Collaboration IS key

The IS rating scheme articulates the themes, categories, credits and benchmarks that the infrastructure industry has embraced as the vernacular of sustainability over the last four years. The IS rating scheme is now used widely in the sustainability assurance processes across Australia. Presently the scheme boasts 54 projects/assets valued at over $79 billion (capital value).

The Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) facilitated the development of a sustainability community of practice in the infrastructure industry when it developed and launched the Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) rating scheme in 2012.

Projects and assets that have been awarded IS ratings have achieved amazing outcomes:

• The Enlarged Cotter Dam project replaced 100% of potable water with non-potable water and reduced embodied carbon emissions by 23%.
• The Gateway WA design reduce the life cycle environmental impact of materials by 58% and introduced the use of LED lighting on highway roads.
• Gold Coast Light Rail saved $15 million through the implementation of sustainability initiatives, reduced embodied carbon emissions by 55%, had an 89.7% recycling rate for inert and non-hazardous wastes and more than 96% of project employees were local.
• The Googong Water Treatment Plant Chemical Facility Upgrade achieved a significant reduction in materials life cycle environmental impact and kept the footprint entirely within the original facility.
• The Great Eastern Highway Upgrade used warm mix asphalt in WA for the first time reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as achieving 43% recycling rate for imported materials.
• The Sydney Metro Northwest Early Works project discovered and preserved a colonial era heritage site by modifying the skyrail section of the project.
• The Sydney Metro Northwest Surface and Viaduct Civils project modelled a 44% emissions reduction, had a potential 9% water saving over the life of the project and demonstrated Australia-based market transformation through development of sustainability data collection and reporting software.
• The Sydney Metro Northwest Tunnel and Station Civil Works reduced emissions by 24%, reduced water use by 37% and had a 45% reduction in environmental impact of materials, achieving the highest IS score to date of 83.
• The Whitsundays STP Upgrades saved more than $1 million through the implementation of sustainability initiatives, saved 305 MWh of electricity over operational life, reduced water use by 15%, reduced their materials footprint by 25% and, in a world first, trial of parallel nitrification and denitrification technology.
• Wynyard Walk achieved a number of initiatives, including minimising waste, reducing community impacts during construction and optimising energy efficiencies.
• The Yarra Park Recycled Water Treatment Facility gained water efficiencies of 7% during summer and 8% during winter operations and has been able to supply 99.99% of potable water replacement demand (directly offsetting 291,818,800 litres of potable water to date).

The IS rating scheme has also been of interest outside Australia. There are now five ISCA New Zealand Founding Members (Auckland Airport, AECOM, BECA, Panuku Auckland and Tonkin + Taylor) showing significant leadership and commitment to the New Zealand infrastructure industry. New Zealand is also home to two IS ratings. Auckland Airport has used IS to benchmark its operations and Madden and Packenham reduced construction carbon emissions by 27% and its materials environmental footprint by 18%. ISCA has also signed a collaboration agreement with a newly created Chinese alliance with China City Development Foundation and Green World City to create the Green Infrastructure Finance Accreditation (GIFA) scheme for the Chinese infrastructure industry based on the IS rating scheme.

ISCA released version 1.2 of the IS rating scheme in May 2016.

“This milestone signifies the step change improvement the infrastructure industry has achieved since the launch of the IS rating scheme in 2012,” said ISCA CEO Antony Sprigg. “Industry has been instrumental in significantly advancing sustainability outcomes in Australian infrastructure over the past three years. The IS rating scheme has provided an important platform for being able to measure this progress and the opportunity to provide ongoing feedback on efficiencies and enhancements as a result of the growing importance of sustainable infrastructure in Australia. This industry-driven feedback has informed v1.2, which will deliver a more directed approach to managing asset sustainability.”

IS rating scheme v1.2 considers the unique aspects of any asset by applying weightings to each credit, so effort is directed on the most appropriate areas and incremental progress is rewarded. The use of preset credit weightings and by exception scope-outs processes has been replaced with a compulsory materiality assessment that focuses sustainability activity towards initiatives that are most relevant for each project or asset.

Other changes will increase efficiency and sustainability value by reducing the effort and evidence burden on assessors driving improved outcomes. Key changes include:

• Some credits have been consolidated, resulting in a reduction from 52 credits to 44 credits.
• Customised credit requirements and guidance has been incorporated into 16 of the 44 credits specifically for minor works projects.
• The benchmarking of some credits has been changed from a step scale to a linear scale, enabling the reward of all improvements, not just those that result in a project/asset surpassing the next hurdle.
• The amount of innovation bonus points has increased from five points to 10 points.
• Rulings from the current version of the scheme have been incorporated into the credits of the new scheme.
• Greater flexibility has been incorporated into 10 credits’ manage, review and audit requirements while maintaining the same level of rigour.
• The ISCA Materials Working Group identified a number of improvements to the IS Materials Calculator that have been incorporated into v1.2. They include more than doubling the number of materials available, addition of multiple transport modes for relevant materials, addition of simple tools that allow default and custom ready mixed and precast concrete mixes to be formulated and analysed, the addition of unit conversions for relevant materials, the incorporation of a revised methodology for environmental impact to be calculated (from EcoPoints to IS EnviroPoints) and a revision of the source of materials environmental impact data.

*Antony Sprigg is CEO of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA). Prior to joining ISCA in 2012, Antony had held a number of senior management roles in professional service firms and on major capital works projects. Antony’s experience spans across South-East Asia, southern Africa, North America and Australia. Antony is also a husband, father, cyclist and mountaineer.