded a 6 Star Green Star certified rating

Salesforce Tower, the tallest office building in Sydney, was just awarded the 6 Star Green Star design and as-built rating from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for its sustainability features. Initiatives that contributed to its rating included water efficient and climate resilient design, responsibly sourced materials and carbon neutral construction.

The company also operates a tenant-exclusive EV car share program, EV charging stations, and workplace sensors that monitor air quality, temperature, acoustics and lighting levels and assist tenants in operating more sustainable workplaces.

Salesforce Tower was developed and constructed by Lendlease with investors comprising Ping An Real Estate, Mitsubishi Estate Asia and APPF Commercial.

Victoria’s population growth means the government needs to start taking action to prevent a ‘tragedy’

Here’s more evidence that the government needs to start making significant reforms and getting more builders into Australia. Matt Bell, Oliver Hume’s chief economist says that the country is increasingly facing pressure as Victoria is looking to welcome 147,000 new residents.

Nationally population growth has fallen by 1.8 per cent in the September 2024 quarter, and population growth is easing, but remains at levels of historical high. Bell said Victoria is on track to miss the 1.2 million new dwelling targets by mid 2029 by around 400,000, meaning a greater struggle for low- and middle-income households who already struggle to enter the housing market due to high prices and low borrowing capacity.

He adds that the pressure is on all levels of government to take significant action to reform new dwelling pathways to enable the market to deliver the housing Australians need. We are looking forward to new federal level initiatives in the upcoming budget and election platforms.”

$160 million of private capital invested into real estate sustainability standards

Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Real Estate Credit Partners IV, a fund managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives will be co-investing $160 million in the Australian real estate credit market to lift sustainability standards in residential and commercial office sectors. The investment bank hopes the investment can serve as an example of sustainable debt finance in the Australian market.

To qualify for the investment, each project is required to feature minimum standards of operational energy efficiency and must include the preparation of physical climate risk assessments in line with international best practices. The company hopes that this investment will demonstrate how private capital can influence systemic change across the building sector and increase broader sustainability measures in the real estate market.

A win for Australia’s clean energy investments following Trump’s rollback on the energy transition

Private investment and federal allocation of funds to construction, wind, solar and battery projects increased in Australia following Trump’s call for a fossil fuel powered generation. While Trump’s anti-climate agenda is a hit for America, this might be just what Australia’s building sector needs to continue the energy transition.

Recently, the federal government allocated $49.3 million of a total of $54 million to the construction of modular homes. The remaining 4.7 million will be used to develop a “voluntary national certification process for offsite construction to ensure higher quality building standards.

The Help to Buy Scheme, which will support around 40,000 first home buyers purchasing a new or existing home with an equity contribution from the government of up to 40 per cent, will also be expanded including expanding the income cap from $90,000 to $100,000 for single individuals, and $120,000 to $160,000 for join applications.

“The feds in their budget have allocated $49.3 million of a total of $54 million construction’s way for modular homes (or modern methods of construction) along with the balance sent to expand the Help to Buy scheme.”

As Lasse Lind told us last week, there’s a place for government support in modular building to ensure large quantities of social and affordable housing. It seems Australia is gaining the government support it needs as America loses it.

Similarly, the Property Council of Australia chief executive, Mike Zorbas said the building sector could help solve our environmental problems.

We’ll be looking more into this issue at our upcoming event Building/unbuilding – what construction needs now.

• Grab your tickets here!

No pay rise on the horizon for women

10 March: A survey of 1002 Australians by QuestionPro has revealed only 28.1 per cent of women are considering asking for a pay rise this year – compared to 42.5 per cent of men.

Despite that more women are getting full time jobs, with job growth currently at 6.1 per cent since January 2023, they indicated that they are also less happy with their current pay.

More disturbing is that 26 per cent of women in the study said that they had been asked at least one or more questions about their reproductive capacities, such as whether they are a mother and if they have parental responsibilities or if they are menstruating.

 The company urges that in time of IWD, women who haven’t been given a fair pay raise should ask for one.

Paramatta’s green boulevard is now on exhibition

A 450 metre green pedestrian boulevard connecting Parramatta Square with the Parramatta River is now open for public comment.

The draft of Civic Link Block 3 is said to “include more than 3,000 plants, multiple gathering spaces and seating options for the community to enjoy”.

City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter said the space received 485,000 visitors last year and would provide “endless opportunities” for workers, residents and visitors.

2025 NAWIC leadership scholarship winner announced

Nicole Waterman, engineer and project leader at Laing O’Rourke, has been awarded a  $30,000 scholarship for women in property and construction from the National Association of Women in Construction NSW. The scholarship recognises women who have made a significant impact on the construction industry and demonstrate potential as future leaders. The scholarship is said to be providing Waterman a career boost by enabling her to enrol in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Global Executive Academy in the United States. 

