The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) is being extended from five to six stars.

NABERS is a national building rating system that benchmarks the environmental performance of buildings in operation. It is a federal program administered by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

The new 6-star rating was launched by Office of Environment and Heritage chief executive Lisa Corbyn.

Corbyn said the extra star acknowledged that the Australian property industry is reaching a standard previously considered beyond world's best practice.

"In the 10 years since the NSW Government introduced the first environmental performance rating for offices, Australian commercial buildings have become so much more efficient the time has come to introduce a sixth star," Corbyn said.

"This is a move that was called for by top performers in the commercial property industry who are already moving beyond NABERS five-star excellence towards a market-leading six star goal."

"It reflects an ongoing improvement in the environmental performance of Australian buildings over the past 10 years, underpinned by the robustness of the NABERS tool as a performance measure."

Office buildings using NABERS to measure and manage energy and water use improved greenhouse performance by an average11.5 per cent and water efficiency by 9 per cent.

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has welcomed the announcement, noting that being able to incorporate the new standard will benefit their planned Green Star — Performance project.

NABERS is a national program, administered by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. It includes tools for Energy, Water, Waste and Indoor Environment.

Sixty per cent of Australian office space has been rated with NABERS Energy, 68 per cent in NSW. Around five per cent of rated buildings are currently achieving a 5 star rating, set as an aspirational target in 2000.

A 6-star rating will be awarded for 'Market Leading' performance, and will represent a 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or water use from 5 stars.

Grocon and GPT will target a 6 star NABERS Energy rating for the ground breaking Legion House project in Sydney. As part of the 161 Castlereagh Street development, the 1902 heritage building will be refurbished to be carbon neutral. When completed, Legion House expects to be the first 6 star NABERS heritage building in Australia.Grocon is working with sustainability consultants Umow Lai and architects FJMT to develop Legion House in Sydney into the ‘greenest’offices in Australia, and can be expected to be a contender for the 6 Star NABERS rating.

Local Government Super has committed to retrofitting 76 Berry Street in North Sydney, including an innovative tri-generation system, to achieve a 6 star NABERS Energy rating.

NABERS Commitment Agreements enable building proponents to promote their NABERS rating commitment from the outset of a project, and provide a process to achieve measurable operational performance results.

For more information on the extension of the NABERS scheme, go to nabers.com.au

Architecture & Design Team

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