Welcome back to your smart building, designed to make sure you are comfortable and productive, whilst taking care of our environment. Let us show you around your healthy, low carbon workplace.
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Cycling made easy
By cycling to work you can reduce pollution and improve your fitness. Our end of trip facilities make it easy with bike storage and convenient amenities everyday.
Start your day sustainably
Australians throw away about 1 billion takeaway coffee cups every year. Do your bit by not adding yours to the pile. Search for local cafes that give a discount for reuseable takeaway cups.
Not recycleable!
Takeaway coffee cups typically aren't recyclable. Consider bringing your own cup, or drink it at the bar European style. In the time it takes you to drink your coffee, we'll show you how easy it is to enjoy your healthy and sustainable workplace.
Work at your best
You spend up to 2,000 hours a year at your desk, so it’s important to make sure you can work at your best and look after yourself. Standing whilst working can reduce health impacts of sitting for long periods. Elements such as plenty of daylight and desk plants can also help you to be at your best.
Finely tuned building
Your smart building team fine tune the building 24/7 to make sure you are comfortable all year round, whilst looking after our environment. Your team works constantly to optimise energy and water consumption to look after our planet for future generations.
Reducing emissions
Investa has set aspirational targets of net zero emissions from running our buildings by 2040. That means we are working hard to reduce the pollution that comes from keeping all the lights on. We do things like change the lights to LED’s, and upgrade air conditioning and lift systems, as well as reducing waste to landfill.
Waste
Your building team are working hard to reduce waste and improve recyclables. When you grab lunch, are you able to make choices which reduce landfill?
We're helping by developing Binder! An educational tool in the style of a dating app that will help you learn what you can and can't recycle. Play Binder here!
Walking meetings
When the 3.30 low hits, instead of reaching for the Tim Tams, hit the street for a walking meeting. Nothing like a brisk walk round the block to reset the old grey matter. Encourage your colleagues to join you. A little walk can reduce chronic disease, improve creativity, and increase productivity. Click here for a few suggested strolls in your area
Power off
Did you know that a large portion of workplace energy is consumed after you’ve gone home? Leaving computers and devices on standby overnight not only uses energy, but creates heat, which the building must then cool to keep you comfortable. When you head home for the day, could you turn off your screen, PC, printer and lights?
Your building ratings
Your building works hard all day and night to run efficiently, making sure you can enjoy a comfortable workplace, whilst looking after our planet. Every year we track our progress with NABERS star ratings. 6 Stars is the highest rating achievable.
Your guide to a healthy & sustainable workplace
Welcome back to your smart building, designed to make sure you are comfortable and productive, whilst taking care of our environment. Let us show you around your healthy, low carbon workplace.
Cycling made easy
By cycling to work you can reduce pollution and improve your fitness. Our end of trip facilities make it easy with bike storage and convenient amenities everyday.
Start your day sustainably
Australians throw away about 1 billion takeaway coffee cups every year. Do your bit by not adding yours to the pile. Search for local cafes that give a discount for reuseable takeaway cups.
Not recycleable!
Takeaway coffee cups typically aren't recyclable. Consider bringing your own cup, or drink it at the bar European style. In the time it takes you to drink your coffee, we'll show you how easy it is to enjoy your healthy and sustainable workplace.
Work at your best
You spend up to 2,000 hours a year at your desk, so it’s important to make sure you can work at your best and look after yourself. Standing whilst working can reduce health impacts of sitting for long periods. Elements such as plenty of daylight and desk plants can also help you to be at your best.
Finely tuned building
Your smart building team fine tune the building 24/7 to make sure you are comfortable all year round, whilst looking after our environment. Your team works constantly to optimise energy and water consumption to look after our planet for future generations.
Reducing emissions
Investa has set aspirational targets of net zero emissions from running our buildings by 2040. That means we are working hard to reduce the pollution that comes from keeping all the lights on. We do things like change the lights to LED’s, and upgrade air conditioning and lift systems, as well as reducing waste to landfill.
Waste
Your building team are working hard to reduce waste and improve recyclables. When you grab lunch, are you able to make choices which reduce landfill?
We're helping by developing Binder! An educational tool in the style of a dating app that will help you learn what you can and can't recycle. Play Binder here!
