Thursday 21 November 2013

Christchurch City Council wins World Green Building Council award for rebuild sustainability work

Christchurch City Council has been recognised with a prestigious international award for its effort in promoting sustainability in the rebuild.

The World Green Building Council announced the winners of its Government Leadership Awards today (New Zealand time) at the Warsaw Dialogue on Scaling-Up Local and Subnational Climate Action, held in conjunction with the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland.

The city council was honoured with the Urban Regeneration Award for its policies and initiatives aimed at rebuilding sustainably after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Held in partnership with ICLEI and UN-HABITAT, the awards honour local government leadership in green building and highlight policies that maximise the opportunity for buildings to be more energy and resource efficient.

In an acceptance video Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said that while the damage caused by the earthquakes had been devastating, the recovery provided an opportunity to promote the use of sustainable practices in businesses and homes as they were repaired and rebuilt.

“This was something the community identified in the Share an Idea community engagement campaign. The Council has responded by partnering with agencies and industry on a range of incentives and grants, advisory services, community and industry education, and through civic leadership building by example. These are helping us achieve the goal for the new Christchurch as a sustainable, safe, accessible city.

“We know the rest of New Zealand and the world are watching this transformation, and being recognised with this award is confirmation we are on the right track to achieving our goal, one set for us by our community that will establish a legacy for future generations,” Mayor Dalziel said.

Jane Henley, Chief Executive Officer of the World Green Building Council said the awards recognised the efforts of local governments to transform their buildings, communities and their cities.

“They also acknowledge our challenge to implement sustainability measures on a city-wide scale in our increasingly urbanised world. The efforts of all of our nominees are proving that building industry solutions not only reduce emissions but also make economic sense.”

The overall winner of ‘Best Green Building Policy’ was Vancouver, Canada, for its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan for Green Buildings. An example of excellence in city policy for sustainable buildings, Vancouver’s measures require all new buildings to be carbon neutral by 2020, with a green building code introduced for all developments and a retrofit policy for all buildings seeking renovation permits.

Also recognized was Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which received the ‘Regional Leadership Award’ for the Estidama Pearl Rating System – a programme that has bought mandatory sustainability requirements to the city’s construction sector. Seoul, Korea, won a Climate Action Leadership Award for its comprehensive campaign to reduce energy consumption.

About the World Green Building Council’s Government Leadership Awards

The biennial awards were first held in 2011, and aim to encourage the uptake of high-quality policies and practices around the world.

The winning cities were chosen by an expert panel of judges comprised of representatives from UN-HABITAT, ICLEI and the WorldGBC.

More information on the awards, winners and nominees can be found at www.worldgbc.org/leadership-awards.

Some sustainability programmes/projects:

Target Sustainability: new commercial design and business operation advice services

www.targetsustainability

Build Back Smarter: homeowner guides and advisory service

www.futurechristchurch.co.nz/smart-building

Breathe New Urban Village: Design and build competition for residential housing in Central City.

www.futurechristchurch.co.nz/breathe

Christchurch Energy Grant: For large-scale developments in the Central City

www.futurechristchurch.co.nz/ChristchurchEnergyGrant

BASE (Building a Sustainable Environment): green building standard

www.base.org.nz

Legacy: Industry-led engagement campaign.

www.ourlegacy.org.nz

Lifemark: Council social housing adopts accessible design standard

www.lifemark.co.nz

GreenStar 6: Leading by example, Te Hononga Civic Offices development with Ngāi Tahu.

www.nzgbc.org.nz

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