Re: Flannery Centre update 13 July 2009

A very good question! There are many different environmental rating systems around though Green Star (managed by the Green Building Council of Australia - GBCA) is a leader in commercial building environmental rating systems (they don't do residential places). Green Star concentrates on the attributes of a building (what is has or doesn't have) rather than its operational performance once complete.

To achieve a Green Star rating, the building has to be 'awarded' points in 9 seperate "impact" categories. Some of these are Indoor Enviiroment Quality, Energy, Water and Management to name but a few. Points in each category can be awarded against attributes within the design or construction and these are then individually weighted and summed to achieve a number that falls within a Green Star accreditation range. For example, to achieve a 4 Star rating, this aggregate figure has to fall in 45 to 59. 5 Star starts at 60 and goes to 74. 6 Star starts at 75 and above. All points are out of 100. It all sounds pretty easy but to each point can be a hard to achieve as it has to be individually submitted for verification.

At this stage there are only 2 buildings in Australia that I know of that has an Education v1. Green Star rating - Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainability (6 Stars and opened only last year) and a Melbourne Uni building (5 Stars).

For more info on GBCA, visit their website www.gbca.org.au/