Walking meetings
When the 3.30 low hits, instead of reaching for the Tim Tams, hit the street for a walking meeting. Nothing like a brisk walk round the block to reset the old grey matter. Encourage your colleagues to join you. A little walk can reduce chronic disease, improve creativity, and increase productivity. Click here for a few suggested strolls in your area
Power off
Did you know that a large portion of workplace energy is consumed after you’ve gone home? Leaving computers and devices on standby overnight not only uses energy, but creates heat, which the building must then cool to keep you comfortable. When you head home for the day, could you turn off your screen, PC, printer and lights?
Your building ratings
Your building works hard all day and night to run efficiently, making sure you can enjoy a comfortable workplace, whilst looking after our planet. Every year we track our progress with NABERS star ratings. 6 Stars is the highest rating achievable.
Reports from the World Green Building Council confirm that well-designed interior office space can have substantial positive impacts on the health, well-being and performance of employees. We all know that when we sit in a stuffy room, with poor air flow, no windows, or it’s too hot/ too cold, we are less productive.
Intuitively, we know sitting near a window with fresh air at a comfortable temperature brings us clarity of mind and high productivity. We describe these attributes as Indoor Environment Quality or IEQ. Estimates of performance losses from poor indoor air quality for all buildings suggest a 2-4% loss on average.
IEQ describes the condition of your workplace that contributes to your comfort and well-being. Elements like air quality, lighting, thermal conditions, and ergonomics all affect your comfort levels.
Want to know more about what you can do to improve your comfort and well-being at work?
Top Tips for being at your best
Look after yourself first and get enough rest! The research tells us we need 7-9 hours' sleep each night. The office can positively impact mood, sleep, stress levels and psychosocial well-being.
Take regular breaks. Perhaps take a spin around the block and get some fresh air and sunshine. We know that sitting is the new standing, so take the opportunity to host a walking meeting. You'll be surprised how efficient a ten-minute walking meeting can be.
Stay hydrated. We are all meant to consume at least 2Lts of water every day. Keep a jug at your desk, or use the excuse to get up and stretch the legs every 45mins and refill your glass.
Keep plants at your desk. The benefits are both physical and psychological. Plants can offer visual relief, reducing stress, improving the overall impression of a workplace. Of course, they also improve the air quality by removing carbon dioxide in the air.
Make smart meal choices. Studies tell us that our food choices effect our overall cognitive ability. We all know that 3.30pm decline post pasta feeling! We also know that we need to feed the brain to stay focused, which is why it's hard to focus on an empty stomach. Keep healthy snack choices at your desk, opt for an herbal tea once in a while, and decide what you're having for lunch before you leave your desk!
Workplace Well-being
Beyond the choices you can make to improve well-being, your office can also improve your clarity of mind at work. Careful design of the office can improve employee mood and morale. A well-being workplace can be designed to mitigate stress and optimise productivity.
Elements such as art, vegetation, variable work spaces, dynamic furniture, (such as sit-stand desks) can enable improved productivity by tailoring the workspace to the task. For example, quiet spaces for dedicated thinking and problem solving, or communal areas for collaboration.
Office spaces are evolving rapidly in response to remote work, technology advancements and the need to innovate. Open plan layouts have been adopted as best practice in workplace design. Activity Based Working (ABW) has become common place, and requires a variety of spaces for the employee to select from, depending on task variability. ABW can enable better collaboration, spontaneous meetings, and ultimately increased productivity. It’s also important to recognise that it doesn’t work for everyone or every role, and the jury is still out on its ultimate longevity.
Critical elements of a productive and healthy workplace
Special comfort and individual space
Visual Comfort
Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort
Personal Control and Building Image
Noise Distraction and Privacy
Overall Satisfaction
Your Indoor Environment Quality
The factors that determine the Indoor Environment Quality of your office space can be impacted by how effectively it is designed and commissioned. Faulty adjustment of air flows can leave one person in a ‘hot zone’ and another in a ‘cold zone’ leaving neither of them happy, and reducing their productivity.
The University of Sydney’s IEQ Lab has created a real-time monitoring system (SAMBA) to capture these important variables. Investa will be conducting a 2-year research partnership to explorer how this data can be used to manage our buildings to provide better quality working places.
Your Investa Property Team can assist you with if you would like to participate. Contacts details for your Property Team can be found in your Tenant Information Manual.
