Building a better future through the acknowledgement of design excellence.
Entries for the 2020 Sustainability Awards are now open.
Building a better future through the acknowledgement of design excellence.
Entries for the 2020 Sustainability Awards are now open.
For over a decade we’ve held the nation’s most respected design awards program devoted to sustainable building. We reward those who share our desire to curtail and reverse the ecological footprint of our built environment. We celebrate those who design, manufacture and construct green buildings of all sizes and purposes.
And those who continually hold the line against compromise to do so.
Because we believe sustainability should be the primary requirement for all building design and the major measure of architectural achievement.
Entries are now open.
Australia’s most progressive buildings, spaces, people and building products that demonstrate real efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of our built environment.
They’re leaders in their respective fields. They’re from universities, industry associations and architecture firms, and they know what sustainable buildings look like. They are world-class industry experts and world-class judges, and will ensure that only the country’s most pioneering green projects have made the final cut.
Director & Building Designer, Envirotecture
Dick Clarke is principal of Envirotecture, with over 35 years’ experience focusing exclusively on ecologically sustainable and culturally appropriate buildings, as well as sustainable design in vehicles and vessels.
He is Director of Sustainability for Building Designers Australia (BDA) and is a member of the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA) and the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC).
This is Clarke’s 12th year on the panel and is the Jury Chair.
Director & Builder, Positive Footprints
Jeremy Spencer is a Director and Builder at Positive Footprints, a multi award-winning design and construction company that is working to show that energy efficient sustainable design and high-performance construction is a cost-effective option and can be a mainstream reality.
Jeremy is passionate about spreading the message of environmentally sustainable design, and to help bring about chance in the way we build homes. To this end, he gives lectures, sustainable house tours, and teaches other builders green construction in the Master Builders Greenliving program.
Director, Mahalath Halperin Architects
Mahalath Halperin, FRAIA, is an architect and environmental consultant living and working in regional NSW.
As well as running an architectural practice since the 1990s, addressing everything from domestic renovations through to large commercial buildings, resorts and education facilities, she also conducts energy and environmental audits and assessments, and has always tried to tie the scientific with the aesthetic to achieve highly sustainable but liveable works where possible.
Mahalath has also developed and delivered courses on environmental and architectural issues, and is also a published author, including assorted children’s books, including one about her cat building a house.
Mahalath Halperin Architects won the Single Dwelling, New category for Drumkerin at Sustainability Awards 2018.
Registered Architect, Faine Group Architects
Michael Faine has been a registered architect since 1980 and to date, has worked on a multitude of building types, designs, construction and procurement methods.
His diverse career led him to a teaching position at the University of Western Sydney in the Bachelor of Building/Construction Management degree, and saw him acting as the Head of School for a time.
After 17 years as an academic, and juror positions on both the Building Designers Association of Australia and the HIA Awards, Michael is attuned to analysing the work of builders and designers, and understanding the price in the work they are carrying out.
Associate, Gensler
Nermine Zahran is Gensler’s Sustainable Design Leader for the Asia Pacific region. She has worked in Australia and internationally on a number of large and-small-scale projects covering a wide range of architectural typologies. She has been described as having a contagious passion for sustainable design as well as a comprehensive understanding of industry best practices.
Nermine also believes that it is vital to continually learn – and to educate others in the industry and in the general public – about ways to minimise the impact of the built environment on the planet. Beyond her aim to positively influence materials selection, construction methods, and ongoing energy-efficient operations strategies, she also seeks to ensure that the buildings and spaces we create are human-centred and improve human health and well-being. She is a true champion of Gensler’s belief that every project, no matter how large or small, is an opportunity to make our communities, and ultimately our world, more liveable and resilient.
Director, Furtado Sullivan
Sandra is the co-founder of Furtado Sullivan, an architecture studio based in Sydney. The practice enjoys the challenge of translating a project’s complexity into a design that works with its environment, combining large-scale efficiency and sophistication with a bespoke design approach.
In the past, she has been intrinsically involved in notable large-scale projects including 8 Chifley, Barangaroo Masterplan and International Towers, and One Circular Quay hotel in Circular Quay.
Sandra has an extraordinary ability to understand urban complexity. Through holistic design thinking, she seeks synergies with multidisciplinary practices, harnessing collective knowledge in order to achieve goals creatively and drive the sustainability agenda.
