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Sustainable developments a winner for Australia’s green powerhouses
Brian McGuckin 24 Oct 2011
On the back of winning this year’s Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Business Awards for Sustainability in Business, Leighton Properties’ King George Central development at 145 Ann Street, Brisbane has been awarded 6 Star Green Star -Office Design v2 certification. This represents world leadership in environmental sustainability and the development now joins just three other Brisbane CBD prime-grade office towers to have achieved the same rating.
Leighton Properties’ General Manager Queensland and Project Director of King George Central, Brian McGuckin, said the rating has even greater resonance due to the global focus on carbon emissions and the prospect of rising utility, construction and operational costs in the future.
“Builders and building occupants alike will need to pursue more environmentally-sustainable practices. For Leighton Properties, that means a continued commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and undertaking world-leading, sustainable developments.
“We believe tenants will look to mitigate rising energy costs by seeking buildings constructed and maintained to meet best practice environmental and energy efficiency benchmarks. That’s exactly what King George Central delivers,” Mr McGuckin said.
In addition to this certification, King George Central is targeting a 5 Star NABERS Energy rating.
Charles Moore, Fund Manager of the building’s owner, Commonwealth Property Office Fund (CPA or the ’Fund’), said: “Receiving this certification is a great achievement. Owning office properties with strong sustainability credentials such as King George Central is consistent with the Fund’s vision of being the leading manager of Australian office property, delivering above benchmark returns through active management.”
“We have a commitment to continually improve and maintain the performance of our assets,” he said.
According to a paper released by the Green Building Council of Australia, buildings with Green Star and/or NABERS ratings are already yielding greater returns than those buildings without ratings.
“Once a carbon price is introduced, we can expect this trend to accelerate,” said Romilly Madew, Chief Executive of the Green Building Council of Australia.
“The carbon price, backed by complementary measures, can lead to better-informed building choices, with less efficient, more carbon-intensive developments being overlooked in favour of well-designed, more efficient, healthier and more productive buildings and communities.
“Once Australia has a price on pollution, we expect energy-efficient buildings will deliver even more value, because the higher the level of efficiency the lower the eventual cost of abatement,” she said.
The GBCA believes the Australian Government’s proposed carbon price will likely have a two-pronged effect. For builders and developers, there will be rising costs of emissions-intensive building materials such as bricks, concrete, aluminium, glass and steel, as well as increased transport costs to move products.
For landlords and tenants, the rising costs of traditional energy sources such as coal-fired power will increase operational costs for lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling, appliances and information technology, but increase demand for more efficient systems, processes and technologies.
King George Central will be the fifth 6 Star Green Star certification for Leighton Properties, after Green Square North Tower and HQ in Fortitude Valley. Leighton Properties has delivered more Green Star buildings than any other developer in Queensland, with nine Green Star certifications in its portfolio.
For more information
Brian McGuckin
Queensland General Manager
Phone+61 7 3370 4700
Email Brian McGuckin