Alternatively, register your questions below;
More Information
For more information on the way your workplace affects your productivity, have a look at the following international studies.
Your productivity can be improved by getting outside during the day. Not only does getting outside break up the day, but also a quick walk around the block can refresh and improve clarity of mind.
Your building is located centrally, with access to parks, gyms, public transport, pools, and hosts End of Trip Facilities.
The map below illustrates where your most convenient amenities are located. In addition to public amenities, the map also illustrates routes for walking meetings, or a lunchtime run.
The way we work is changing as technology offers more flexibility. We no longer work in enclosed cubicles, and rarely find a use for a fax machine. Beyond technological enablers, the design of our work space has morphed into open plan, flexible spaces, abundant with greenery.
When designing your fit out, there is a lot to think about. Starting with the basic practicalities of accommodating your team’s functional needs, to considering amenities, space planning, furniture and material selections, and most importantly, selecting the right coffee machine. Beyond the design, you might also think about the environmental aspiration of your fit out, to maximize recycled content, avoid landfill and reduce toxins.
Before you put pen to paper, consider the following benefits of a best practice fit out.
Corporate social responsibility starts at 'home', by using your workplaces as a practical demonstration you can showcase an innovative, responsible, future proof environment to clients and employees!
Employees know their wellbeing at work affects not only their productivity, but their workplace satisfaction and enjoyment. We know that staff are more likely to stay at workplaces where they are happy.
Likewise, organisations' environmental and social responsibility reputations are being examined more closely than ever as a new generation of staff want to choose employers whose values align with their own. What better way to showcase your environmental credentials than on your own home turf?
Workplace design influences the way staff share and develop knowledge. What better way to encourage an open, flexible and creative workforce than through an open, flexible and creative workplace? The research says informal interaction improves organisational learning, a crucial component of business success and productivity.
Energy costs money. Water costs money. Sending waste to landfill costs money. Resource efficient design can reduce costs for your business, allowing you to spend money where it counts. By getting it right the first time, you can reduce your on-going lease costs associated with relocation.
Four step process
When moving into a new office there are lots of things that you need to be thinking about simultaneously. Your Investa Property Management Team is here to walk you through the process and ensure that you’re able to design and build a healthy low carbon office.
We’ve identified the following four easy steps to get you set on that pathway.
These can be for both environmental and wellbeing performance and can include items such as;
Embodied carbon is a lifecycle assessment charting the total environmental impact of that office desk from the moment it is a tree, all the way to the end of its lifecycle when it will (hopefully) be recycled. Reducing the embodied carbon of your office fit out reduces the total environmental impact of your workspace.
Recycled and recyclable content is the content in your office that has either been recycled from something else, or can be recycled when you’re done with it. You’d be surprised how much can be made of old office furniture, with the high timber, plastic and paper contents lending themselves to common recycling practices.
Reused content is the content you’re able to reuse from both your previous workplace and the previous occupants of the space you’re able to move into. Reusing existing furniture is not only great for the environment, but it also reduces the significant cost of buying brand new items.
Operating carbon is the operational impact of running your office. The more energy and water efficient your fixtures, the more you’ll save on utility bills. And not only will you be saving energy and water, but you’ll be reducing the associated carbon of running your office.
Achieving environmental ratings. Ratings make tangible the great work done when designing and building your office. This lets you easily communicate the benefits of working in your office to existing and future staff. Engaging your teams on setting the targets is also a great way to drive employee ownership of your new space.
It's important to have your design team involved from the very beginning so they can tailor the project to meet your expectations.
Moving workplaces can be hard for employees, especially with the evolving way of working meaning that changing addresses means a lot more than just changing desks. Keeping employees involved in the process is crucial to ensure a smooth transition to your new office and reduce disruption to your business.
Once you are in and settled, check back in with your target, and report your scores to your teams.
Conduct some initial surveys to see how staff are adjusting to the new space. See what’s working, and what’s not.
Make adjustments where things aren’t working as you’d imagined.
Reach out to your Building Management Team to see if you can be part of the SAMBA IEQ research project.
Moving to your new office
Reusing Existing Office Fit Out
This starts at the very beginning, when you’re still at your current, soon to be old home. When moving out of your existing office tenancy it’s important to try and reuse whatever you can. All office materials, from the lights and carpets to every last work station often end up in landfill. Let’s do what we can to reduce that!
