The World Green Building Council has released a new position paper, Social Impact across the Built Environment, to provide a framework for addressing social issues across the entire building and construction lifecycle.
The paper introduces new scopes for ESG, which mirror the current terminology used in Greenhouse Gas protocol, including scopes 1, 2 and 3, with the inclusion of a new scope 0. The scopes are established in order to restructure environmental, social, and corporate governance reporting, which, according to the report, will bring structure and alignment between the ‘E’ and ‘S’ in the sector.
The organisation encourages organisations across the globe to adopt its new framework on ESG and use it as a guide to plan actions to address social impact.
The four scopes are:
- Scope 0: Entity and internal practices (which would include factors such as corporate governance and diversity and inclusion).
- Scope 1: Building users and site (which encompasses issues on an individual asset scale, including indoor environmental quality, affordability, or adaptability).
- Scope 2: Community and surroundings (considering the broader neighbourhood, community, or city scale, including factors such as social value or climate resilience).
- Scope 3: Supply and value chain (expanding the scale of consideration across the full life cycle to consider indirect issues such as worker rights and modern slavery in the construction and material supply chain).
The publication was showcased at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai.
NAWIC
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) has announced the 2023 NSW Awards for Excellence winners.
Among 40 finalists, 13 companies and individuals were named winners across 13 categories. NAWIC NSW chapter president Georgia Coulston said, “The construction sector is Australia’s third largest employer, but women make up just 12 per cent of the workforce – and just 2 per cent of trades. This statistic has been stagnant for more than 40 years, and this is an industry issue, not a gender issue. Lifting women’s participation is key to boosting productivity, addressing critical labour shortages, and building our nation’s future.”
Key award winners include:
- Crystal Vision Award: Coates
- Business Woman of the Year: Cate Cowlishaw, regional managing principal, HDR
- Award for Team Innovation: John Holland
- Tradesperson Scholarship: Samantha Decolongon and Stacey Swetnam
- Champion of Change Award: David Madden
- Regional Woman of the Year Award: Ashley Barnes of Richard Crookes Construction
Net zero guide
Atlassian has launched its second instalment of its Don’t F&*! The Planet is a guide for companies aspiring to net zero emissions based on its experience.
Since The Fifth Estate covered the original launch earlier this year, nearly 1000 companies have downloaded the guide.
The new edition now includes moving to a carbon offset strategy covering all historical and future offsets.
Passivhaus Playbook
The Australian Passivhaus Association has launched its Passivhaus Playbook in collaboration with Development Victoria and Introba.
The playbook includes a nine-step pathway that covers everything within the cyclical process, from stakeholder funding to design coordination, supply chain and sharing project stories with the wider industry. The authors said the book will provide a method for a technically feasible, buildable, cost-effective Passivhaus approach to new buildings in Australia.
“Since a ‘business as usual’ approach wouldn’t work, the Introba team embraced regenerative practice to catalyse a new approach,” said the guide.
“Regenerative thinking uses an appreciation for living systems to shift outcomes from the degenerative—which focuses on ‘how to minimise harm’—to the regenerative, which focuses on ‘what good looks like’.
Uni Green News: Griffith goes green
Griffith University has announced it will commence construction on its new flagship building at its Nathan campus in Brisbane. The building is set to be delivered in early 2024 by Lendlease and will target a five star Green Star Building V1 rating.
BVN was appointed the building’s architect and lead designer after winning a design competition from the university.
The building will be designed with a central outdoor atrium formed for elevated terraces as its main design. Sensors will also be installed to capture a range of items such as movement, deflection, and groundwater fluctuations.
According to the architects, the building will progress key sustainability initiatives beyond its 5 star Green Star target, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050 through embodied and operational energy modelling. The building is also designed to be a “building that breathes”, including natural late penetration to every corner of the building. Cross ventilation is also controlled through wind turbines.
The building also includes passive design elements such as a sun-shaded façade, roof solar panels and high level automated louvres, allowing internal spaces to operate on natural ventilation.
Notably, the construction of the N82 building will require demolishing its existing N13 building, which is set to commence in the coming months, according to the university.
The university claims the building will include responsible construction and procurement practices and setting embodied carbon targets in line with Australian Excellence.
The building also contains green design considerations towards the Toohey Forest and its fauna and flora.
Turner and Townsend have been engaged in late August to provide superintendency services for the building. The N82 building is scheduled for completion in 2026.
UTS New First Nation College
The University of Technology Sydney has announced Greenaway Architects, Warren and Mahoney, and OCULUS as its winning design team in a competition to find architects for its new National First Nations College.
The winning team was selected by a six-person jury of representatives from UTS and the City of Sydney. Juries claimed the design had a thoughtful connection to country that translated effectively into the built environment.
The design brief stated that each shortlisted team must appoint an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander architect or suitably qualified designer as cultural design lead who met with local Indigenous knowledge holders for an on-site Welcome Ceremony and an opportunity to share local cultural knowledge.
Cultural design lead and Wailwan and Kamilaroi descendant Jefa Greenaway of Greenaway Architects said the college was designed with a deep legacy of Indigenous knowledge, responding with a model of what a First Nations college would be in the 21st century.
Simon Topliss, architectural design lead at Warren and Mahoney, said that the winning design demonstrated the power of an “authentic and sustainable design”.
The college intends to include:
- accommodation for more than 250 students
- internal community spaces
- precinct centre, which accommodates informal gatherings, cultural events, and smoking ceremonies
- student art studio and music room
- meeting rooms, offices, media rooms, quiet study areas and student support spaces
- communal kitchens and dining areas
- extensive native gardens and landscape features