The Road to Green Star Revolution in 2011

Green Star Revolution’s seven point plan was launched in 2011 to make Green Star simpler, faster, more consistent and more cost-effective, and deliver a new generation of Green Star tools. 

“Our comprehensive review of Green Star, which included member surveys and market research, as well as submissions made to the Green Star Review Committee, showed us we needed to streamline Green Star,” says Green Star Executive Director, Andrew Aitken.

“We recognise that Green Star must continue to evolve and improve if it is to continue to drive the transformation of Australia’s property and construction industry,” Aitken says.

“We’ve listened carefully to members’ feedback and have now embarked on a visionary series of projects which will ensure Green Star continues to lead the green building industry in Australia.”

Some of the Green Star Revolution projects are truly transformational.  Here’s a summary of what we’ve achieved in 2011:

• Green Star – Performance continues to gain momentum.  A technical working group has been established, and some sponsors have been secured.  Find out how you can support this next generation Green Star rating tool.
• Green Star – Communities takes us beyond buildings to address entire precincts and concepts such as liveability and economic prosperity.  The PILOT tool will be released in early 2012.
• Green Star – Custom continues to exceed our expectations.  Five tools have been developed, and seven projects are registered or currently being processed.
• More than 20 projects have used their free area definition Credit Interpretation Request (CIR) ruling at the start of projects to increase the certainty of their credit claims.
• New ‘deemed to satisfy’ criteria have been developed for some credits to reduce documentation requirements.  These are currently being piloted on Green Star - Custom projects.
• Standard templates for Innovation credits were released in June to reduce time spent on Innovation submissions.  Templates for other credits are in development.
• Innovation assessments were moved from Round 2 to Round 1 in May to decrease costs and increase the certainty of Innovation credit claims.
• Pre-assessment of critical credits, currently being trialled on some pilot projects, will eliminate the need for expensive buffer credits.
• Collaboration with the team administering the National Australian Built Environment Rating Scheme (NABERS) continues.  The GBCA actively participating in a working group that aims to harmonise the three main energy modelling protocols used in the Australian non-residential building industry.

“While some of these changes may seem small, the feedback we’ve already received from industry suggests they will make a big difference to how project teams manage their Green Star submissions,” Aitken explains.

“If there’s one message for the industry, it’s that the GBCA is working hard to make Green Star easier to use.”