The evolution of sustainable communities

Building rating tools have evolved and are not just about the building but the spaces in between - the entire communities. Adam Beck discusses this evolution and the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) recent launch of the Green Star - Communities rating tool to recalibrate Australia’s understanding of sustainability at the community scale.

Imagine a community that generates more energy than it consumes, exports more water than it uses and recycles more waste than is sent to landfill.

Imagine a community where shared renewable energy sources generate enough energy to power the thousands of homes, where affordable housing means people can live close to work and where half of the development is dedicated parkland.

Imagine a community where just 4% of the people use a car each day, while the rest walk, ride or catch easily accessible public transport.

Does this sound fanciful?

It’s not. The $6 billion Barangaroo project in Sydney is aiming to be the world’s first climate positive development and aims to prove this claim through Green Star - Communities certification. Barangaroo’s green initiatives include a chilled water and harbour cooling system, solar renewable energy generated on-site, an integrated management strategy and green travel options.

While these initiatives will address a range of environmental concerns, the project team is also concerned with social sustainability. The project incorporates affordable housing and local employment opportunities with a view to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the region. More than 50% of Barangaroo will be dedicated public space, including a 2.2 km foreshore walk.

From buildings to communities

For many years, a Green Star rating has been a symbol of environmental sustainability. From glittering skyscrapers to low-rise schools, Green Star has driven a market shift which encourages an integrated, holistic approach to building design and construction.

Building rating systems, such as Green Star in Australia, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in the US and the UK’s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), have proved to be extremely powerful tools in driving change and generating the critical mass required to create new sustainable benchmarks.

In the last decade, considerable international research has confirmed the importance of building rating tools in driving market transformation. Rating systems like Green Star have established a common language for green building and encouraged an integrated, holistic approach to building design. By recognising and rewarding environmental leadership in the building industry, rating tools have boosted consumer awareness of green building benefits and stimulated green competition.

However, buildings are just one part of the sustainability equation and many green building councils are recognising that the spaces between the buildings - such as the parks and playgrounds, pedestrian-friendly streets and bicycle networks, and precinct-wide energy and water systems - are just as important. Improving the sustainability of our communities is our next challenge. This is why the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has recently launched the Green Star - Communities rating tool to recalibrate Australia’s understanding of sustainability at the community scale.

In 2009, the GBCA began consulting with industry about how to evolve from greening our buildings to greening entire communities. The feedback was definitive: a rating tool to help transform and better plan our communities was the answer.

We also recognised that the full spectrum of sustainability issues should be included. Industry needed guidance on how to create communities that met a range of economic and social priorities, as well as the environmental ones.

Talented people from across the industry came together to work on the project - including stakeholders from academia, social and town planning, project and development management, economics, policy, urban design, scientific and environmental engineering, and all three tiers of government. In total, the GBCA led a process with 38 sponsors and 135 members of technical working groups and committees.

Our first step was to establish a national framework for sustainable communities. By 2010, the framework outlined five national best practice principles to guide sustainable communities in Australia. These have since expanded to six categories: Liveability; Economic Prosperity; Environment; Community Design; Governance; and Innovation.

Once those principles were clearly articulated, GBCA’s technical ratings team commenced work on the credits which underpin each principle. Thirty-eight credits were tested on projects around Australia - from small, private sector infill projects to large, government master-planned precincts, like Barangaroo, around Australia.

Greening the globe

While the Green Star - Communities rating tool is new, we are confident it will follow a similar trajectory to that of its US counterpart. The US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighbourhood Development rating tool (LEED-ND) rewards new projects that minimise urban sprawl, protect fragile ecosystems and encourage alternative modes of transport. Alongside these environmental issues, LEED for Neighbourhood Development emphasises the creation of compact, walkable, vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhoods with good connections to nearby communities.

Nearly 300 community projects have been certified under the LEED-ND rating tool. Among them is the Renaissance Place at Grand in St Louis, Missouri. Residents live within an 800-metre walk of shops, schools, cultural institutions and public transport. The project team incorporated mixed-income housing, a park, new office space and community services to help revitalise the 33-acre site, which once contained a public housing complex.

Another example is Dockside Green in Victoria, Canada, which is working towards a LEED-ND Platinum rating. This landmark project incorporates a variety of iconic green technologies such as wind turbines, green roofs and solar power. Residential towers include energy-saving appliances, heat recovery ventilators and double-glazed windows. A centralised biomass gasification plant converts waste wood, such as tree clippings, into gas for hot water and heat.

Dockside Green’s design rejects the car-centric focus of the past. A residential car-pooling program, the provision of bicycle racks and showers for those commuting to the development’s commercial areas, and the connection of the development to a regional cycling trail are just some of the design features. Rooftop and hanging gardens, waterfront walkways, large balconies and expansive green spaces make for a liveable community.

A grassroots movement

In the past, nationally consistent best practice built environment outcomes have been difficult to achieve when policies and regulations are driven at a state or local government level. However, we believe the Green Star - Communities rating tool will become a voluntary national standard as every state and territory government land organisation has sponsored the development of the rating tool.

The Green Star - Communities rating tool will provide federal government with a vehicle for delivering policy outcomes, state governments with guidance for planning and approval of significant projects, and local governments with a framework for greater sustainable development outcomes and collaboration with industry.

The tool will also facilitate more efficient development processes and ultimately help developers get their products out to market quicker. Financiers will gain a framework for sustainable investment. And consumers will have the ability to make informed decisions about their lifestyles.

For more information, visit: www.gbca.org.au/communities.