Welcome to our first newsletter in which we hope to provide you with updates on some of the exciting projects we are undertaking and the growing range of services we provide. Viridis E3 is planning to open offices in Melbourne and Sydney in the next 12 months and are also expanding our services to provide a full range of sustainability consulting services to assist our clients with complex and emerging issues.
I hope you find this newsletter interesting and we welcome your feedback or enquiries. If you would prefer not to receive future newsletters please reply with ‘unsubscribe’ in the Subject Line.
Regards
Warren Overton
Managing Director
Project Profiles
Living Building Challenge
Viridis E3, in partnership with the International Living Building Institute, are pleased to announce an exciting public lecture and training tour of Australia to be run in November this year. The tour will provide an opportunity for sustainability professionals to gain first hand understanding and detailed training on the ground-breaking Living Building Challenge program, widely recognised as the world's most advanced and stringent green building program.
Training sessions are proposed for Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane and will be limited to only 50 spaces per session. For further details and to register your interest please contact Ginny Toller on gtoller@ve3.com.au or ring 02 6285 2388.
South African Green Star Public Building Tool Development
Viridis E3 are currently providing strategic support to AGAMA Energy, a Cape Town based company engaged by the Green Building Council of South Africa to develop the South African Green Star Public Building PILOT rating tool. Viridis E3 are assisting in strategy development, review of existing tools, general category assistance, and detailed tool and credit review.
Senior Consultant, Kristie Martin, recently travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, where she spent a month working intensively with the project team in the project commencement, credit investigation and tool development phases. Viridis E3 are continuing to provide high-level strategic support and advice as required for the completion of the project.
Weipa Integrated Healthcare Facility
The Weipa Integrated Healthcare Facility is a remote hospital servicing the population of Far North Queensland. Viridis E3 was engaged as the Client Advocate for Laing O’Rourke, working with the Green Star Accredited Professional to achieve the targeted 4 star Green Star Healthcare PILOT rating. Viridis E3's role was to provide a detailed review of the Round 1 GBCA comments and then to develop and manage the strategy for the Round 2 submission to achieve the 4 star rating. Viridis E3 worked with the GSAP on a weekly basis to finalise the Round 2 credits and liaised closely with the GBCA to ensure the best possible outcome for the project. Despite the challenges of floods and cyclones, in March 2011 the GBCA awarded Weipa Integrated Healthcare Facility the first Green Star Healthcare PILOT rating in Queensland.
Staff Profile
Dr Rory Eames
NSW/ACT Manager, was the recipient of the Property Council of Australia’s ACT Future Leader of the Year Award on 5 August. This recognition reflects the significant and lasting contribution Rory has made over the last 3 years made to many levels of the property sector locally in the ACT as well as nationally through project and policy work.
Rory has extensive experience in the application of sustainability practices and processes in both the government and non-government sectors, driving corporate environmental management programs in the built environment. Rory has demonstrated a great capacity to develop management and leadership skills, which he applies day to day with clients, government agencies and within the office work environment.
Service Profile
Green Star Peer Reviews
Viridis E3 offer unparalleled quality independent peer review services of Green Star submissions prior to a project’s Round 1 or Round 2 formal submission to the GBCA. Viridis E3 staff have extensive expertise in assessing Green Star Submissions for the GBCA, as well as completing independent peer reviews for over 30 Green Star projects to date. We provide the highest level of scrutiny for the project and ensure that a thorough review is undertaken. It is Viridis E3's policy to be very rigorous in our review process, and believe that this approach allows project teams to address all possible issues that may be raised by the Assessor(s) in the formal Assessment, thus greatly reducing the risk involved with each credit. To discuss our Green Star Peer Review services please contact Kim Featherston on kfeatherston@ve3.com.au or ring 07 3369 5009.
NABERS Waste
Viridis E3 is experienced in waste auditing, understanding and reporting on waste management practices for government and private organisations, and experience with the NABERS suite of tools, in particular NABERS Waste for Offices. Using this experience, Viridis E3 have recently successfully completed a NABERS Waste rating for an approximately 23,000m2 tenancy in the ACT. This is the largest formal NABERS Waste rating undertaken to date. To learn more about the benefits of a NABERS Waste audit please contact Dr Rory Eames on reames@ve3.com.au or ring 02 6285 2388.
