Capitol Installs New Technology Solar Windows
The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union’s new training and wellness centre in Melbourne’s CBD will be the first in Australia to feature ClearVue’s solar glass technology, allowing windows to convert sunlight into energy.
The smart building materials expert said he was contacted by Capitol Group, which was contracted to improve the performance of the association. The technology is estimated to generate 80-90% of a building’s main electricity through existing or new glass surfaces and insulation.
The consortium was also the first project in Australia to specify ClearVue’s building-integrated solar technology from the outset.
A new international standard on net zero is currently being developed
BSI, the business improvement and standards company appointed by the UK government as the national standards body, is currently working on developing an independently verifiable international standard on net zero. This process is expected to provide clarity on the transition to net zero and strong climate action to accelerate progress towards sustainability among all national standards bodies in over 170 countries.
The standard will be developed over the next 18 months and is expected to be launched at COP30 in November 2025. A public consultation is expected to launch in the second half of 2025 to incorporate global input.
Nursing homes are contributing to the housing price crisis
Retirement villages are a key component in solving the nation’s housing affordability problems, according to a new report from the Real Estate Association and PwC, which found that a two-bedroom unit in a retirement village costs an average of 43 percent less than a unit in the same postcode.
Daniel Gannon, executive director of the Retirement Living Council, said the data showed retirement villages played a vital role in affordable housing and it was time for the Government to tackle the crisis starting with age-friendly housing.
He said retirement communities were helping older Australians find the right home that was “right sized” and putting larger homes back on the market for younger home buyers. But retirement communities were full, with vacancy rates of 5 per cent.
Construction costs are rising
Altus Group has released its latest Australian Construction Materials Price Outlook, looking at the costs of eight monitored construction materials in the first quarter of 2024.
Four of the monitored materials increased in price during the quarter, but two materials needed for the clean energy transition — copper and timber — fell in price due to weak domestic demand. Structural steel and rebar also remained stable during the quarter due to a slowdown in major steel-consuming sectors.
Meanwhile, housing statistics are not keeping up with population growth, with just 172,000 homes completed last year, 19.7 percent below the 214,000 completed in the year before the pandemic.
The report said housing projects are now unviable because sales prices and expected rents do not cover land, construction, labour, financing and government fees, calling for further government intervention in social and affordable housing.
CEFC tracks natural capital investments in new report
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has released a new report with metrics to evaluate existing and potential investments in emerging natural capital assets and decarbonization.
The new report, “Measuring What Matters: Approaching Natural Capital Investors,” also aims to attract capital to the sector by introducing a rating system that benchmarks sustainability outcomes, allowing investors to compare and prioritize land improvement efforts against emissions and sustainability targets.
Australia gets its first commercial life sciences precinct
Life sciences and biomedical real estate investor Kurraba Group has announced the launch of the nation’s first life sciences district, featuring a campus with high-tech laboratories, knowledge workspaces and other necessary infrastructure.
The $490 million development is planned for a 26,000 square metre development site at 100 Botany Road, Waterloo, two kilometres from Sydney’s CBD, and is estimated to create 1200 jobs.
Developers said the campus would drive investment, productivity and growth in advanced medical and health sectors, and help commercialise local research and development that is being lost overseas.
New study finds alternative to microplastics
A new study conducted by Hydra Marine Sciences, a Germany-based aquatic life research, documentation and consulting lab, has found that the bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA) could be a suitable replacement for non-biodegradable plastics.
PLA is one of the most popular bio-based plastics today due to its versatility, circularity and low carbon footprint. It is used in a variety of products including cups, cutlery, garbage bags and food packaging. The material is made from plant sugars that are fermented using lactic acid, a non-toxic chemical produced in the human body.
Research has shown that when PLA is exposed to nature through composting, hydrolysis and biodegradation, the carbon dioxide and water contained in the original plants used to make the material are naturally returned, leaving no residual traces of nano-microplastics behind.
But Christian Rott, managing director of HYDRA Marine Sciences, cautioned that the decomposition of any material must be balanced, and the research should not encourage littering or slow the development of the world’s waste infrastructure.
