Helping our cities go green

Helping our cities ‘go green’The World Green Building Council and the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living have signed a memorandum of understanding to assist cities to pave the way for a low-carbon future.The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) is a coalition of more than 100 national Green Building Councils and their 27,000 member companies that aims to create sustainable buildings and cities. The Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) is Australia’s leading organisation working towards building sustainable communities. It supports Australian industry to be globally competitive in the low-carbon built environment sector.The organisations have agreed to collaborate on the ‘Closing the Loop’ project, which aims to improve the building industry’s environmental performance and to promote an understanding of how building design can improve people’s quality of life.The project, which has the support of major industry players Brookfield Multiplex, HASSELL and AECOM, will make the case for more sustainable built environments through better business case analysis, professional education and practical tools and guidelines.According to the CRCLCL’s CEO, Scientia Professor Deo Prasad, “The Closing the Loop project will help global industries create built environments to positively impact people’s health, wellbeing and productivity while improving the building industry’s environmental performance.”The WorldGBC will support the CRCLCL by designating staff to help facilitate the project, maintaining ongoing dialogue with the CRCLCL, and pursuing areas in which the two organisations can work together.”Collaborating with the World Green Building Council provides our project team with a unique opportunity to tap into the global leadership and significant knowledge that already exists throughout the world, thanks to the council,” said Professor Prasad.The Closing the Loop project aims to stimulate profitability as a natural consequence of improving the built environment.”With up to 90 per cent of a company’s costs spent on salaries and benefits, even modest improvements to staff health and productivity can have a dramatic impact on organisational profitability,” said the WorldGBC’s CEO, Jane Henley.”Closing the Loop will enhance our understanding of the health, wellbeing and productivity implications of building design so we can create environments that positively encourage health and wellbeing and stimulate productivity,” she said.