Ask your existing building manager if it’s possible to leave fixtures and furnishings in good condition so that they can be reused or repurposed by the future tenants. Not only will this reduce costs for both of you, but it will reduce the environmental impact of your move.
If neither you nor your old builder want it, there are plenty of charities, NGOs and start-ups who would gladly take some old office equipment off your hands. A helpful way to start this process is to create an inventory of the items that would otherwise go to landfill such as this blank inventory or this sample furniture inventory.
Once you’ve created the inventory, contact your existing building management team to see if they have a fit out reallocation programme, or contact a charity you support to offer them the items, or failing those two options, distribute the items amongst staff. You’d be surprised how even a small amount of old office furniture can make a big difference.
The Better Buildings Partnership's Strip-out Waste Guidelines provide more detail on this. Once you’ve put your old home behind you, it’s time to start working on what the new one will look like.
Before demolishing the old asset at 151 Clarence St in Sydney, the Investa Property Team were able to recycle and repurpose over 9 tons of office furniture. A lot of this went to the Butterfly Foundation, a charity providing health and education support programs for Australians with eating disorders. More desks and chairs meant they could continue to provide support, treatment, prevention, early intervention, education and training for young Australians in school and their families.
Your Office Rating Tools
There is a suite of ratings tools which you can use to measure the health, efficiency and environmental credentials of your new office. These tools can assist you in setting best practice targets, and provide a simple framework to cover all the bases.
Green Star workplace (formerly known as ‘Green Star Office Interiors’) is the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) nationally recognised standard that assesses an office interior on all key areas of environmental performance.
Green Star interiors rates the capability of the office design to reduce environmental impact, rather than its actual performance in operation. The Green Star Office Interiors tool is easy to use and can be downloaded from the GBCA’s website.
A Green Star workplace rating can be used to demonstrate leadership in the design and construction of your workspace. It will help ensure your office is a comfortable, productive and healthy place for staff to work. The rating can also help you to minimise ongoing costs such as energy and water bills.
Much like your building has a NABERS rating which measures the buildings energy efficiency for shared services like lifts and air conditioning, you can also have your tenancy rated for energy efficiency. A NABERS tenancy rating will enable you to measure and rate your energy usage and the associated greenhouse emissions from your office. This rating tool is a terrific way to communicate a score card on performance to your teams at work.
If you decide to rate your new fit out prior to the construction stage, you can begin to advertise your targeted rating straight away, showcasing your environmental commitments to employees when moving locations. For more information on NABERS you can visit the NABERS website. Alternatively, this NABERS Energy Management Guide for Tenants is also pretty handy. As always, your Investa Property Management Teams are always there to provide support in achieving
The International Well Building Institute, established in the USA, has developed a tool to guide the design of work places which have a positive impact on the tenants (that’s you!) health and well-being. The tool outlines seven key criteria for consideration in designing your new workplace; Air, Nourishment, Water, Light, Fitness, Comfort and each of the seven features must be considered to achieve certification. Your Investa Property Team can assist you in achieving a WELL certification for your new office.
Designing your new office
Your Lighting
The lighting in your new office will account for more than 60% of your energy costs and represents the largest single opportunity for energy savings.
If you've chosen an office space with lots of natural light, you’re already ahead, good job by you! And even if you didn’t, there are still significant savings to be had.
Sections 7.3 and 9.6 of your Tenant Information Manual showcase Investa’s recommended best practice lighting. This includes the inclusion of control lights with motion based sensors and the placement of light sensors near windows. Even something as simple as painting your office walls and ceilings a light colour can reduce the demand placed on lighting and lead to associated cost savings.
Our friends at CitySwitch have produced a great overview of energy efficient lighting and are also able to help you make the right choices from day one.
Beyond the office lighting, don’t forget to turn off monitors, printers, PC’s and coffee machines when they’re not in use. These elements can create heat, which the building needs to cool overnight to ensure it’s comfortable for you when you arrive in the morning.
Your floors
Over the life of an average office building, floor finishes have the greatest single environmental impact of any fixed item. This is because they tend to be replaced at the end of every lease cycle.
We’d love for you to be able to keep the existing floor finishes within your tenancy, but if this isn’t possible (or if they’re really, really ugly), there are lots of environmentally friendly options available at similar and often cheaper costs than standard alternatives.