Australian businesses leading the way in resilience

3 March 2025: Commercial property insurer FM has launched its new 2025 resilience index, powered by data from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The index, which ranks 130 countries by how resilient their businesses are, finds that Australia has climbed two places since last year, ranking 13^th in the world.

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The insurers gave Australia accolades for remaining strong and coming 16^th in the climate risk mitigation strategies category despite having an extremely high exposure to climate risk – classified how much the country’s area is exposed to winds and floods.

While in most criteria Australia ranked within the top 50, most impressive was ranking number one in education for average of years in schooling, and worst was energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions. This means the nation scored incredibly low (103 out of 130) when it comes to efficient energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (89 out of 130) when divided by GDP.

JOLT fast charges its Canadian rollout

Australian EV charger company JOLT has flagged a $214 million partnership with Canada Infrastructure Bank to fast track the expansion of its EV charging network across Canada.

The company will install 1500 fast street side chargers in the country as part of its rapid overseas expansion, which has seen network growth surge by 92 per cent. Users will gain 7 kilowatt-hours of free fast charging, equivalent to around 50 kilometres of driving range.

The rollout supports the Canadian government’s goals to deploy 84,500 EV chargers by 2029 – driving towards 100 per cent zero emission vehicle sales by 2035.

Regenerative forests might be the answer to carbon capture

A new white paper released London based Sustainable Land Management (SLM) finds that regenerative forests can sequester 20 per cent more carbon over a 20 year period. This is compared to the clearfell replant system (replanting trees after logging) popular in the EU and the UK – where using forests as carbon sinks is in decline.

The natural real estate managers currently have $750 million in natural assets under management, with 100 per cent of lands under or transitioning to regenerative management. The modelling is based on SLM’s Irish forestry portfolio. The company is currently raising capital to fund and emulate the strategy across the UK and Europe to transition 19,000 hectares of forest to regenerative management.

Designing for Hope 10 years on

Dominique Hes, chair of environmental not for profit, GreenFleet is celebrating 10 years from the publication of her book Designing for Hope.

“Today as we grapple with climate/political/economic anxiety, we want this book to remain a hopeful, solutions-driven guide for creating a thriving future,” Hes said.

Hope is essential for change, Hes said, flagging that she has reclaimed the rights to the book to allow people to get a low res PDF version of the book for free. She will be talking about her book 10 years on here.

Climate Zero and Carbon Neutral joins forces

Carbon accounting software provider Climate Zero has partnered with carbon offset provider Carbon Neutral, allowing clients to access methods of offset directly from the software used to measure its carbon.

Carbon Neutral chief executive Phil Ireland said that greenhouse gas emissions are already locked into the atmosphere and a multi faceted solution is needed to fund sequestering and nature regeneration projects.

Climate Zero managing director, Tai Lennon said partnership allows businesses of all sizes to skip navigating the complex and untransparent carbon market to support a company that “restore native landscapes, preserve biodiversity, return land to Traditional Owners and permanently removes carbon from the atmosphere.”

Solar for apartments

28 February 2025: Congratulations all round met the New South Wales government’s announcement on Friday of $25 million investment into solar for apartments.

The Climate Council said the move was positive and pointed to its Seize the Sun report which highlighted how solar could improve outcomes for renters.

Rewiring Australia said it was a good start but called for new builds to be fitted with “all-electrical appliances such as electric cooktops and heat pumps, instead of gas appliances which leave renters stuck with higher bills.”

Solar Citizens said the incentive would cover up to half of the cost of installing shared solar systems on apartments with up to 55 dwellings, and is expected to help around 1000 of NSW’s total strata schemes of more than 90,000.

Boral trials new ‘solar sand’

19 February 2024: Construction materials giant Boral is trialling the use of its new “recycled sand” in its concrete – which consists of crushed glass from end of life and damaged solar panels. The sand was “created specifically” for the Victoria’s North East Link infrastructure project.

The project is driven by Spark, a consortium of construction companies and the nation’s largest road and tunnel operator, as well as the University of Melbourne who worked on development and testing. The panels are sourced through ElecSome, a local solar panel upcycling plant, which crush and processes the glass, which is then blended with up to 50 per cent natural sand.

New timber building approved

A 12 storey building at 4-6 York Street in Sydney’s CBD has received development approval from the City of Sydney. The building is said to be the country’s tallest commercial fully mass timber building once completed.

Designed by architecture and urban design practice Tzannes, the project marks its third commercial timber building design. Tzannes director Amy Dowse said the team intends to use knowledge and experience from building the International House Sydney and Daramu House to set a new benchmark with this new project.

