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A group of leading Australian experts in sustainable building and design have answered the call to judge the 2015 Sustainability awards.

Established as Australia’s longest running program specific to recognising sustainable design practices; the ninth annual Sustainability Awards will once again honour projects and products on the forefront of sustainable building innovation.

This year’s panel includes dwp|suters’ National Sustainability Leader Rory Martin, Lend Lease Sustainability Consultant Darryl Stuckey, Envirotecture founding director Dick Clarke and Norman Disney & Young Global Sustainability Director Tony Arnel.

Re-joining the band of experts is Suzie Barnett, a 2014 judge and a key player in establishing the green building movement in Australia.

Bringing together a wealth of knowledge and expertise, the judges will now be tasked with deciding which entrants demonstrate the highest levels of excellence and innovation in contributing to a sustainably built environment.

Finalists will be announced in September, with winners honoured at a gala dinner in October.

Introducing this year's panel of experts:

DARRYL STUCKEY

One of Lend Lease’s fundamental sustainability practitioners, Stuckey is an accomplished scientist with 15 years of experience in sustainabile design, in government and corporate sectors.

Since joining Lend Lease, Stuckey has been instrumental in developing an in-house Life Cycle assessment (LCA) capability, and integrating LCA as part of their design and procurement functions.

A key leader in the LCA, Material Science and Climate Adaptation Team, Stuckey has been responsible for managing and delivering Lend Lease’s embodied carbon reduction commitment for the $6 billion Barangaroo South Waterfront renewal project in Sydney.

Stuckey has worked to deliver sustainable design solutions on a number of other Lend Lease projects including Australia’s first multi-story engineered timber building and a range of other commercial and residential fit outs and developments.


RORY MARTIN

Named ‘Future Green Leader’ by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for his ardent commitment to innovative sustainable design, dwp|suter's National Sustainability Leader Rory Martin joins the judging panel for the very first time.

Describing sustainable design practises as simply “good design”, Martin is a Green Star Accredited Professional that strongly believes in minimising environmental impact while still meeting economic targets.

Having previously completed projects across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia, Martin has solid experience in design, consultancy, project delivery and industry standards.

Responsible for building a sustainable culture both internally and for the agenda of all dwp|suters' projects, Martin is a highly regarded professional that has made an enormous contribution to building cleaner, greener spaces that benefit building occupants and users.


DICK CLARKE

Our returning judge on the awards panel, Dick Clarke is the founding director of Envirotecture, a design outfit which also offers a range of training courses tailored to increase practical solutions with focus on sustainability in building design and construction.

Clarke is involved with various government and non-governmental bodies that focus on environmental issues surrounding the innovation and design of sustainable environments.

He holds a Master of Sustainable Futures degree by research (awarded from the Institute of Sustainable Futures UTS), having pursued the topic of the effect of state and local planning instruments on the sustainability of the built environment.

A contributing writer and editor to the widely acclaimed Your Technical Home Manual, Clarke has also previously sat on the NatHERS AccuRate Technical Advisory Committee and the Basix Industry Reference Group.

Having trained with environmental philanthropist Al Gore in November 2006; Clarke is a volunteer presenter with the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Climate Project, as well as the Director of Sustainability at the BDA of NSW and past president of the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA).


TONY ARNEL

Tony Arnel is the Global Director of Sustainability at architectural engineering firm, Norman Disney & Young.

A founding Director and former Chair of both the GBCA and the World Green Building Council, Arnel is a highly respected international expert and leader in the field of sustainable innovation.

He has been a member of the Australian Building Codes Board – and for more than a decade – drove the implementation of sustainability principles into the national building code; including new energy efficiency standards for all classes of buildings.

Appointed President of the Energy Efficiency Council in February this year, Arnel is committed to the development of policies and platforms that support smarter, more sustainable use of energy.

Arnel is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and Victorian Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

His list of accolades is impressive; having received the Australian Review’s ‘True Leadership’ award in 2009, the inaugural ‘Leadership in Sustainability Award’ from the Australian Institute of Architects in 2010, the ‘Individual Award for Contribution to Sustainability’ in 2011 and most recently, the Chairman’s Award from the World Green Building Council for his contribution as Chair between 2008 and 2011.


SUZIE BARNETT

A strategic thinker, marketer and industry connector, Barnett was a key player in establishing the green building movement in Australia and globally.

Barnett has spent the better part of the last decade helping to transform the Green Building Council of Australia from a small industry group into an internationally recognised green building authority.

Barnett’s current focus is on driving change in the building product supply chain and trends including circular economy, health and wellbeing, toxicity, transparency and new procurement methods.

Growing tired of seeing ‘green-wash’, superficial marketing methods, Barnett – alongside global sustainability leaders David Gottfried, Che Wall and Maria Atkinson – established RegenX, a non-competitive, collaborative leadership group focusing on business disruption strategies in the building supply chain.

In 2013 she started her own PR and Marketing consulting business, Suzie Barnett Consulting, and began a successful collaboration with Nicole Smith at Tin Shed Marketing to deliver marketing strategies and advice to companies dedicated to the supply of authentic and genuine green building products and services.

Barnett holds a degree in Commerce (PR & Marketing) and has over 20 years of experience positioning and creating new business opportunities for small, medium and large companies throughout Australia. She has spoken at many conferences in both Australia and overseas on the topic of green building and also been involved in the inception, writing and editing of key research and publications such as “The Dollars & Sense of Green Buildings”, “Valuing Green” and the “Green Building Market Report”.