When considering what carpets to use, look for;
Modular carpets (like tiles), which are easier to repair and replace and result in less waste
High recycled content
Minimise virgin (non-recycled) PVC content
Enquire if there is a lease option or manufacturer take-back program
Minimise use of pesticides and fire retardants
Measures in place to reduce ecological impact of manufacturing process.
Your walls and ceilings
Work places have changed since the days of the 1950’s offices and secretary pools, and thank goodness! More and more of us work in open plan offices, making it easier to talk to colleagues, and spontaneously collaborate.
Fewer walls also mean reduced fit out expense, more natural light and more effective air conditioning and lighting which results in direct financial savings.
If you do choose to put in some new partition walls and ceilings, we ask that they be modular with re-useable elements, composed of a high-recycled, eco-preferable content. Likewise, all wall linings and glazing frames used should have a high recycled content.
Lastly, as per Section 7.2 of your Tenant Information Manual, we ask that you please leave enough room for return air grilles in your walls so that return air from the HVAC system can move through the space efficiently. This ensures that you remain comfortable all year round.
Your joinery
In designing your fit out, you may have identified existing doors, built-in joinery and kitchens you can retain. This is a terrific way to reduce both cost, and environmental impact of your fit out.
If you do require new joinery, then we encourage you to use recycled, FSC-certified, plantation or any other low emissions composite timbers. Otherwise, you run the risk of using old growth timber from a rainforest, the logging of which usually results in a severe loss of Australian biodiversity. Not cool.
These old timbers often contain formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). That’s bad. Exposure to VOCs has been linked to a range of health problems including headaches, fatigue, respiratory problems and skin irritations.
So using certified sustainable timbers, as well as low emissions laminates, finishes and glues allows us to create a healthier indoor environment for your employees.
Ecospecifier is a great source for low VOC, environmentally friendly products.
Your Paints, sealants and adhesives
Thankfully all those funky colors (and all those boring shades of ‘off white’) come in low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) options,
so when choosing paints for your office, your staff will thank you for using environmentally sustainable options. They’ll thank you when they realise it doesn’t have that toxic "new paint" smell.
Your Bathrooms and toilets
If you get to design new bathrooms for your new tenancy (fun!), then installing efficient fittings and fixtures won’t cost you a single extra dime.
In fact, water efficient design will only save you money on your water bills over the course of your lease. Alternatively, if you’re upgrading existing bathrooms, there are some very cost-effective things you can do to reduce your water use. Or – as is usually the easiest option – it’s also great to do nothing and keep the existing tenancy bathrooms!
The Australian Government has put together some useful resources on water efficient design, with their creatively named Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme providing an outlet to showcase your great work!
Your Supplementary air conditioning
If your office needs supplementary air conditioning for server rooms or otherwise, it’s important to choose the most energy-efficient system. We’d recommend basing your choice on cost over the life of your lease in preference to upfront cost.
Since air conditioning is a major contributor to peak demand for energy it can contribute disproportionately to energy bills by creating high peak ‘capacity charges’ which, even though they’re only short events, can add to electricity bills.
Efficient management can have a great impact too, with proper maintenance and usage able to reduce energy consumption by up to 50%.
As per your Tenant Information Manual, installing supplementary air conditioning specified for maximum efficiency and arranging for regular maintenance and annual reviews of set points and timers will ensure these important goals are met.
It’s important to size the system correctly according to your needs and the existing base building system. If your air conditioner is too big it will cycle on and off more, reducing efficiency and creating greater temperature fluctuations. That’s bad. This also causes parts to wear out more quickly. That’s also bad. Let’s make sure we get this right.
Lastly, if your supplementary air conditioning unit is water sourced and connected to the base building systems, you’ll have to install and program a solenoid valve to ensure the water flow is stopped when the compressor is cycled off. This will save a bunch of water and energy when your air conditioning unit is turned off and we no longer have to run power to the unit.
Choosing Your Furniture
Workstations and office furniture
Keeping existing workstations and office furniture is the cheapest, most environmentally smart, and quickest way to fit out your office. If that isn’t an option, or if the existing furniture looks like it belongs in a terrible late 90s sitcom, we’d love to see you fill your home office with cost-effective, environmentally friendly and healthy (no or low-VOC toxin) products.
