Bond University’s Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building has again been recognised for its outstanding sustainable design winning the World Environment Day Szencorp Green Building Award, it was announced in Melbourne last night.
This is the latest in an impressive list of national and international awards for the University’s building, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Sustainability Award, awarded last October.
Bond University’s Emeritus Professor Tor Hundloe, ‘an environmental pioneer’ also won the Individual award for Outstanding Service to the Environment.
Vice Chancellor, Professor Robert Stable, who was in Melbourne to receive the awards, said Bond University took great pride in the quality of its teaching, facilities and receiving these awards was another example of the world benchmark Bond is setting to deliver a superior experience for students.
"Bond University is honoured to have won this prestigious green building award. Last year winning the RICS award put Bond University on the world stage as a leader in the field of sustainability. Now this World Environment Day Szencorp Green Building Award confirms our position as Australia’s educational leaders in sustainable building design,” said Professor Stable.
“We are very proud of the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building. It has innovatively reduced carbon emissions by 80 per cent and is Australia's first higher education building to receive a 6 Star Green Star Design Rating.
“We are equally as proud of Emeritus Professor Hundloe for his dedication to his profession and commitment to the environment, his individual award is well deserved.
“The University is committed to sustainable design education and ensuring our property and development degrees continue to maintain a strong focus on these environmental issues. The building is a terrific case study for our students to educate and inspire them to better understand intelligent sustainable design.
“In January next year the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture will open with a dedicated focus on sustainable architecture design,” he said.
The building includes a raft of sustainable internal and external designs that produce significant benefits, including:
- The ‘living laboratory’, which provides valuable information about how the building is operating to show how intelligent design can achieve triple bottom line, with environmental, economic and social sustainability;
- Natural light and mixed mode ventilation to minimise energy consumption;
- Water tanks and a grey water recycling system which reduces reliance on local water – an important addition within Australia’s dry continent;
- Facilities that maximise operational recycling, which reduces landfill waste;
- Photovoltaic cells and a wind turbine which provides energy to the building and also provides an education element for building occupants, particularly students, and the community; and
- Identifiable cost savings in electricity as well as an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions.