The Green Building Council of Australia has recently released a new Green Star rating tool for industrial facilities to support sustainable building design and construction in high-performance industrial buildings.
The Green Star - Industrial v1 tool was released by The Green Building Council of Australia after a two year development period involving extensive stakeholder feedback and pilot phases.
“Industrial facilities can be intelligent buildings. This doesn’t necessarily mean investing in high-tech solutions, but rather applying common sense principles of good passive design. Just like other green buildings in the office, retail, education and residential sectors, green industrial facilities can save occupants and owners millions of dollars across the industry in reduced energy and water costs alone,” says the GBCA’s Green Star Executive Director, Robin Mellon.
The Green Star rating tool assesses the environmental attributes of new and refurbished industrial buildings in every state across Australia. The industrial base building and its services are assessed under the Green Star - Industrial v1 rating tool. Fitouts and industrial processes are not included in the assessment.
The Green Star - Industrial v1 rating tool includes two sector specific credits; ‘Noise Pollution’ and ‘Small Occupied Spaces’. A number of credits have been significantly improved and are featuring for the first time, such as a revised version of the watercourse pollution credit called ‘Stormwater’, and the revised 'Materials' credits or ‘PVC’, ‘Timber’ and ‘Steel’.
The 'Transport' credit for public transport has also been revised to accommodate regional differences in transportation needs, and the methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emissions is now based on the energy efficiency requirements in section J of the Building Code of Australia (BCA).
“This new Green Star Industrial tool can provide useful guidance and help Australia to become a world leader in green industrial facilities,” says BlueScope Buildings’ National Business Development Manager, Carmelo San Gil.
“The new Green Star - Industrial v1 tool will deliver a single third party certification that the market can understand and trust, and that developers can use to demonstrate their industrial developments’ green credentials,” Robin Mellon concludes.
The Green Star - Industrial v1 tool can be freely downloaded for self-assessment and online registration is open.
