A new agreement between Australia's two leading environmental rating tools for buildings - Green Star and NABERS - is expected to deliver a more consistent and compatible approach to building rating.
A memorandum of understanding between the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), which manages Green Star, the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Climate Change and Water (DEWHA) and the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), which administers NABERS, outlines the parties' commitment to share information on rating tool development, calculators, benchmarks and methodologies to strengthen both rating systems.
"This will deliver greater compatibility between the assessment of building attributes covered by Green Star and performance of key impact areas such as energy, water and waste, which are assessed by NABERS," says GBCA chief executive, Romilly Madew.
DECCW's manager built environment, Matthew Clark, believes that the collaboration will help to close the loop between the design and construction professions and those who ultimately operate and occupy a building.
The agreement has already received solid support from industry, with the chief executive of the Property Council of Australia, Peter Verwer, saying "the marketplace will welcome this strong signal of collaboration."
The next step is the formation of a working group which will consider, scope and direct specific projects to improve the technical consistency and general compatibility between the tools.