In terms of a Cradle to Grave consideration, the best workstations are those which are designed for easy disassembly, reuse and recycling. So not only can you reconfigure your working set up if you don’t like the person you’re sitting near, but you – or someone else – can easily reuse the furniture when it’s time to say goodbye. This helps reduce the ‘churn’ of old office furniture constantly being sent to landfill, which will reduce waste bills whilst helping the environment.
When considering what workstations and furniture to invest in, we’d love you to consider the following;
Design and fabrication that minimises materials use and waste and focuses on natural and renewable materials as well as recycled and recyclable content
The proportion of recycled, FSC-certified or plantation timber
Design for easy disassembly and reconfiguring (this will also help us reuse and repurpose everything at the end of your lease!).
Manufacturer take-back scheme.
High durability to avoid costly repair and replacement
No or low-VOC glues and solvents (including those used in MDF/ply).
Measures in place to reduce ecological impact of manufacturing process.
Smart office equipment
Office equipment accounts for approximately one third of the average tenancy’s energy use, with most of this attributed to computers and monitors. Buying your staff fancy, high-efficiency tech is only half the battle, with energy being used in an empty office by computers and screens which have not been turned off overnight an easy first step to take.
This is just one small choice you can make everyday to reduce the financial and environmental cost of your tenancy. All data centre equipment, computers, monitors and everything else is rated by the Australian Government for energy efficiency, with the star rating on an asset indicative of its energy efficiency.
When your equipment is being delivered and set up, ensure energy efficient settings are selected, and ask your supplier to demonstrate how to use the best power management settings. Significant energy savings can be achieved just by having everything running in the right mode. Be sure to let staff know too, it’s amazing how much sustainable preaching people will tolerate when they’re about to be handed a shiny new laptop!
CitySwitch's energy efficient office equipment library is bursting with resources that can help you reduce the operating cost and environmental impact of running your office, including a sample 'switch off' campaign for those who just like leaving things on overnight, or worse, over the weekend!
Office kitchen equipment
Let’s make sure the healthy food options in your staff kitchen are accompanied by a side of financially and environmentally responsible kitchen equipment. Whilst appliances with the best available star ratings for energy and water can sometimes be a little on the pricey side, even by choosing appliances with a rating no less than one star below the best available can result in significant savings.
You can compare the energy and water ratings of appliances available in Australia.
Indoor plants
The science tells us that indoor plants contribute positively to the wellbeing of building occupants by reducing airborne concentrations of VOCs. They’ve also been shown to increase productivity, lower workplace stress and decrease respiratory disorders.
Weeping Fig: suited to large open spaces and preferably high light levels.
Peace Lily: grows well in low light, works well as underplanting beside Weeping Fig.
Aglaonema or Silver King: variegated leaves, useful for adding accents, prefers high light levels.
Kentia Palm: one of the best plants for removing harmful VOCs.
Dracaena deremensis or Janet Craig: hardy, grows in low light, copes well with air conditioning.
For more information, and for those with too much time on their hands, ambius’s Ultimate Guide to Office Plants will answer every question you have, and even more you’d never have thought to ask.
For case studies that can give your business an insight into how others are approaching indoor plants, jump across to the Green Plants for Green Buildings website.
Purchasing office consumables
We all need highlighters and pens. Implementing a purchasing policy that focuses on choosing socially responsible products with low environmental impact can highlight (see what we did there!?) your organisation’s commitment to corporate social responsibility.
This can be as simple as minimizing the packaging (especially if its non-recyclable) or buying from local suppliers so as to reduce transportation costs/impact and support local industry.
We’ve known for a long time that using recycled paper is the greenest option. Not only does it use less energy and water, producing lower carbon emissions during manufacturing, it also reduces the amount of waste to landfill – as paper can be recycled 4 to 5 times. With advances in technology and processes, recycled paper is now as white and has the same print performance as non-recycled paper.
The UK based Recycled Papers makes the case better than we could, showcasing the benefits of using recycled paper to employees, clients and other stakeholders who are easily exposed to this sustainable choice.
Caffeine, my old friend
Did you know that Australians throw away more than 1 Billion takeaway coffee cups every year? That's enough cups that if they were lined up side by side, they'd circle the earth two and a half times, and that's just from Australian coffee drinkers!
Because of the plastic lining inside the cup, disposable coffee cups can't be recycled and so end up in landfill.
