Real 'Green' Highrise Living

New apartment buildings in Sydney could see a huge reduction in real environmental impacts if actions outlined in a draft residential sustainability plan put together by the City of Sydney is implemented into legislation. This coincides with a shift to make apartment building design ‘greener’, for example, One Central Park which includes a 116 metre high vertical garden.

With approximately 90 per cent of new homes in the city to be high rise apartments by 2030, the City of Sydney Council plans to make apartment living more environmentally friendly in line with the Sustainable Sydney 2030 goals.

Key targets for Sydney apartments:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030
• Reduce water consumption by 7 per cent by 2030
•  Divert 70 per cent of waste from landfill by 2021

At the moment, apartments account for about 10 per cent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

BASIX targets currently require detached and semi-detached dwellings to emit 40 per cent less greenhouse gas than the NSW per capita benchmark, whereas the figure for high-rise apartments is only 20 per cent.

The draft residential sustainability plan is based on data that was collected in the Smart Green Apartments program run by the City of Sydney, and include reviewing and advocating higher BASIX targets to create buildings that not only appear 'green' but perform well environmentally.

The draft residential sustainability plan will be on exhibition until 11 June 2015, and a final plan will go before the council towards the end of 2015.

By Tim Cooper - Planner Sydney

Link to original article:

http://architectureau.com/articles/green-apartments-for-sydney-as-draft-released/

Photos:

One Central Park by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and PTW Architects. Image: Simon Wood

David Boyle Architect’s Polychrome project was shortlisted for the 2015 NSW Architecture Awards for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing and Sustainable Architecture. Image: Brigid Arnott