A residential apartment development, ‘The Summer’, in Western Australia has been awarded Australia’s Green Star residential rating from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). The Summer has been awarded a 4 Star Green Star, a multi-unit residential PILOT certified rating, following their participation as a national pilot project.
According to Green Building Council of Australia, they awarded the residential apartment for its sustainable design features. Green Building Council of Australia note that ‘The Summer’ focused on good passive design principles such as orientation, shading and natural ventilation.
The Green Star environmental rating system for buildings evaluates the green attributes of building projects based on nine criteria, including energy and water efficiency, indoor environment quality and resource conservation. The Green Star multi-unit residential PILOT rating tool was created to enable building owners and developers to minimise the environmental impacts of their developments, capitalise on the environmental benefits of their initiatives and receive recognition for environmentally sustainable design.
The Green Star accreditation process included an assessment of the proposed apartment design, which was developed to reduce environmental impact and increase occupancy comfort levels. The Summer was developed by boutique company, Match, in partnership with investment company, Hawaiian.
The property was designed by architect, Professor Geoffrey Warn of Donaldson Warn Architects, with environmental design assistance from building services consultants, Lincolne Scott Engineers. Located on South Beach Esplanade in South Fremantle, The Summer incorporates a range of environmental design techniques to reuse around 80% of the site waste, provide over 90% of apartments with dual aspects to allow natural ventilation and introduce moveable screens on balconies to provide solar shading. The Summer includes energy efficient appliances, rainwater storage and reduces operating costs by implementing energy conservation principles.