June 26, 2009—The Green Building Council of Australia recently approved two new Green Star tools for healthcare and multi-unit residential facilities. Both tools will be freely available for download from the GBCA Web site shortly, as well as for independent third-party accredited assessment.
The Green Star—Healthcare v1 rating tool evaluates the environmental potential and integrated fitout of health and aged care facilities. It also assesses major refurbishments of existing facilities.
The Green Star—Multi Unit Residential v1 tool is applicable to new multi-unit residential facilities, and extensions to and major refurbishments of existing multi-unit residential facilities, provided they meet Green Star eligibility criteria.
With an ever-increasing focus on greening cities, these new Green Star tools will enable building owners and developers to minimize the environmental impacts of their developments, capitalize on the environmental benefits of their initiatives, and receive recognition for more environmentally sustainable design, says GBCA.
The new Green Star tools join GBCA’s well-established rating tools for commercial offices (design, construction, and interior fitouts), retail centers, and schools and universities.
