Tract Consultants and GIW Environmental Solutions are the collective winners of the 2012 National New Signatory of the Year. Sharing a tenancy in Richmond, Melbourne, the office has cut energyuse by 10 per cent and are on track to reduce their annual energy consumption by 19MWh, saving $4,400 and achieving a 4 Star NABERS energy rating. The judges said, “If the definition of leadership is to inspire others to follow, Tract and GIW are the standout winner in this category. Their internal competition has all the hallmarks of best practice: creating competition to drive engagement, empowering teams to improve their environments, backing this up with budget and management support, and implementing ideas for continuous improvement.”
The shared office put staff up to the challenge of an internal energy reduction competition across ‘blue’, ‘yellow’, ‘green’ and ‘orange’ teams. Competing for maximum energy savings, teams actioned a diverse number of initiatives ranging from delamping, an HVAC upgrade and an energy-saving tips mascot, to equipment timer switches and use of switch-off signage with the slogan ‘we are yellow’ to bolster team member participation and behaviour change. The tenancy has since gone on to partner with RMIT University students (as part of CitySwitch Victoria’s collaboration project) to identify new improvement strategies.