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Sam Somashekar
Australia GBC’s Green Star Rating Tool Now Certifies Communities - 8:30 AM
Add Green Star – Communities (Pilot) to Green Building Council Australia’s voluntary rating standard. As one of the world’s first green rating tools to go beyond buildings, Green Star is pushing the limits to support the planning and design of sustainable communities and neighbourhoods in Australia. Sustainable design has just been elevated to a new level.
Up until now, the Green Star rating system applied only to new building projects, such as offices, apartment buildings, schools and universities, hospitals, shopping centers, and industrial facilities. Green Star also has a certification for interior for new buildings and refurbishments, as well as a certification for existing buildings called Green Star – Performance.
As of June 2012, the new Green Star – Communities rating standard will certify whole communities including towns, precincts, and cities, which are measured based on the following categories:
- Governance
- Design
- Liveability
- Economic Prosperity
- Environment
- Innovation
As with all other standards within the Green Star program, each of the categories contains credits, each of which address a specific issue. Points are awarded based on success of delivery against the objectives of each credit. All credits are assessed and then used to calculate a percentage score (with environmental weighting factors applied), which determines the Green Star certification level. The Green Star rating scale is as follows:
- 4 Star: Represents best practice with points ranging from 45 to 59.
- 5 Star: Represents Australian excellence with points ranging from 60 to 74.
- 6 Star: Represents world leadership with points ranging upwards of 75.
Anything less than 4 Star does not receive certification and is classed as minimum, average, or good practice results.
Communities wishing to participate in the certification process must pay a certification fee of $60,000. The first project has already been registered: the loop precinct in Canberra. The precinct, which covers 40,000 square metres, will include Green Star rated buildings, electric vehicle recharge points, precinct-wide energy generation, waste management programs, water recapture systems, and a residential carpooling scheme.
Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in Canberra, commented, “This great new tool goes to the heart of what we are seeking to achieve with our National Urban Policy - and that is to make our cities more productive, sustainable and liveable.”
For more information, see this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jMfTt65QaDw