The fastest and easiest way to significantly reduce your waste to landfill is to use a re-usable cup! Take your mug or re-usable coffee cup to your local café, even better, seek out your local responsible cafes, and join the push to eliminate landfill bound coffee cups.
There is a suite of independent tools we use to rate your building. By using a third-party system, we’re able to see how your building is performing relative to other buildings in your city and throughout Australia.
We also use international tools to rate Investa’s collection of buildings (including 105-151 Miller Street) against our global peers. This allows us to demonstrate our global leadership and commitment to sustainable environmental performance.
NABERS ratings
NABERS ENERGY
NABERS WATER
Since 2010, the Australian Government has required landlords of office space of 1,000 sqm or more to have an up-to-date Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC).
A key component of the BEEC rating tool are the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) ratings for the building.
NABERS is an operational rating tool designed to give the public a comparable guide to the efficiency and sustainability of office spaces.
NABERS Energy and Water ratings measure the energy and water efficiency of buildings on a 0 (the worst) to 6 (the very best).
Your Building Management Team is committed to maintaining and improving the base building NABERS Rating of 105-151 Miller Street For more information on the NABERS rating system, please visit the NABERS website.
GRESB ratings
19th
/833
The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is an annual, international survey which seeks to score and benchmark real estate funds on their performance in a wide range of social, environmental and governance categories.
By reporting to GRESB, we are seeking to compare our lnvesta funds against our international peers, whose diverse portfolios exist in different cities with different climates, regulatory environments and policy frameworks.
The amount of companies who report to GRESB is growing every year, with over 800 funds reporting in the 2017 survey.
As part of the IOF Investa portfolio, 105-151 Miller Street was amongst those assets ranked 19th of 833 global participants in the 2017 GRESB survey. A tremendous result and one we are very proud of.
For more information on the GRESB survey, please visit the GRESB website.
Through experience, research and technical expertise, 105-151 Miller Street is actively managed to operate at its optimum level, to make you comfortable and minimize associated environmental impacts.
The data below is the ‘base building use’ and represents the common building services as operated by Investa’s dedicated on site team. You can have a look at 105-151 Miller Street data below, represented as an intensity metric, calculated per square metre of building area allowing for year-on-year comparison. The yearly data displayed has has been independently assured and verified in line with our Reporting Rules and covers the reporting period of April-March of a given year. The monthly data is updated as soon as we receive our bills from our utility providers.
We’re investigating ways we can collect the electricity data from your own office tenancies, the energy needed to run your lighting, computers, printers and everything else in your work place. With this data, we’ll be able to share our expertise with you to reduce your own environmental footprint.
This covers the air conditioning and ventilation systems, the building’s lifts and all other plant equipment. By running these efficiently we’re reducing the environmental impact of your building.
Yearly electricity use
Yearly electricity consumption in kWh/sqm
762014
742015
722016
752017
642018
15%
There was a 15%
reduction in electricity used in the building services between 2017 and 2018. That’s a saving of -249061 kWh and is the equivalent of the energy use of -35.58 Australian households. Your property management team work hard all year to have 105-151 Miller Street running at its most efficient, ultimately reducing costs and enhancing performance.
- 35.58
Monthly electricity use
During Summer, your building works harder to cool, equally, in winter, harder to heat. The choices you make every day change how much energy we use to keep the building humming. Scarfs, cardigans and coats are winter items and we’ll do our best to make sure you only have to wear them when it’s actually cold outside.
The carbon emissions from 105-151 Miller Street come primarily from electricity, though gas usage and other fuels such as diesel account for small amounts.
For a full breakdown of emissions sources, have a look at Investa’s annual Sustainability Report.
We’re incredibly proud of the great work we’ve done reducing our carbon footprint, which has fallen by 58% since we began reporting in 2004. This strong record supported our Net Zero Emissions Target by 2040, which will see our tenants living in energy efficient buildings operative on renewable energy.
Yearly carbon emissions
Yearly carbon emissions measured in kg.CO2/sqm
712014
692015
662016
672017
582018
14%
There was a 14% reduction in carbon emitted via building services between 2017 and 2018. That’s a reduction of -247594 kWh of carbon dioxide and is the equivalent of the emissions use of -35.37 Australian households. Your property management team are committed to reducing the environmental impact of 105-151 Miller Street in line with Investa’s net zero Carbon by 2040 target and continue to report the progress of the entire Investa portfolio annually here.
