Green Building in Melbourne

As Australias fastest growing city, Melbourne has been consistently embedding

sustainability into its long-term development plans in order to ensure that growth is both
economically and environmentally responsible. Greening buildings in the City of Melbourne
is an important step in saving water, waste and energy in a time of changing climate. The
City has been working with office buildings, hotels, high rise residential apartments and food
businesses to help make these changes.
The City of Melbourne has set an ambitious goal for the municipality toward zero net
emissions. One of the underpinning strategies of that goal is with improving building design,
which described as Reduction in energy use through the uptake of ecologically sustainable
design (ESD) principles in new and existing buildings. This policy identifies two key areas of
action:

Commercial sector, including a large-scale green retrofit program for existing office
buildings and increasing sustainability standards of new buildings.

Residential sector, including the facilitation of emission reductions in households

through energy efficiency and waste and recycling program.
There are four program dedicated for green building purpose. To reduce carbon

emissions from the commercial sector, 1200 Buildings program and City Switch Green Office
program was already undertaken. As for residential sector, there are two green building
programs devoted to apartment building which are Smart Block and High Rise Recycling
Project.

1. 1200 Building
Retrofitting buildings to improve environmental performance benefits owners by
supporting greater attraction and retention of tenants and by future proofing assets against
rising energy costs. It also benefits society by lessening the sectors contribution to global
greenhouse gas emissions.
The City of Melbournes 1200 Buildings Program was launched in 2010 and aims to
catalyse the retrofit of commercial, non-residential buildings in the municipality of Melbourne.
The 1200 Buildings program launched to drive the retrofit of 1200 commercial office
buildings in the municipality of Melbourne by 2020. This represents more than more than two
thirds of Melbourne's commercial buildings.
The 1200 Buildings program encourages and supports building owners, managers
and facility managers to improve the energy and water efficiency of commercial buildings by
providing information, tools, educational seminars and events. Access to finance can prove a

barrier to retrofitting and the City has worked closely with industry to develop an innovative
finance mechanism called Environmental Upgrade Finance.
The 1200 Buildings program is a key component of the Citys Zero Net Emissions
strategy which aims for a carbon neutral municipality by 2020. If commercial buildings
improve their energy efficiency by approximately 38 percent, 383,000 tonnes of greenhouse
gas emissions (CO2-e) will be eliminated each year. This will contribute significantly to the
Melbourne becoming a carbon neutral city. The 1200 Buildings program aims to:

Eliminate 383,000 tonnes of CO2-e per annum

Create 8,000 green collar jobs engineers, environmental and sustainability

consultants, builders, surveyors and many other industry professionals;

Stimulate Melbournes economy during global recession

Lead the way and demonstrate to the world that large-scale transformation can be
achieved
Owners of commercial, non-residential buildings located within the municipality of

Melbourne are eligible to join the 1200 Buildings program. A commitment letter is sent to the
Lord Mayor outlining the owners commitment to achieving a 38 percent improvement in
energy efficiency and a reduction in potable water use within their building/s. Program
signatories have exclusive use of the 1200 Buildings logo to promote retrofit projects to
prospective tenants, shareholders and the community.
As at January 2010, the first 16 companies have signed up, taking on a leadership
role. Running around two years now, the 1200 Buildings program has supported 10 percent
of the building sector to retrofit. Approximately 56 signatories (5 percent of the total) have
committed to promote their efforts, whilst the remaining active building owners representing
the dominant profile (individual and family owned) maintain their privacy.

Environmental Upgrade Finance

To overcome the key barrier of access to finance for environmental retrofits, the City
of Melbourne developed a world first finance mechanism called Environmental Upgrade
Finance. The environmental upgrade finance allows the City, in partnership with Australian
financial institutions, to enter into voluntary environmental upgrade agreements with building
owners to finance environmental upgrades for non-residential buildings.
Under an environmental upgrade agreement, funds advanced by the financier to a
building owner for retrofitting are recovered by Council through a charge linked to rates
collection the environmental upgrade charge. Money received by Council is then forwarded
to the financier.

Environmental upgrade finance is available through the 1200 Buildings Program and
is administered by the Sustainable Melbourne Fund on behalf of the City of Melbourne. The
availability of environmental upgrade finance presents the commercial building sector with
an unprecedented opportunity to become more energy and water efficient.

