Fraser Release a Greensheet on Brickworks Development

8 October 2021

Frasers Property Australia has unveiled an-Australian-first resource known as the Greensheet, a comprehensive list of vetted building materials for everyone’s reference, for free. The creation of restorative buildings which leave a positive legacy has now got a bit easier for the whole industry.

Part of its commitment to the Living Building Challenge® (LBC®) at Burwood Brickworks shopping centre in Melbourne, the Greensheet is a living document currently listing some 1,400+ building materials which go significantly beyond being ’sustainable’ – they have been thoroughly vetted against seven criteria, contributing to the regenerative buildings’ movement.

Each product has been examined based on factors such as its place of origin, materials used in its manufacture, whether it is responsibly sourced, its embodied carbon, its waste impacts, and its impacts on air quality when used internally.

To create the Greensheet, Frasers Property engaged a full-time materials co-ordinator to vet products at a highly-detailed level. For instance, the ingredients that go into manufacturing a product were examined down to the level of 100 parts per million of granularity.

Of the 20,000 person hours invested in this meticulous process, many were completed by Stephen Choi, Living Building Challenge Manager, Frasers Property Australia.

“The Greensheet is a tangible way for us to share our learnings through the creation of Burwood Brickworks with the wider industry and the general public, elevating the potential for the industry as a whole, as demanded by the Living Building Challenge®,” Mr Choi says.

“The public launch of the Greensheet means the live resource is now freely-available to the industry and consumers, serving as a foundation for other organisations embarking on LBC® projects in the future and anyone considering any kind of construction work, whether it’s a shopping centre or a simple home makeover.”

The Greensheet is available for free download here: www.frasersproperty.com.au/A-Different-Way/LBC-Greensheet. For more information about the Living Building Challenge® journey at Burwood Brickworks, visit www.frasersproperty.com.au/Living-Building-Challenge/home#.

Laura Hamilton-O’Hara, Chief Executive Officer of the Living Future Institute of Australia thanked Frasers Property Australia for sharing their human and financial investment in the Greensheet.

“Such transparency and knowledge sharing demonstrates the type of corporate responsibility and action that will further facilitate real change,” she says.

“The generosity of sharing such intellectual property is also consistent with the spirit of the Living Building Challenge, exceptional projects that lift the industry as a whole.”

One of the products satisfying the stringent criteria and thus used in the creation of Burwood Brickworks is Evcco Halogen free flame retardant electrical fittings, developed by leading construction materials and building products supplier Albatech.

John McNab, CEO, Albatech says the basic building blocks of Evcco electrical fittings are “food grade”, meaning they’re entirely safe for humans, just like food packaging.

“Evcco electrical fittings are entirely free of toxic ingredients, including halogen and other compounds with a degree of toxicity, and are 100% recyclable at any general recycling depot, which many so-called recyclable materials are not. Crucially, all products deliver the highest quality performance,” Mr McNab says.

“As the only manufacturer of these products in Australia and a keen supporter of the Living Future Institute, we’re proud to be part of the Greensheet and to contribute to the regenerative buildings movement,” he says.

In April this year, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), the global authority which administers the Living Building Challenge®, announced that Burwood Brickworks had formally achieved Living Building Challenge® Petal Certification.

It meant Frasers Property’s aspiration to create the world’s most sustainable shopping centre had been realised.

The LBC® is the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment. It requires developments to have a net positive impact by challenging them to operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture.

No other retail centre development globally has ever accomplished the LBC®;Frasers Property is the first organisation in the world to achieve Living Building Challenge® Petal Certification for a retail centre.

Burwood Brickworks shopping centre has been designed by Melbourne-based NH Architecture, with creative input from Russell & George. Hacer Group were appointed as Principal Contractor to ensure the construction met the rigorous design requirements that the Living Building Challenge® demands.

Anchored by Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s and Reading Cinemas, the 13,000 sqm centre incorporates a 2,500 sqm rooftop urban farm and adjacent restaurant operated by acre Farm & Eatery. The rooftop urban farm is a first in Australian retail and fulfils the LBC® requirement for the development to commit a proportion of its area to food production for use on site.