The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) describes it as the ‘Australian excellence’ rating in sustainable construction. In giving Wollongong Central such a prominent ranking GBCA has recognised many factors such as the management of the centre, indoor air quality, energy, transport, water, materials, land use and ecology, emissions and innovation. It was impressed with its innovative passive design that has reduced energy use. Group development manager Mohan Rengaswamy said sustainable design was important to GPT which has already reduced its carbon emissions by more than 50 per cent on 2005 levels.

“The ‘As Built’ rating is a significant achievement as it will relate to the life of the Wollongong Central development, compared to many other retail design achieved Green Star ratings that will expire after two years,” Mr Rengaswamy said.

“The sustainability and engineering consultancy Cundall provided the ‘comfort modelling’ behind the design of the Wollongong Central expansion to ensure ample comfort was provided for visitors by using as little energy as possible. This included undertaking computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling on optimising the airflow through the centre.”

“Other factors that contributed to the 5 Star Green Star rating were the positive social impact the Wollongong Central expansion had on the surrounding community by providing healthy environments and performance spaces for local artists.”