In January, Australian consultants Edge Environment and Sustainable Future Group announced a joint service offering they claim guarantees to improve the green star rating of a building at zero net cost. The service also promises to reduce building life-cycle cost and greenhouse gas emissions, improve environmental performance, and identify the Social Return on Investment of project sustainability initiatives.
Edge Environment claims that the service has helped a multi-unit residential development in Sydney reduce its Net capital cost by over $200,000 and achieve forecasted savings of more than $700,000 over 20 years. The uptake of measures identified through this value engineering service is saving the building owner almost $25,000 each year and over $500 per apartment annually, delivering a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts.
“This initiative is the first of its kind in Australia. It is quite a simple concept; we can see other companies starting to replicate it soon. Which is great – we hope it will revolutionise the building sector by helping property owners and developers to trail-blaze a road to more financially and environmentally sustainable buildings.” Says Edge CEO Jonas Bengtsson. “Our aim is to help set a new parameter for what is normal in terms of design, environmental performance and liveability of buildings.” he adds.