Buildings and office
How green is your building?
The National Australian Built Environment Rating System, NABERS, is a performance-based system that rates existing buildings on the basis of their impacts on the environment.
NABERS gives building owners, managers or occupants the information they need to manage and reduce environmental impacts and compares the measured operational impacts of their buildings with industry and building peers and neighbouring premises.
NABERS is a national initiative, managed by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change.
Green lease guide
Office buildings are designed to provide a productive and effective place for people to work. Now there's a growing expectation that offices support the environmental sustainability objectives of an organisation as well. Recognising this, DECC has partnered with Investa, City of Sydney, City of Melbourne and the Institute of Sustainable Futures to develop the Green lease guide to choosing an office space.
The guide provides commercial office tenants with a guide to what to consider when selecting a building and designing an office fit out. It provides tenants with an opportunity to identify and commit to objectives that will:
- save tenants money
- provide an excellent working environment for employees
- enhance an organisation's reputation through reduced environmental impact.
Download
Green Lease Guide for commercial office tenants (Dec 2006, PDF 1.5mb)
Waste recycling in office buildings
The amount of office paper currently sent to landfill is unsustainable for our environment, yet office paper is easily reprocessed for use in recycled paper based products.
Organisations that put into practice successful waste reduction/management strategies achieve both financial and environmental benefits. Find out what steps you can take to make your office more sustainable:
Purchasing office paper and products
Businesses and individuals can also contribute to sustainable use of resources through choosing recycled and environmentally responsible products. The following purchasing guides are available to download:
- Know your paper, a guide to purchasing office paper with recycled content
- Know your printing paper, information on purchasing recycled content paper for corporate stationery and promotional materials
- Suggestions for sustainable purchasing and use of more general office products.
Page last updated: 27 February 2011
