Posted 25 March 2015 - 9:22am
The positive effects of high performance buildings on people’s health, wellbeing and productivity needs much greater public promotion, leading building industry partners of the CRC for Low Carbon Living’s Closing the Loop Project concluded following workshops held in conjunction with the Green Cities 2015 conference.
Internationally renowned green design architect and researcher Professor Vivian Loftness of Carnegie Mellon University, who spoke at the conference and took part in the workshops, outlined the power of implementing the triple bottom line plus the financial, environmental and human benefits of good design choices.
Brett Pollard, Head of Knowledge and Sustainability at HASSELL said that there was plentiful research and evidence from academic experts such as Professor Vivian Loftness, however the message about the benefits was still not getting through to people who are procuring buildings.
“Ultimately if you construct a building that does not take advantage of the evidence, organisations and businesses are missing out on the opportunity to create workplaces that are healthier and more effective,” he said.
Lauren Haas, Australasia Sustainability Manager for Brookfield Multiplex added: “For business, a low performance building can mean disengaged employees with low performance, higher levels of absenteeism and many thousands of dollars wasted per year in lost productivity. If office workers, students or patients in hospitals are more informed about what can be achieved through high performance buildings they can help drive demand for these buildings.”
Lester Partridge, Industry Director - Building Engineering at AECOM also took part in the workshops and said: “Vivian Loftness showed us a very powerful example in the workshop by comparing the decision making processes for a car, laptop and a building. People know more about the features of a car which may only be owned for 3-5 years or a laptop which might last 2 or 3 years than they do about the features of a building that will last in excess of 30 years. The conversation about high performance buildings needs to change and people need to be more aware of the true cost of buildings.”
The Closing the Loop project will continue to work with leaders like Vivian Loftness and other industry partners to develop measures such as public promotion of high performance buildings to that our built environment and its occupants have positive outcomes for business and the community.
CRC and Closing the Loop media inquiries:
CRCLCL - Sharon Kelly E: s.kelly@lowcarbonlivingcrc.com.au M: +61 414 780 077
Brookfield Multiplex - Jacqueline Connors or Karen Gampenov at The PR Partnership M: 0432 490 249 (JC) OR 0411 795 131 (KG) E: jacqueline@prpartnership.com.au OR karen@prpartnership.com.au
Hassell - Victoria Firth, Communications Advisor E: vfirth@hassellstudio.com M: 0415 194 095
AECOM - Tim McNamara, Media Advisor – Australia New Zealand M: 0414 573 169
