Rating & Certification Tool: Green Star (NZ)
http://www.nzgbc.org.nz
Summary
A voluntary environmental rating system for the design and construction of buildings and communities.
Certifying body: New Zealand Green Building Council
Award types
New Zealand
The New Zealand Green Building Council was established in 2005. Green Star was launched in New Zealand in 2007 with Green Star -­‐ Office Design. The current suite of tools now covers office, office interiors, custom, industrial and education.
The current suite of tools includes: "Green Star" for commercial buildings, "Homestar" for residential buildings, NABERSNZ for energy performance and BASE (Building a Sustainable Environment). BASE is a simple, introductory-­‐level assessment for new office, retail and mixed-­‐use buildings. It was developed for the Canterbury region, to support the post-­‐earthquake rebuild.
Ninety-­‐seven buildings have been Green Star certified. Forty-­‐five projects are Homestar certified and 17,000 online self assessments have been conducted. Several projects using the BASE tool are in progress. Building owners, operators, designers, tenants.
Government departments have provided financial support for developing the Home Star assessment. Green Star is funded by industry.
Similar to the Australian Green Star system, a "Custom" Green Star process allow the creation of project-­‐specific tools. This is available for projects that are not eligible to be rated under the other tools.
Design
As built
Operation
Planning
Other
Sustainability criteria
Community
/ precinct
The framework has eight environmental impact categories and an innovation category. The eight impact categories are: 1. Management 2. Indoor environmental quality 3. Energy 4. Transport 5. Water 6. Materials 7. Land use & ecology 8. Emissions.
Points are awarded in each credit then a weighting factor is applied to each category to reflect the overall performance of the environmental issue addressed by the category. These weightings vary between each Green Star tool. For the base-­‐building tools (i.e. not interiors) -­‐ Energy is the highest weighted category, followed by Indoor Environmental Quality.
There are three innovation credits in the Green Star system: INN-­‐1 Innovative Strategies and Technologies, INN-­‐2 Exceeding Green Star Benchmarks and INN-­‐3 Environmental Design Initiatives. Innovation credits are added in addition to performance in other categories, boosting overall weighted score.
Assessment: scoring, performance levels, evidence collection
Tailoring
Government Applicants
endorsement
Deployment & developments
Country
General
civil
Applicable sectors Transport
Public
Buildings
only
realm
There are three certified ratings available for all projects (similar to the South African version of Green Star): 4 Star (weighted score 45-­‐59, corresponds to "Best Practice"), 5 star (60-­‐74, "New Zealand Excellence), 6 star (75-­‐100, "World Leadership"). The credit aims and criteria are the same for the "design" and "built" phases of Green Star -­‐ Office Rating, however compliance requirements or types of evidence required is different. The "built" assessment will generally occur after practical completion. As an example of differences is in required evidence: in "design" an applicant provides commitments to do something such as commissioning, in "built" an applicant provides the results of the commissioning to prove the building is operating as designed. Some credits are able to be streamlined from design to built where the evidence is similar and the project team provide a signed document to confirm the building has been built as designed. Credits eligible for built streamlining are listed on the website.
A Homestar Certified rating involves an onsite assessment performed by an independent Homestar Assessor.
For Green Star, certification fees range from $NZ 15,000 (building area < 2,000m2) to $67,500 (building area > 30,000m2) -­‐ excl. GST. Members receive 1/3 off this price There are additional fees for project inquiries and credit interpretation requests. Custom tool fees for tool development and certification requires calculation (a calculator is provided on the website)
Fees current as of August 2013.
Fee
Support to applicants
Technical manuals are available to purchase. The Green Star assessment tool is available on request. Green Star NZ uses a series of interactive pdf templates that project teams complete and submit. There is a template for each credit and one overall summary template to track overall achievement. These are supported by a Technical Manual that provides additional guidance and references. An excel-­‐based potable water calculator and sewage calculator is available to download. Guidelines are provided for: energy calculation, materials calculation, how to complete a good submission and existing buildings.
There is a free online self-­‐assessment tool for Homestar that allows homeowners and tenants to gain an understanding of the performance of their home.
Case study
Project name: ASB North Wharf
Location: Wynyard Quarter, Auckland
Proponent: Tenant: ASB, Owner: Kiwi Income Property Trust
Award: 5 Green Star Office Design 09.
Brief project description: "Sustainable" features of this new building for the ASB head office includes a uniquely patterned steel louvre system; the adoption of a laneways concept into the design of the building and it's surroundings -­‐ promoting openness and a community feel; rainwater harvesting; an atrium skylight to provide natural lighting; natural ventilation; integrated technology to control and manage building services A view of ASB North Wharf showing the uniquely paierned louvre system