The structure will have a significantly reduced carbon footprint in both construction and whole of life, sitting precisely over subterranean railway tunnels, transferring load from the building’s west to the central core with a hybrid concrete and steel structure. All timber and steel elements can be disassembled and reused.

NSW Building Commission calling on industry

With NSW Building Commissioner James Sherrard now settled into his new role, the commission is calling on tradies to join the new Building Industry Research Panel. The panel is said to offer the opportunity for construction professionals, tradespeople and apprentices to have their voices heard on issues relating to the future of the industry.

Responsibilities of panel members include sharing experiences and perspectives, participating in research activities such as surveys, interviews and focus groups and inform future building and construction projects in NSW – which can be confidential.

New tool increases food and agriculture transparency

CSIRO has launched a new tool – Isotopes.au, which is said to track the “unique fingerprints” of food – including measurements of its environmental impact, water use and carbon emissions.

The platform is a collation of data from leading research agencies and is said to be a “open-access and trusted resource, which can be used by regulators and industry to verify a food’s provenance and sustainability claims and ensure compliance with trade regulations.”

International news: APAC moving ahead and ignoring the West

Confirming what we already know, Julia Tay, Asia-Pacific public policy leader and partner at EY wrote a social media article summarising the progress made in the APAC. This includes China establishing national ESG reporting standards, Indonesia releasing a draft of its sustainability disclosure standards and Bursa in Malaysia aligning its reporting requirements with its national sustainability reporting framework.

WA guilty of excessive consumption

11 February: A Curtin University report has found that Western Australia is consuming more than three times the global average of raw materials and urgently needs to shift to a more circular economy.

According to the report the state consumed 42.9 tonnes of raw materials per person in 2021, compared to the global average of 12.7 tonnes per person, and attributes the state’s “take make waste” economic approach, also known as a “linear economy” – where products move in one direction from raw materials to waste.

This seaweed Eco park is helping curb methane production

CH4 Global, an agricultural technology firm (named after CH4 gas the chemical formula for methane) officially opened doors to its first full scale EcoPark.

The red seaweed – native to South Australia can drastically reduce methane emissions from cows by up to 90 per cent.

The park contains cultivation ponds that produces 80 metric tonnes of Asparagopsis – a type of seaweed, every year.

Located in Louth Bay about 300 kilometres west of Adelaide, the island is said to this year finish its expansion to 100 ponds, producing enough to feed 45,000 cattle per day once in full operation. Founder and chief executive DR Steve Meller said that the company intends to be full profitable without government subsidies while still “bending the climate curve” by reducing carbon emissions by one billion metric ton by feeding 150 million cattle on the new feedstock by 2030.

QPE buys out Heron Todd White

Private equity investor Quadrant Private Equity has acquired a majority stake in property advisory firm Herron Todd White. The firm said the acquisition will strengthen its position in the market and accelerate its development of new products and services across residential, commercial, government and agricultural sectors.  

QPE’s managing partner and co-head of the buyout strategy Gareth Woodbridge said the investors were investing in “people, technology and data assets”. The property firm currently employs more than 800 staff and operates 60 offices.

Sod turned on new set of social and affordable housing for Women in need in NSW

Construction has begun on 66 social and affordable apartments in Parramatta for women and children recovering from domestic violence, older women at risk of homelessness and key frontline workers.

Funding of the buildings includes $17.7 million from Housing Australia, including a $14.2 million loan and $3.5 million grant. The NSW government has additionally invested $10.68 million as well as donated the land needed for the development.

The development is said to include 22 units at Irving Street, 16 units at Collett Parade and 28 units at Collett Parade/Pennant Street, all located in Paramatta, in Sydney’s west.

Healthiest place to live revealed – but is it really?

Monash University has developed an environmental health risk index to map the health of Australian cities. Based on 12 environmental and socio-economic factors such as air quality, road density, night light, green spaces and socio-economic conditions it was found that Tasmania scored the best while the Northern Territory the worst.

However, a productivity report on government services finds that Tasmania has nation’s second highest mortality rate as well as poorly on healthcare affordability. A Tasmanian professor told the ABC that Tasmania may have the “healthiest environment” but it would not necessarily mean “Tasmanians are the healthiest people”.

Global news: We might be moving towards EVs, but Bangladesh is pushing for E-rickshaws to be legal

E-rickshaws are becoming a contentious issue in Bangladesh according to Dialogue Earthdue to the government’s refusal to regulate and officially recognise electric rickshaws as a main mode of transport.

This means drivers are importing cheaply made Chinese electric motors and lead-acid batteries, which are unstable at higher speeds, and producing the country’s fourth highest level of lead pollution.

