The Green Building Council of Australia has released Green Star – Communities, an independent, national rating tool that is aimed at driving more sustainable, productive and liveable communities.
Anthony Albanese, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, launched Green Star – Communities at the Built Environment Meets Parliament conference in Canberra yesterday. The new Green Star rating is one of the world’s first rating tools designed to encourage higher levels of sustainability across a broad range of issues.
The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) brought together industry and all levels of government to create the rating tool, which will benchmark community developments against six categories: liveability, economic prosperity, environment, design, governance and innovation.
“Green Star – Communities will support the planning, design and delivery of communities, precincts and neighbourhoods that prioritise environmental sustainability – such as minimising energy and water consumption, and reducing dependence on motor vehicles – alongside broader issues such as economic prosperity, liveability and community health and wellbeing,” Romilly Madew, GBCA chief executive, states.
Maria Efkarpidis from principal sponsor Rock Development Group, notes, “This assessment tool is an important step for the Australian building and construction industry. It follows global trends that consider the sustainability of entire communities and precincts from the beginning to the end of the development process. This tool will set the standard for building genuinely green communities.”
“We now have a practical, holistic rating system able to transform the talk about the future of our communities into actions and results,” Madew concludes.
