The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has announced two new developments to coincide with the launch of 'Green Star Revolution'.

Andrew Aitken, the GBCA's Green Star Executive Director, says Green Star Revolution is the GBCA's most ambitious undertaking, and aims to make Green Star simpler, faster, more consistent and more cost-effective.

Last year, the GBCA undertook a comprehensive review of Green Star, surveying members, assessing submissions made to the Green Star Technical Assurance Committee and undertaking market research projects.

"We listened carefully to the industry, and are now integrating many of the great ideas we heard to simplify Green Star certification, ensure greater consistency and transparency and ensure Green Star continues to evolve," Aitken says.

The first project sees the assessment of Green Star Innovation credits move from Round 2 to Round 1.

"Until now, Innovation credits were assessed during Round 2. Project teams told us that this created uncertainty as to whether they would achieve the Innovation points. By moving the assessment of Innovation credits to Round 1, project teams will have more time to provide additional information to substantiate Innovation claims. This new process will also reduce the costs associated with Innovation claims, as project teams will no longer need to include buffer credits just in case they aren't awarded the Innovation points," Aitken explains.

The GBCA is also introducing an additional free Credit Interpretation Request (CIR) for area definitions.

CIRs are submitted to the GBCA when a project team wishes to advocate for an alternative yet equivalent method of meeting the aims of a Green Star credit.

"Project teams often require a CIR to define how different space types within their projects are to be addressed. By providing a free area definition CIR at the start of each project, the GBCA will provide extra certainly when determining which spaces are relevant to each credit," Aitken explains.

"While these changes may seem small, the feedback we've already received from industry suggests they will make a big difference to how project teams manage their Green Star submissions.

"These are just the first two on a very long list of revolutionary projects which we believe will transform Green Star," Aitken concludes.

More information about the Green Star Revolution project can be found online:

www.gbca.org.au/revolution

Architecture & Design Team

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