Bond Shoots For The Stars

Bond University is leading the race to be ‘green’, shooting for six stars under the new Green Star Education Building ratings.

Bond is the only university in Queensland to be included in the Green Business Council of Australia’s Green Star pilot process for education buildings. They join just five other education providers from around Australia that have been chosen to take part.

The Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building, currently under construction on Bond’s Gold Coast campus, will seek a six star rating, or ‘World Leadership’ status – the highest available.

Head of School, Professor George Earl, says the building is the first at any Australian university to be designed with a six ‘green star’ rating in mind.

“Achieving a six star rating will put us right at the front of world’s best practice and will make us the first in Australia to be recognised at this level,” Professor Earl said.

“Our involvement in this pilot process is also of benefit to our sustainable development students, as we will be feeding the lessons learnt from the design of this building back into our programs.

“No other Queensland university is going through this process, so it really is a good opportunity for our students to be at the forefront of sustainable development practice and build a solid understanding of the green star rating process,” he said.

CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia Romilly Madew said the new Green Star Education rating tool would help promote healthier learning facilities for students and teachers and improve the bottom line for education providers by reducing operating costs.

The Council cites studies on the costs and benefits of ‘green’ schools in the United States that have reported a reduction in sickness of up to 87 per cent, energy savings of 20-40 per cent and average savings in water costs of up to 25 per cent per year, with some schools reporting a 32 per cent saving.

The pilot process will consist of two rounds of assessment and will result in the Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development receiving a pilot certified rating. The official assessment process is scheduled to begin next month.