Figure 1: Environmental Upgrade Finance Diagram

2. City Switch Green Office

CitySwitch Green Office is a national tenant energy efficiency program that works
with office tenants to improve their energy efficiency, thereby reducing carbon pollution. One
of the main reasons for choosing this way to save energy is that tenants directly account for
almost half the electricity consumed in office buildings. Combined with 1200 Buildings
program, the City of Melbourne is building momentum and supporting action and could
feasibly achieve reduction targets in the next ten years.
Greenhouse gas emissions from commercial buildings account for more than half of
the cities total emissions. Implementing some simple actions can reduce emissions, save
money, educate staff and build your businesses reputation as a good corporate citizen. More
than 2 million square metres of office space has signed up to CitySwitch around the country.
The City of Melbourne supports CitySwitch participants by offering tailored
sustainability advice for their businesses, access to case studies and tools for self-auditing,
hosting workshops and networking events and linking opportunities to finance an energy
efficiency retrofit.

Signatories commit to achieve and maintain an accredited 4 stars or higher NABERS

Energy tenancy rating. NABERS Energy measures and rates a tenancy's actual yearly
greenhouse gas emissions using 12 months of energy bills. The commitment is achieved via
low or no-cost energy efficiency improvements such as turning off lights when not in use, or
actions that require a capital outlay.

Case Studies
a. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure
The Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI) tracks and
reports its energy, water and waste use across multiple sites. Hosting quarterly computer
audits, the DTPLI has seen a dramatic increase in the number of staff switching off
computers after hours as a result of consistent monitoring and communication.

33 percent reduction in energy use

30 percent increase in staff switching off computers

20 percent reduction in stationery purchase

b. Baenziger Coles
As an architecture and interior design company, Baenziger Coles walks the talk when it
comes to the sustainability of their own building. Maximising their great solar access,
Baenziger Coles now produces 25 percent of their own power needs from their rooftop
solar array.

10W LED downlights installed

5kW Solar system installed

18,400kWh saved annually

c. GIW and Tract Consultants

GIW and Tract Consultants split their staff into four teams based on desk location
relative to electricity meter coverage and set them against each other in an energy
efficiency competition. The idea worked and a host of low and no cost initiative reduced
the small offices footprint by almost 15 tonnes of carbon emissions.

$4400 annual saving

3. Smart Block
Smart Blocks is a national program helping apartment owners and their managers
save money by improving energy efficiency in apartment buildings. Smart Blocks was
designed and developed with the assistance of apartment owners, strata managers and
facilities managers as part of the Sustainable Strata Project.

On average, residents of high-rise buildings use 25 percent more energy per person
than those living in detached dwellings. Up to half of this energy use comes from common
property (e.g. pools, car parks, hallway lights). A smart apartment block knows to start
saving energy and stop losing money. Investing in energy efficiency could save the
apartment owners corporation up to 20-30% in energy costs.
At the core of Smart Blocks is an interactive online toolkit, designed to help people
discover what energy efficiency improvements can be made to common property in their
own buildings. As an apartment is a share building with many owners, making change in
owners corporation is not an easy task. The toolkit guides people through the steps of
scoping a project and getting it approved by the owners corporation.
Smart Blocks was developed in partnership between Strata Community Australia,
City of Sydney, City of Melbourne, Green Strata and Owners Corporation Network of
Australia. The program received funding from the Department of Climate Change and
Energy Efficiency as part of the Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program.

4. High Rise Recycling Project

More than 70 per cent of City of Melbourne residents live in high rise apartment
buildings. These buildings usually have lower rates of recycling than single dwellings,
townhouses or small apartment blocks, due to the relative inconvenience of accessing
recycling bins. Recycling helps to reduce waste sent to landfill and saves energy, water and
waste by replacing virgin materials in manufacturing.
City of Melbournes High Rise Recycling Project is helping apartment buildings to
improve the amount and quality of recycling being collected. Participating buildings make
simple changes like installing new recycling bins, placing bins in new locations around the
building, putting up new signs and providing residents with educational materials. So far, 101
buildings have participated, which collectively accounts for over 20,500 apartments.

