Green Star Buildings - the latest version of Green Star, is being adapted for the New Zealand market. Following last year’s consultation, we have been working with our colleagues at GBCA, our Green Star Advisory Committee, local technical experts and this week finished our last session with our Expert Reference Panels. This work is helping us hone in on how we can ensure Green Star can help deliver the best buildings for our future.
Thank you to everyone who has helped shape the new tool so far. We’re grateful to have the support and expertise of dozens of sector leaders, including our technical partners Norman Disney & Young and project managers RDT Pacific.
Cultural credits
A significant new part of Green Star Buildings is the addition of two credits on indigenous inclusion, and cultural heritage and identity. We have had a lot of feedback on these credits and we still have a way to go to ensure we get them right. It’s important these credits help guide genuine, socially responsible outcomes and we expect to establish and work with a Māori working group in the coming months.
If you have any expertise in this area we would love to have you involved. Please get in touch with the Green Star team.
Products and Materials
Green Star Buildings will also establish a database for sustainable products and materials, eco-labels and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Given the scale of work we anticipate this will likely mirror the GBCA database.
Embodied Carbon
One of the exciting developments in our industry has been the growing focus on tackling embodied carbon. Green Star Buildings will further prioritise the elimination of carbon emissions from the built environment, extending on those set by Green Star Design & As Built NZ v1.1
With the release of Design and As Built v1.1 in October 2022, all projects are required to show that their building has 10% less upfront carbon as related to a reference building. With our partners and thinkstep-anz we have successfully consulted on our recommended industry approach to embodied carbon. This industry guidance is an essential way of ensuring a consistent approach is being taken throughout the industry, and that we can rely on embodied calculations regardless of what calculator is used.
That final guidance is set to be released in the coming weeks, alongside our own embodied calculator to be used with Design and As Built v1.1 credit 19.
For those wanting to get hands on with the tool, we are hosting an Embodied Carbon Masterclass after the Green Property Summit in Auckland this May. Register here
Spaces are limited so get in quick.
What’s next?
Now that we’ve heard from the industry, the team is working to bring it all together for your further input. We expect to release a draft copy of the Green Star Buildings Technical Manual in July 2023. That will provide a detailed look at the credits and what the update will likely mean for you.
We plan to have industry outreach from July to September 2023 to get your feedback on the draft version of the manual.
Please keep an eye out for events in your city over the coming months. It will be a great chance to hear more and discuss your thoughts in person.
We're excited to bring Green Star Buildings to NZ next year, and with your input we're confident our industry will help deliver a better built Aotearoa.
Thanks to our partners
Localising Green Star Buildings to New Zealand is a significant step which wouldn't be possible without support from our partners who are donating their time and expertise over the next year as we dive into the detail