Executive Director, Australian Sustainable Built Environmental Council (ASBEC)
Suzanne Toumbourou is the Executive Director of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), a body of peak organisations committed to a vision of more sustainable, productive and resilient buildings, communities and cities.
Her passion and expertise lies in communication, collaboration and an inclusive agenda for a sustainable Australia.
Suzanne possesses key knowledge and insights of ecological environments that will be instrumental to accurately judging this year’s Sustainability Awards.
Co-founder and Director, Yerrabingin
Christian is a proud Woiwurrung and Maneroo Aboriginal man interweaving Indigenous tacit knowledge and collaborative design thinking to walk a new path, away from conventional approaches. Yerrabingin has launched the world’s first Indigenous rooftop farm in 2019, located high above Sydney on the roof of Yerrabingin House in South Eveleigh with over 2,500 Australian native plants.
Urban Design and Planner, Cox Architecture
HY William Chan is an entrepreneur and urbanist with a passion in innovating our cities and communities. William has designed for Cox Architecture, Hassell, Arup Foresight and Innovation, and the Australian Government Department of the Environment.
An outspoken advocate, William is a Forbes ’30 Under 30’ innovator and TEDx speaker. His sustainable development projects have been showcased across 40 cities. This year, he was inducted into the Australian of the Year Honour Roll, named as one of Pro Bono Australia’s top 25 most influential Australians in the social sector, and features in the Qantas Centenary publication of ‘100 Inspiring Australians’.
Director, Winter Architecture
Jean is the founding director of Winter Architecture, a collaborative architecture practice located in Fitzroy and Torquay. Translating the quiet, introspective, site-specific qualities of Winter – the season – into an Architectural dictum. Varied budgets and a range of client backgrounds, Winter Architecture has opened up the possibility of architecture to a number of clients who did not feel architecture was accessible to then, due to low budgets, difficult site restrictions, and the desire to build themselves.
Jean is the recipient of the 2018 Sustainability Awards ‘ Emerging Architect of the Year’.
Jean has maintained her relationship with Deakin University teaching architecture design studios, alongside teaching interior architecture studios at Swinburne University and guest critiquing at the University of Melbourne and Monash University.
Director, RAIA (Wailwan | Kamilaroi), Greenaway Architects
Jefa Greenaway is Director of Greenaway Architects, a University of Melbourne senior academic, and a regular design commentator on ABC Radio Melbourne. He’s championed Indigenous led design thinking for over 25 years, including as co-founder of Indigenous Architecture + Design Victoria, as co-author of the International Indigenous Design Charter, and as Regional Ambassador (Oceania) of INDIGO (International Indigenous Design Network). He’s a founding signatory of Architects Declare Australia an initiative foregrounding architecture’s role in to tackling the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, is co-curator (with Tristan Wong) of the Australian exhibition at La Biennale Architettura di Venezia 2020 and is a recent 2020 DIA Hall of Fame inductee.
Sustainability | Stewardship | Advocacy | Communications, Cambium Communications
John is an experienced sustainability, policy and communications practitioner across diverse industries, sectors and portfolios. He operates at the highest levels with ministers, members of parliament, government officials and other industry associations. John served as Executive Director of Product Stewardship Australia representing global consumer electronics brands in the design of the Product Stewardship Act. As an Honorary Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, he understands the issues confronting the design industry. His work has covered appliances, electronics, furniture, floor-coverings and textiles. Design management has often been at the centre of these engagements including greater attention to how we transition to a circular economy. His early work on cradle to cradle thinking represents a pioneering phase at RMIT’s Centre for Design. John is also Director of Communications with Equilibrium consultants, Senior Policy Adviser with the DIA, and an Adjunct Professor with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS.
Sustainability & Engagement Manager, West Village | Sekisui House
Natasha is the Sustainability & Engagement Manager for West Village, the $1 billion urban regeneration project by Sekisui House Australia, and in 2019 became the inaugural winner of the Women in Sustainability award. For the past 15 years Natasha has worked across government and private industry, with a focus on delivering property projects with triple bottom line outcomes. Her experience includes the site acquisition and strategic planning for a new university campus, planning for sustainability and community infrastructure in urban growth precincts, and driving shared value through urban renewal. Through her role at West Village, Natasha has been instrumental in precinct sustainability planning and has driven ambitious initiatives, resulting in a 6 Star Green Star Communities rating for the development – the highest recognition for a master-planned precinct in Australia.
