NABERS marches on

NABERS’ 2018–2019 annual report shows that it continues to gain momentum as a force for sustainable transformation of Australia’s built environment.

The report provides updates on the many initiatives under the NABERS banner, with positive news all round.

One of the highlights has been the uptake of the scheme in shopping centres around the country.

“NABERS for shopping centre ratings grew for the fifth year in a row, increasing by 28 per cent on the previous financial year to 189,” says NABERS Director Carlos Flores, M.AIRAH.

“This represents over half of all retail area that could be certified by NABERS nationally, the highest uptake of any voluntary NABERS tool ever. Most importantly, NABERS-rated centres are now reducing energy use and carbon emissions faster than almost any other sector in the Australian economy.”

Flores says there is still work to be done in this sector, especially for smaller centres and private owners. With this in mind, NABERS worked with leaders in the sector to expand NABERS to shopping centres as small as 5,000m2.

The residential sector has also embraced the rating system via the NABERS for Apartment Buildings program. Since its introduction in 2018, more than 100 buildings have been certified. The rapid uptake has been driven by local councils such as the City of Sydney and Melbourne, which have offered grants for improving the sustainability of residential buildings.

NABERS has also been working on tools and programs to support and complement the rating system.

The Sustainable Portfolios Report compiles NABERS data on some of Australia’s largest building portfolios, with a view to driving investment in more sustainable buildings. The latest report lists 27 of Australia’s leading sustainability portfolios. NABERS says it has become one of the most visited pages on the website.

The broader energy use of buildings has been addressed through the NABERS Waste program, which allows companies to rate and track their waste generation.

And NABERS is doing work to support assessors by providing online training and via the development of NABERS Online – a cloud-based platform for calculating ratings across all building types.

As announced in its five-year plan earlier this year, NABERS has ambitious goals. It plans to expand across every major building type and double the number of NABERS ratings (based on 2017-18 figures) by 2023.

Read the annual report.