Cities around the world are turning to nature-based solutions such as green roofs, urban forests and green walls to address heat, flooding, energy demand and biodiversity loss. Now, Sydney Harbourside will generate data to prove it.
UTS and RACE for 2030 have partnered with developer Mirvac to bring to life Australia’s largest urban green roof in the CBD, as part of its $2 billion mixed-use Harbourside precinct, developed in equal partnership with Mitsubishi Estate.
After delivery of 4700 square metres of green roof, landscaped terraces and onsite renewable systems, the university will measure outcomes in nature-positive design for two years. It will use the results to publish guides to nature positive urban design for domestic and international use based on empirical data, including the climate and energy benefits and how the features perform in a high energy demand precinct.
Currently, the largest urban green roof in Australia and one of the largest in the world is part of the Victorian Desalination Plant, featuring a 26,000 sq m green roof, while one of the largest in a CBD is Sky Park with about 2000 sq m of green space above Lendlease’s Melbourne Quarter.
First stage approval for the precinct includes 33,500 sqm of office space, 10,000 sq m of shopping, entertainment and hospitality space, 263 luxury apartments in a 48 storey residential tower, and 10,200 sq m of public domain, which will include a 3500 sq m waterfront garden. The developers are targeting a 6 Star Green Star rating under the Green Star Buildings tool for the offices and a 5 Star rating across its retail and residential buildings.
Mirvac’s chief executive of development, Stuart Penklis, said the development will represent the “next evolution in sustainable placemaking.
“By partnering with UTS and RACE for 2030, we’re expanding the role of property development beyond simply delivering buildings. We’re contributing to research that will shape the design of future precincts.
“Where the former Harbourside Shopping Centre featured minimal planting, our revitalisation of the precinct will deliver more than 115,000 native and endemic plants. This includes over 250 mature trees, carefully selected in consultation with First Nations advisers, along with a new waterfront garden as part of more than 10,000 sq m of public open space.”
The project will be led by UTS associate professor Fraser Torpy, who is also the director of the plants and environmental quality group, and his UTS colleagues, engineer Dr Peter Irga and project lead Dr Stephen Matheson.
The developers said the university was internationally recognised as a leader in the study of plant based systems in the built environment. Among the techniques to be used will be thermal imaging to measure the heat island effect, a portable gas exchange system to measure carbon fixation in plants, environmental DNA sampling of biodiversity and ecological change and building modelling to understand the effects of greenery on building performance.
Torpy said this will be the biggest study of its kind.
“Cities around the world are turning to nature-based solutions such as green roofs, urban forests and green walls to address heat, flooding, energy demand and biodiversity loss, yet evidence about how these systems perform together at scale in dense city environments remains limited.
“With its prominent Sydney Harbour location, Harbourside provides the perfect testbed. It is a highly urbanised location, ideal for pioneering sustainability improvements. The research will create practical, transferable knowledge that supports better design of green, climate?resilient precincts across Australia’s cities.”
Dr Bill Lilley, chief executive of RACE for 2030, said his organisation was leading pioneering research into net zero precincts.
“We are excited to partner with Mirvac and UTS to demonstrate how climate -resilient buildings and precincts can reduce environmental and economic impacts at scale.”
The developer said construction is along the way and expects the precinct to finish in FY27.
The real “test bed for resilience” is the monumental shaft erected into the sky, with a green fig leaf draped around its base.
It gets no mention in this bit of promotional poetry, distracting from the total absence of more serious attempts at sustainability.