E-rickshaws however creates high levels of employment for youth that “wanders the streets” and those who are otherwise unemployable, allowing them to earn an income through renting the vehicle. The state’s minister for power, energy and resources last year called e-rickshaws the “Tesla of Bangladesh”, suggesting there were 4 million e-rickshaw in the country while the United States only had 3.5 million EVs in 2023.

Insurance for anti-woke behaviour

7 February: here’s one for the books – Fast Company reports that UK based insurance agency Samphire Risk is offering to protect miscreants against cancel culture, as the anti- “woke” culture ramps up. We wonder if this like buying carbon credits? Can you continue your anti-woke behaviour but know you’re buying a form of “indulgences” to excuse it? The early Christians pioneered this concept at about the same time as the Spanish Inquisition. The wealthy could feel free to behave badly but buy their way out of hell by donating to the church.
The service offers to “go to battle against any negative press across social media and traditional media,” crisis manage, especially for those tricky posts in the middle of the night, and a deep clean of your social media history.

Climate Active abandoned even by PwC

1 February: Telstra, Australia Post, PwC, the NRMA and more than 100 other companies have walked away from the federal government’s Climate Active scheme, the Australia Institute said on Friday.

“Australians are fed up with polluters buying carbon credits of questionable quality rather than making real investments in real reductions in the amount of fossil fuels they are burning”, the institute said.

“Even PwC doesn’t respect the integrity of the accounting standards behind the Commonwealth Government’s own carbon offsetting scheme.”

Business people such as Andrew Forrest are calling for real zero targets to replace the vague net zero targets which rely on carbon offsetting and “accounting tricks”.

Federal energy minister announces more ARENA funding

28 January: Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has announced that ARENA will now back more community electrification projects.

As a result – they will be calling for innovative projects in the ACT, WA, QLD, Victoria and Tasmania looking for funding, Bowen said in a social media post posted by Tim Forcey on My Efficient Electric Home.

“As a result – they’ll be calling for innovative projects in the ACT, WA, QLD, Victoria and Tasmania to fund,” Bowen said.

He also wrote “a big shoutout to senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie for their ongoing advocacy for cheaper, cleaner to run homes and their commitment to renewable energy. “

16/01

AustralianSuper acquires European assets

AustralianSuper has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Canada’s Oxford Property Group’s European industrial and logistics portfolio worth $1.4 billion. As part of the acquisition, AustralianSuper will become co-owners of M7 Real Estate, a European investment and asset management company acquired by Oxford in 2021.

The acquisition is part of a new strategic partnership between Oxford and AustralianSuper to grow the portfolio to $7.5 billion in the next three to five years by constructing “high-quality ‘last mile’” delivery systems and mid-box warehouses.

The portfolio comprises about 730,000 square metres of urban logistics and distribution warehouses across 76 Western European assets, including in the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The assets are currently 90 per cent occupied and have strong environmental credentials.

According to Paul Clark, head of European real assets at AustralianSuper, “urban logistics and distribution represents one the most compelling sector opportunities in European real estate today, and (we) have been tracking the sector for several years to find the right portfolio that meets our ambitions.”

Letter demanding a climate duty of care

More than 60 prominent voices from around the nation have signed an open letter calling on the government to protect future generations through a climate duty of care bill.

The letter addresses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, environment and energy ministers, Chris Bowen and Tanya Plibersek, and Youth Minister Anne Aly. It references the case of Sharma versus Minister for the Environment, in which eight Australian children argued that the government owes children a duty to protect them from climate change harm – a case which was deemed unsuitable for judicial determination.

The letter says in part:

“We call on you to acknowledge your duty of care to us. We call on you to ensure that the decisions you make today are made with our health and wellbeing at the forefront of your minds and that this is guaranteed by law.

Young people deserve nothing less than a duty of care in the face of climate change.”

Signatories included four Australians of the Year, two Olympians, Rewiring Australia and America co-founder Saul Griffiths, several Pacific Island Elders, many independent and Greens politicians, and notable authors and television personalities.

Saudi and Chinese companies roll out electric truck offerings in Australia

Saudi-based vehicle distributor Jameel Motors and Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturer Farizon Auto, the commercial vehicle sector of Geely Holding Group, have partnered to roll out a model of all-electric cargo vans and two different sized heavy electric trucks this year.

The distribution agreement will be a new venture into the Australian market for both companies. The two attributed the deal to the distributor’s aspirations to roll out its green transportation offerings in Australia – which is seeing growing demands for carbon-neutral and sustainable commercial vehicle options.

Taiwanese company unveils new type of battery for electric vehicles

In case you missed this important piece of news before Christmas, Taiwan-based battery manufacturer ProLogium is bringing a new concept to the market with its 100 per cent silicon composite anode battery for EVs. The battery can provide roughly 186 miles of range (300 kilometres) on a five-minute charge. The company also promised to cut vehicle weight by around 300 kilograms. Read more here.