Green light for ‘the spot’
[ Research Review 0809 ]
The University’s new Economics and Commerce building has been awarded a five-star Green Star Education Pilot rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
And it has also been short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Award, which recognises the hard work and innovation of the business and community sectors to reduce their carbon footprint and resource use.
Announcing the short-list, Victorian Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings said the finalists all share a vision for a sustainable present and future and the ingenuity to see it through.
The new Economics and Commerce building, affectionately known as ‘The Spot’, is the largest construction in Australia to be awarded the five-star rating under the Green Building Council of Australia’s Pilot Educational Tool.
The 25,000-square-metre 12-storey building forms part of the southern gateway to the University campus and houses a range of collaborative and individual teaching spaces, open access laboratories, theatres, student break-out areas and academic and administrative offices for the Economics & Commerce Faculty.
The building’s rating is part of a pilot for education institutions designed to improve the health and wellbeing of students. It includes environmentally sustainable initiatives including a double-glazed facade with the ability to minimise glare, features for rainwater collection, low-energy light fittings, and bike storage.
Current modelling indicates the ‘green’ building will result in carbon reductions of 73 per cent and water use reductions of 90 per cent compared with a conventional education building of the same size and use.
See: www.pb.unimelb.edu.au/building_projects.html
[Back to Contents] |
|
