Two Canberra buildings are both claiming the mantle of the city’s most eco-friendly offices as confusion reigns about which is the greenest of them all.
Walker Corporation’s development at 50 Marcus Clarke Street in Civic has been awarded the highest energy efficiency rating in Canberra and the developers said yesterday the rating made ”the building arguably the most ecologically sustainable commercial development in the ACT”.
But there’s a rival on the block, with Molonglo Group’s Nishi at New Acton, soon to be home to the federal Department of Climate Change, also laying claim to the title of Canberra’s greenest of the green.
Developers Molonglo Group are spruiking Nishi as a building for ”the environmental age” and are promising a five-star NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) rating and a six Green Star rating, from Green Building Council Australia.
The Attorney-General’s Department’s shiny new building at Barton’s National Circuit came agonisingly close to the title, with the same energy rating as the Walker’s development, however, when green power was taken into account, Marcus Clarke Street came out on top.
The rival boasts about green credentials highlight the confusion about how to measure the eco-credentials of an office building, a problem that has both the public and private sectors scratching their heads.
With the Walker building on Marcus Clarke, the new headquarters of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, awarded a NABERS rating of 5 stars, the seemingly tiny detail of the development gaining this rating ”through energy efficiency alone” is vital in the green debate.
According to a NABERS spokeswoman, the ratings use actual performance data, such as energy bills, to measure the real environmental performance of a building, awarding a rating out of six stars to compare it to others in the marketplace.
”The ratings are based on greenhouse intensity and energy intensity per metre squared,” the spokeswoman said.
The Attorney-General’s building in Barton was only half a star behind Marcus Clarke Street in the vital ”without green power” section.
”A six-star NABER rating represents a 50per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from a five-star rating,” she said.
”It’s an aspirational target which is very difficult to achieve without purchasing green power.”
Nishi is due for completion in October, and developer Molonglo Group is promising a five-star NABERS rating and a six Green Star rating.
Molonglo Group Director Nectar Efkarpidis said in 2010 the new building would be one for ”the environmental age”.
”It will use 50 per cent less energy and produce 40 per cent less carbon emission than the highest 5-star NABERS rated building,” he said.
But Walker remained bullish yesterday, saying its $280 million building includes ”green walls”, a ”tri-generation energy unit” and a ”grey-water recycling plant”. Company general manager of development David Gallant said he was particularly pleased Walker had not had to resort to buying green energy to bump up its place in the standings.
”It is pleasing to achieve this level of recognition without purchasing green power to increase our rating,” he said.
