The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has launched a new rating tool to assess the interior fitout of any building type.
The Green Star - Interiors PILOT rating tool is a 'next generation' Green Star rating tool, having evolved from the Green Star - Office Interiors v1.1 rating tool.
"Green Star - Interiors will expand the benefits of Green Star certification to new market sectors, drive industry innovation, and set new benchmarks of best practice for sustainable interiors," says the GBCA's chief executive, Romilly Madew.
The GBCA released the Green Star - Office Interiors v1.1 rating tool in 2005 to encourage higher levels of environmental sustainability in office fitouts by providing best practice benchmarks for a range of issues such as natural light, fresh air, waste management and low-emissions materials. More than 100 offices around Australia have achieved Green Star certification under the rating tool, with a further 100 projects registered for certification.
"Based on our experience designing, constructing and occupying Green Star-rated tenancies, we believe that a building's interior has the greatest positive impact on the health, well being and performance of its occupants," says Michael Barnes, Chief Executive Officer of ISIS Group Australia, which is the gold sponsor of Green Star - Interiors.
"We expect the new Green Star - Interiors tool will reinforce this view and provide greater opportunity for businesses across a broader range of buildings to enjoy the social, environmental and economic benefits of a Green Star fitout," Barnes adds.
"The new rating tool also provides a platform for further debate on whether the base building or the tenancy fitout itself has the greatest impact on tenancy performance.
“This is particularly relevant in the commercial office sector where the expectation is that new buildings will achieve a minimum 5 Star Green Star As Built rating under the Office v3 tool, but where tenancy ratings are still considered to be optional," said ISIS's group manager of quality, safety and sustainability, Josh Bruce.
International design firm, Hassell, which is also sponsoring the rating tool, has confirmed it will seek a Green Star - Interiors PILOT rating for its new Sydney studio.
"We want our new home to be an exemplar of the latest thinking in sustainability and workplace design. Being involved in piloting the new rating tool will allow us to get to grips with the new tool and apply the lessons learnt to our clients' projects as well as our own new workplace," says Hassell's head of knowledge and sustainability, Brett Pollard.
Madew added: "The dozens of companies that operate from Green Star-rated office fitouts already understand that a sustainable workplace can boost productivity and act as a powerful recruitment and retention tool.
“We also know that green building principles, when integrated into building interiors in schools, hospitals and retail centres, can deliver massive health and productivity benefits. Green Star - Interiors will help our industry to deliver more productive, more sustainable and healthier indoor environments for a much broader range of people.”
Green Star - Interiors is now available as a PILOT rating tool, and the GBCA is seeking expressions of interest from projects, particularly in the education, retail and hospitality sectors, to test the rating tool's credits and achieve the first certifications in their market segments.
More information is available at: www.gbca.org.au/interiors
