Australia’s green game changers
As she accepts a global award for her work to advance sustainable design and construction, the Green Building Council of Australia’s Romilly Madew reflects on defining moments for the world’s greenest property industry.
Madew (pictured), the GBCA’s chief executive officer for more than a decade, was presented with the World Green Building Council’s Chairman’s Award at a special ceremony in Jaipur, India, last week.
The award recognises her work “at the forefront of a global movement to change the shape of our buildings, communities and cities,” says WorldGBC Chairman, Tai Lee Siang.
Madew, who represents 6-plus individual companies with a collective annual turnover of more than $40 billion, says there have been several defining moments over the decade, but arguably the biggest has been the Paris climate change agreement.
“The Paris Agreement was a game changer, even if not everyone realised it at the time.
“Each country now has a finite carbon budget, and a clear deadline for carbon neutral assets to be delivered as a matter of course.
“Two years on, our industry’s leaders recognise that every year of delay now means more pain down the track – and so industry is just getting on with it.”
Madew points to the recent GRESB report, which ranked Australia’s market as the world’s greenest for the seventh year in a row, as evidence of Australia’s pragmatic approach.
“All the megatrends point in one direction. The World Economic Forum considers climate change to be a greater risk than weapons of mass destruction.
“This resonates with shareholders and investors who are concerned about the resilience of their assets in the face of extreme weather and their desire to ‘keep the lights on’. No one wants to be left with stranded assets.”
Madew says rating agencies, banks, institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds are “actively seeking” assets that are carbon neutral.
“For investors, sustainable assets are about risk management. This is why our world-beating GRESB rating is so important,” Madew adds.
Another game changer is the “big picture thinking” which has driven sustainability at the precinct scale.
“Once our industry started to look beyond energy efficiency in single buildings, the size of the opportunity became enormous.
“We worked with all levels of governments, especially state government land organisations, to create a standard that could be nationally relevant. This has led to GBCA working with more than 70 Green Star Communities projects today.”
Madew points to Lendlease’s Barangaroo South in Sydney, where “20,000 people will work, each one of them in a Green Star building”, and Stockland’s Aura on the Sunshine Coast, “which with ,000 residents, will be bigger than some established towns”.
“Our largest asset owners are now rating their entire portfolios, which has accelerated the shift remarkably.”
Vicinity Centres’ decision to achieve a Green Star rating for each shopping centre in its portfolio, and Commonwealth Bank rolling out Green Star bank branches en masse are inspiring, she says.
“Sustainability on this scale is something that many other markets are still grappling with.”
When Madew started in her role in 2006, just eight buildings had achieved Green Star ratings. Many of the buildings considered green icons today were still on the drawing board.
Today, the GBCA has certified more than 1,715 sustainable buildings, communities and fitouts.
Thirty-seven per cent of Australia’s office space has Green Star certification and more than 1.3 million people visit a Green Star-rated shopping centre each day.
“It’s been a huge industry effort – and that is why we continue to lead the GRESB ratings each year,” she says.
“It’s humbling to walk down a street or through a precinct and to see the impact that Green Star has had on our city skylines.
“Of course, I’m excited to see large-scale projects achieve Green Star ratings, and for the industry’s leaders to compete for ‘firsts’.
“But I’m just as impressed by smaller projects where teams are tweaking one design feature, or trialing one new technology, or experimenting with one idea.
“Every time I walk through a site, I learn something new, because sustainability and innovation are so deeply interconnected that each Green Star project challenges the way we design and build.”
Madew says Australia’s property industry is an easy one to champion.
“The drive and passion to do good runs deep, even if people don’t recognise it as sustainability. They might not look at it as ‘green’, but people are genuinely committed to building great places that stand the test of time.”