Green Star Communities Rating Tool

The GBCA is Australia's only independent and nationally representative member-based organisation for sustainable building. One of its core businesses is the development and maintenance of tools for assessing and independently certifying best practice performance.

Government and industry have asked the GBCA to develop a rating tool that assesses the application of the five national Green Star - Communities principles in planning and development projects. This tool is called Green Star - Communities and is a voluntary tool available for government and industry to demonstrate best practice in the planning, delivery and performance of innovative sustainable development projects.

Prior to commencing the tool development process , the GBCA scoped the needs of industry and government stakeholders (refer to the Green Star - Communities Draft Tool Scoping Paper). The GBCA also commissioned Griffith University to identify key research and interest topics relating to the national principles that are documented in a series of Information Papers.

Existing tools were also reviewed to identify their strengths in achieving the outcomes sought by the principles contained within the framework. The outcomes of this review are documented in the Aurecon review of existing tools and the existing tool exploration process undertaken by SBE

A Technical Working Committee (TWC) of GBCA members has been established to develop the Green Star - Communities rating tool. GBCA members specialising in the issues underpinning the principles and their ability to integrate these issues have been selected for the TWC.

Green Star - Communities will contain best practice criteria and benchmarks for sustainable communities and provide information on the assessment and certification process.

When a pilot (draft) tool has been developed it will be tested on eligible projects. Feedback will be used to refine the tool before it is released for government and industry use.

The GBCA will establish the necessary systems and infrastructure to independently assess and certify projects, and to continually review and update the criteria and benchmarks in the tool.

 

Contact:
Adam Beck
Manager Sustainable Communities
Green Building Council of Australia
Phone: 07 3229 3299
Mobile: 0410 506 043
Email: adam.beck@gbca.org.au