The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) certified 150 Green Star projects in 2014 – up from 105 in 2013, and they’re saying it signals a continued shift towards sustainability for the construction and property industries.

The 43 per cent increase in certification was also strengthened by the registration of 115 new Green Star projects over the course of 2014, which is an encouraging sign for 2015, observes GBCA's Chief Executive Officer, Romilly Madew. 

“We now have 796 Green Star certified projects around Australia, with a further 392 registered to achieve ratings” she says.

“Green Star is influencing the design and construction of schools and shopping centres, hospitals and hotels, libraries, law courts, apartments, aquatic centres, and everything from small inner-city projects to large-scale developments that will one day have their own postcodes.”

The number of project teams achieving their Green Star rating in Round 1 has grown dramatically in the last year, sitting at 13 per cent in 2014, compared with just one per cent in 2012.

Development:

Construction and development firm Lend Lease was recognised by the GBCA with the title of ‘Development Leadership’ for 2014. The firm had eight certified ratings in 2014 for projects such as Library at the Dock in Melbourne and the T2 commercial tower at Sydney's Barangaroo (pictured centre).

Lend Lease also bagged the first rating under the Green Star – Interiors PILOT rating tool for its Shared Services office in Sydney and has the most active Green Star projects on the go – 16 in total.

When it comes to new project registrations, Frasers-Australand is this year's leader with a total of 12 Green Star projects registered in 2014. 

Frasers-Australand is currently working on 14 Green Star projects, and registered industrial facilities, retail centres, office buildings, residential towers and entire communities to achieve Green Star ratings in 2014.

Consultancy:

Engineering consultancy firm WSP was given the ‘Consultancy leadership’ title by the GBCA for its work on the most certified projects in 2014 – 13 in total. This was followed closely behind by Cundall (12 projects) and Umow Lai (11 projects).

Office Space:

Twenty three per cent of Australia's CBD office space is now Green Star certified and 2014 was the first year in which there were more active Office As Built projects than Office Design projects.

Leighton Properties delivered the most Green Star office projects in 2014 – six in total. Charter Hall Holdings delivered the most Office As Built projects, with four in total.

420 Flinders Street, Townsville by Arkhefield received a 5 STAR GREEN STAR RATING - GREEN STAR - OFFICE AS BUILT V3 in 2014. Image: Arkhefield.

Retail:

Stockland earned the ‘Retail leadership’ from the GBCA for holding the titles of seven of the nine active Green Star – Retail projects. It also was recently the first Australian property group to sell green bonds in a bid to fund the development of more environmentally sound projects.

Education:
Monash University achieved three Green Star ratings for education projects in 2014, and registered two projects to acheive Green Star– Performance and Green Star – Multi Unit Residential ratings.

Government:
The Victorian Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure gained five separate Green Star ratings for upgrades to Footscray, West Footscray and Sunshine railway stations and the new railway stations in Wyndham Vale and Tarneit, which all received 4 Star Green Star – Custom Design certification in 2014.

Other 'firsts':

The first Green Star – Communities rating was awarded to Brisbane Airport Corporation for the 2,700 hectare Brisbane Airport site, which will eventually house more than 50 commercial office, mixed use, retail and industrial buildings.

The first Green Star – Performance rating was awarded to the GPT Group for 800 Bourke Street in Melbourne.