by Digby Hall I was lucky enough this past weekend to have a tour of the new Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) at the University of Wollongong, just south of…
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It is seldom that I come to a building that not only makes me think ‘yup, tick, they have all the environmental aspects right’, but think ‘wow this place sings’. I get emotional about the Venny and do every year when I take my students there. It isn’t living building certified, it was built before LBC was a consideration, so it probably has most of the red list in it and doesn’t have the verification systems needed… BUT… boy does it live.
Australia’s first candidate for Living Building Challenge certification is located just metres from the Pacific Ocean in the most unlikely of places – the regional town of Wollongong, New South Wales, known for its steel and coal. Recently completed, the University of Wollongong’s Sustainable Buildings Research Centre will be a beacon for urban renewal as Wollongong transforms from an industrial city to a services-led economy.
For too long, we have seen the environmental movement through a conflict lens: ‘This is a war. There is a battle to be fought for the planet, it’s us against them’ – and because so much is at stake, the intensity of the fight is often raised to extreme levels.
