59 – 61 Goulburn Street, Sydney
NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and Colliers International
- NABERS Energy rating:
- Emission savings:
- 33 tonnes CO2-e
- Key initiatives:
- Establishment of a Building Management Committee, development and implementation of an Environmental Management Plan, soft plastics recycling and
lighting upgrades throughout the whole building, indoor environment quality testing and
BMS upgrade.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage has taken a whole-of-building approach to their Goulburn Street head office, influenced by their Green Lease with Government Property NSW. Together, OEH and building manager Colliers International target energy, water, waste, indoor-environment quality, emissions and metering. In October, 2014, a Building Management Committee (BMC) was established to develop and implement an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the building, an initiative that has built a collaborative workplace community. Key projects implemented include soft plastics recycling and lighting upgrades throughout the whole building, servers virtualised and decommissioned in the data centre, sustainable tenancy refurbishment and a BMS upgrade to improve cooling plant and pump efficiency. Projected annual savings are over 33,000 kWh and $6,000.
Utilising its Green Lease and collaborating with the building manager, Colliers, OEH NSW has introduced a range of sustainability initiatives across the whole building which are benefitting all tenants.
NSW CitySwitch judging panel

Councillor Lynne Saville, Willoughby City Council, Clare Donovan, Sustainability Coordinator NSW Office of Environment & Heritage and Jamie O’Reilly, Building Services Engineer, Colliers International (L-R).
NAB and The GPT Group
- NABERS Energy rating:
- Emission savings:
- 870 tonnes CO2-e
- Key initiatives:
- Green Lease implemented, Building Environmental Management Plan and Committee established, HVAC tuning and VSD installation and extensive LED retrofit.
NAB has worked closely with GPT on embedding energy and water performance targets into their lease and establishing a Building Environmental Management Plan and Committee with outstanding success. Their collaboration has achieved a base building NABERS energy rating of 5 stars two years ahead of schedule. Variable speed drives were installed in the building’s HVAC and set-points were lifted to save significant energy. NAB also installed almost 4000 LED lights in one of Australia’s largest commercial building LED upgrades, bringing their tenancy rating up to an impressive 5.5 stars. NAB’s 800-808 Bourke Street property was the first building to be rated under the pilot Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star Performance tool, successfully achieving a 4 star rating.
In the case of GPT and NAB, the collaborative efforts of both the tenant and landlord was responsible for the continued leadership of one of Australia’s first and most iconic green buildings.
VIC CitySwitch judging panel

Tyrone Sheehan and Paul Sweeny of the GPT Group with Alison Read of NAB and Kate Vinot, Director of City Strategy and Place, The City of Melbourne (L-R)
Western Australia
Government of Western Australia Housing Authority and Curtin University
- NABERS Energy rating:
-
- Emission savings:
- 73.6 tonnes CO2-e
- Key initiatives:
- Collaboration with Curtin University students to develop and implement an updated Sustainability Action Plan
One of the Housing Authority’s goals when joining CitySwitch in 2009 was to raise awareness of energy efficiency in the business community, and to help achieve this they partnered with students from Curtin University’s Architectural Systems Research class to prepare an updated Sustainability Action Plan. The plan recommended the continuation of an annual NABERS rating assessment, LED lighting upgrade and recruitment of a green team.
The lighting upgrade has since been completed and the new LEDs have reduced lighting costs by 20%, making the payback period less than two years. A switch off campaign decreased energy use by 5%, a saving of $9,000 over three months and staff were also engaged through a lunch and learn program and waste management initiatives. Other significant savings have also been achieved through actions from the plan, including digitising processes to save over have saved over 620,000 pieces of paper, follow-me printing and turning air conditioning off at 5pm.
The Housing Authority has recognised that they can change the future by engaging with the next generation of building professionals. Providing students with real-world green building projects creates systemic change in the industry. Highly commendable.
WA CitySwitch judging panel

Stephen Chin, Manager Corporate Operations and Support and Jeremy Hubble, Executive Director Business Operations and Managing Associate from WA Housing Authority, the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor, Lisa-M. Scaffidi, City of Perth and Emmie Maunder, Sustainability Project Officer, WA (L-R)