Participating buildings receive:

an initial recycling system assessment

recommendations on how to improve the recycling system

assistance in implementing the recommendations, including free signs, educational

materials and recycling infrastructure, such as crates and bins

a follow-up site visit to check progress and receive feedback

The pilot phase of the project, involving 21 buildings in Southbank, was completed in
November 2012. A further 80 buildings from across the municipality have been through the
process which was completed in June 2013. The project is part-funded by the Victorian
Governments Metropolitan Local Government Waste and Resource Recovery Fund.

5. Other Programs
Green Hotels: Saving in the City
The City of Melbourne's Savings in the City is an innovative environmental program
to help city hotels cut energy, water and waste consumption. It provides leadership, support,
recognition, toolkits and advice on environmental management.
Savings in the City offers the following components: Waste Wise, Water Wise, and
Energy Wise. There are 30 hotels and serviced apartments, large and small, now
participating in the pilot program.

The Savings in the City program has resulted in significant savings:

Waste figures alone show that hotels are saving on average 4.8 litres per guest per
night which equates to 2410 tonnes annually.

Over the last two years an average reduction of water use of 15.3 litres per guest per
night and that's an equivalent saving of 25.4 Olympic swimming pools.

Energy figures demonstrate the total energy saved by the 30 hotels over the last two
years equates to 24,769 tonnes of greenhouse gas or 2890 households - the
population of East Melbourne.

The City of Melbourne is now working closely with a range of partners to bring together
existing programs to provide an integrated service to hotels participating in Savings in the
City:

Sustainability Victoria;

Smart Water Fund;

Australian Hotels Association (AHA);

Hotel Motel and Accommodation Association of Australia (HMAA);

Tourism Victoria.

Energy Performance Contracts for Council buildings retrofits

In October 2009, the City of Melbourne has committed more than $2.5 million to
retrofit 13 Council buildings using the Energy Performance Contract model.

Under the energy performance contracting model, an energy services company is

hired to improve the energy efficiency of a building. The key feature of energy performance
contracting is that the energy services company guarantees the energy savings it will
provide. They are paid from these savings for the term of the contract. If the savings are not
achieved, the energy services company isn't paid. Once the work is completed and the
contract has ended, the full savings revert to the building owner.
Under an agreement between Council and energy services company Honeywell
Building Solutions, the Energy Performance Contract is expected to generate annual energy
savings of around $190,000, greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of 1560 tonnes (equivalent
to the emissions of 348 cars) and savings in water consumption of 11,791 kilolitres (equal to
the water used to fill 52 Olympic swimming pools).
Green Roof Initiative
Construction of green roofs in Australia is so far not widespread. The country's
climactic conditions create a range of issues that need further understanding. Elements such
as rainfall, wind conditions, humidity, solar radiation, temperature and locate substrate
materials have a major impact on the design and function of green roofs.

The City of Melbourne is undertaking a feasibility study for the construction of green roofs on
three key buildings in the Melbourne, which are:

CH1, 225 Bourke Street

The Commonwealth Bank Building

602 Little Bourke Street Melbourne

Delivering Green Building in Indonesia

Global climate change already became a worldwide issue. All country in the world
facing same problem, thus the term of sustainability is learned and tried to be applied in
every sector. In Indonesia, this term already famed, but its application still closed to narrow
range. One of the causes of global climate change is the carbon footprint of the building,
both in commercial and residential sector. These phenomena also occurred in Indonesia.
Reduce the energy, waste, and water in commercial and residential building is proved can
also reduce the environmental issue regarding global climate change.
The hard part is, how to delivering this term of green building to Indonesian people,
especially the government. To this term to fully applied, there must be cooperation between
government, citizen, and the property owner. The government must provide the policy and

trusted system, so all the citizen will have more courage to retrofit their building property into
green building. The citizen, including the property owner, also has to understanding the
environmental issue regarding building carbon footprint. With the support from government,
including the fund system, the green building project is believed can be applied in Indonesia
as well.
Green building is a long-term project and to successfully applied, the citizen and
government has to have better understanding in terms with relation between environment
issue and sustainability policy. Although there are many obstacle in delivering green building
in Indonesia, its importance is believed can provide better environment to future generation.