Founder / Facilitator, Lifepod Evolution (Design & Research)
Nicci began her career providing design and project services to the discerning Clients of two of the most highly regarded architectural and interior design practices in Melbourne. As her interests broadened, Nicci’s career evolved to embrace the incredible potential for innovation that new and emerging technologies offered. Lifepod Evolution facilitates exploration and experimentation for clients and collaborators. Combining her passions for design, innovation and technology, Nicci assembles multi-disciplinary teams to ‘prototype’ pathways and solutions that inspire constructive change; putting the needs of our people and our planet front and centre and rethinking the way we design, build and live. The Lifepod Project is one of these investigations, focused to find the housing solutions of the future. Nicci’s vision for the future is a positive one and involves Australian talent in across sector collaboration to create real solutions to the many challenges and complexities associated with increasing population and urbanization across the globe.
Now in its fourteenth year, Architecture & Design’s annual Sustainability Awards will bring together the highest calibre of innovation and design and you’re invited to be a part of it!
After 13 years, the oldest and biggest sustainable built environment educational event in the country, Sustainability Live, has evolved to become Australia’s pinnacle of sustainable designs, ideas and innovation-now known as the Sustainability Summit.
Tickets on sale – August
In designing buildings to be as sustainable as possible, the importance of implementing water-saving ideas and technologies is integral to any new building’s designs. So, what are the latest water conservation ideas and technologies that need to be adopted in the built environment on a continent where water scarcity is an ever-present crisis? Where should we start with water conservation in Australia? Are water storage & water recycling and water desalination the answer? What about water efficient fixtures and appliances, rainwater and greywater reuse? What are the ideas that architects and designers could and should implement into their designs to ensure water is being recycled, reused and ultimately conserved?
After the bushfire crisis in Australia, the way we design, and construct buildings is set to change. What else should we be doing to prevent what we saw in the ‘black summer’ of 2019/2020? Does our entire approach to design and building need an overhaul and where do we need to start? Along with designs, what materials should we be looking at to build the fire-proof structures of the future? When it comes to the bushfires, what can we learn from the First Nations of Australia and can this knowledge help us manage future bushfires and help us reduce the impact of fires across our built environment?
The Australian climate requires that homes be designed or modified to ensure that the occupants remain thermally comfortable with minimal auxiliary heating or cooling in the climate where they are built. So does passive design fit into the eight climate zones in Australia and how is this design managed by the National Construction Code (NCC)? And while the northern European-derived passive house design is not always the best solution for Australia’s climate, do we need to instead concentrate on vernacular design and focus more on local needs, local materials, and local traditions and how does Australia’s growing love of high-rise apartments fit into all this? Do we need an Australian version of passive house design and what would that look like?
Urban developments around the world are using smart design and new materials to create net-zero energy structures and even carbon positive districts that challenge everything we have learnt about design to date. When it comes to being sustainable, one of the most effective ways to lower a carbon footprint is to reduce or even entirely eliminate a building’s reliance on external fossil-fuel derived energy for power and lighting. How can residential homes and for that matter, precincts reduce their carbon environmental footprint and how have some precinct around the world been designed to be carbon positive and what can we learn and borrow from these designs?
The future of building design belongs to structures with extensive sensor networks that can control temperature, monitor power and energy, and water consumption, track sustainability performance in real-time, and much more. In fact, automation is key in buildings when we are considering their longevity and the future since sustainable buildings emit less pollution and greenhouse gases, while at the same time have lower operating costs while increasing the value of the assets. They are also able to reduce energy (and water) consumption by optimising the operational efficacy. So how is all this technology changing the way buildings are designed, built and managed and how do we measure its’ impact on sustainability?
Pre-register to attend by completing the form below.
We’re partnering with like-minded brands who share our vision for change. Together we’re supporting the ongoing progress of the green building movement in our great nation.
Our sponsorship packages are designed to elevate sponsors as the leading solution provider within their sponsored category, allowing their brand to be associated with award-winning architectural projects and leading professionals across the Architecture and Design building and architecture network. Sponsors also have exclusive access to networking opportunities at the Awards dinner.
For more sponsorship information please download the information pack here.
For all sponsorship enquiries contact Adrian at adrian.wilson@architectureanddesign.com.au