- 35.37
Monthly carbon emissions
Monthly carbon emissions measured in t.CO2
Offset my office
The environmental impact of running buildings cannot be understated. That’s why Investa is proud to offer you the ability to offset your portion of carbon emissions associated with running the building. Just like offsetting your seat on a flight, offsetting allows your business to mitigate your corporate office’s impact on climate change.
Carbon offsets are generated from an activity that prevents, reduces or removes greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, thus compensating for the emissions occurring elsewhere, in our case, at 105-151 Miller Street, North Sydney. Offsetting your business emissions conveys a high impact, low cost message that your brand is taking strong action to reduce its environmental impact.
To learn more about Investa’s Offset my Office programme and register your interest, please fill out the form below.
Air conditioning and ventilation systems and bathroom/end of trip facilities use most of the water at 105-151 Miller Street. Water efficient design and ongoing management helps us control water consumption and reduce water waste.
Yearly water use
Yearly water use measured in L/sqm
7662014
7762015
7572016
7812017
6562018
16%
There was a 16% decrease in water use between 2017 and 2018.
Gas is primarily used at 105-151 Miller Street to provide heating during the colder months of the year.
Yearly gas use
Yearly gas use measured in GJ/sqm
962014
992015
922016
842017
912018
9%
There was a 9% increase in gas use between 2017 and 2018.
Monthly gas use
Because gas use is linked to temperature, the colder months use more gas.
Monthly gas use measured in GJ
Waste & recycling
Every year, Australia generated an estimated 67 million tonnes of waste. That means we’re each responsible for 2.7 tones – the weight of an African Forest Elephant – in waste, every year. That’s a lot. What’s worse, is that just over half of that is recycled, with the remainder going to landfill. We need to fix that.
Binder
Help me find my match!
It’s often hard to know what items can and can’t be recycled, that’s why we’ve developed ‘Binder’.
How to play Swipe right if it can be recycled, left if it goes to landfill and “I” for more information! Be careful though, you only have three chances to help Yellow bin find love, so you best sharpen those recycling skills.
Guide to Binder Because we love winning we’ve created a guide for you, so you can emerge victorious! We’ve also created smaller versions of the guide that you can print and hang around your office waste stations, so all staff know what can and can’t be recycled.
Top Tips for being at your best
Use a re-useable coffee cup rather than a single use, disposable coffee cup when getting coffee or tea! If you forget your re-useable cup (nobody’s perfect), see if you have time to drink your coffee at the café (this will also give you 5 glorious minutes to yourself).
When bringing your lunch from home make sure to use washable, re-useable Tupperware rather than plastic containers which you would otherwise throw out!
Instead of buying the paper, make sure you’re reading the news online. Because here’s some breaking news: the internet doesn’t print on 24-hour cycles!
Get yourself a washable, re-useable straw you can use again and again when sipping on your beverage of choice
If you’re buying lunch and bringing it back to the office, leave the disposable cutlery behind. Bring your delicious meal back to your office kitchen and grab some cutlery (that won’t break when you’re trying to cut through your lunch, we’ve all been there).
Staying hydrated is crucial at work, and so is having a permanent water bottle, rather than buying a disposable bottle every time you’re parched. Did you know that 370 million Australian plastic water bottles end up in landfill every year?
There’s not much worse than glad wrap. Go and grab yourself some re-useable beeswax wraps that you can wrap leftovers in when you’re bringing food into work.
For more helpful tips, and other ways you can reduce the amount of waste to landfill coming from your office, we’d love for you to check out the below links and let us know what you think!
Resources
There are a bunch of amazing resources online which can help you reduce the amount of waste you send to landfill. Here are a few of our favourites:
Another PlanetArk resource with corporate specific waste and recycling opportunities
Due to their inner wax linings coffee cups aren’t recycling. Until now. Using new technology, Simply Cups collect disposable coffee cups and recycle them into building supplies and rCups, a new, re-useable coffee cup.
We’ve begun piloting Simply Cups’ program at select assets and have been able to recycle over 45,000 disposable coffee cups in 5 months, enough to fill a whole tram!
Following the success, we’re looking at implementing the programme across Investa’s wider portfolio. To find out more, and learn how your office can participate, please reach out to sustainability@investa.com.au.
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