Sustainable Built Environment: Criteria 1 Of Natural Resources

The Selected Appropriate Set of Best Practice Criteria for Sustainable Built Environments is Criteria 1 of Natural Resources.

Discuss about the Sustainable Built Environment.

The University of South Australia (UniSA) proposes the development of new learning center for providing learning space to the students for both formal as well as informal learning activities. The focal point of the development is provision of a green campus for providing the students a civic green and sustainable environment for learning as well as recreational activities. The Development Assessment Commission and Adelaide City Council developed the proposal for the new building for last 18 months. The site for the proposed development is located at 217-243 Hindley Street and is outlined by Philip Street at the South (www.unisa.edu.au 2016).

There are certain criteria for the sustainable built environment and the guidelines of the appropriate practice must comply with the proposed development plan to be considered as a sustainable building. The first criterion is Natural sources that focus on minimization of disruption and maintenance of ecological balance. The proposed plan is assessed for compliance with the practices.

The decisions made by United Nations Conference on Environment and Development are monitored for implementation by United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (Dahl 2014).

The planning approvals of the proposed building are reviewed and accordingly the issues are addressed using Jeffrey Smart building which comes under Adelaide CBD building. 

Criterion 1- Natural resources

According to criterion 1, the buildings should be made nature friendly. It also emphasizes on minimization of ecological disruption (Newman and Jennings 2012).

• Water management: the entire water cycle should me managed in order to maintain within the prescribed range of extraction levels and in consistent with the sustainable issues.
• Land use management: urban footprint should be minimized
• Energy sources: they should be used efficiently and the effects of green house gases must be reduced
• Materials of the building: the type, content and nature of the materials used for the building must be suitable for the given locality.
• Waste products management: the waste substances from the building materials and other sources must be minimized and a proper recycling procedure must be adopted (Townsend et al. 2015). 

Jeffrey Smart Building has proper water cycle management scheme to maintain the levels of water extraction within the sustainable limits. The rainwater tank will be located in the lawn area, storm water collection at the deciduous tree base for biofiltration that helps in watering the nearby vegetations (www.wilsonarchitects.com.au 2016).

The overall land use requirements are found complying with the standards as evident from the assessment. The deviation of the plan will impart no negative impact on the adjoining buildings or the environment.

The measures for efficient use of energy sources comply with the prescribed requirements as the solar energy system has been installed such that it meets 70% of the energy needs.

Appropriate materials for the building are proposed to be used that includes precast concrete, clear and tinted glazing, grey zinc and grey metal, which is considered appropriate for the locality.

The waste management system is appropriate and have proper recycling scheme for minimizing and reducing the waste substances. It has proper waste storage system along with private waste collection. 

Using the Adelaide CBD Building Selected, the Review of the Planning Approvals Process and Addressing the Issues are Done

Bligh office tower is situated at central part of Sydney. Ingenhoven Architects designed it. It has a Green star standard. It is a 30-story building. It complies with the set standards of category one (www.archdaily.com 2016).

The water management is planned well and has a recycling system of its own. It has a filtration system, which has the capacity of recycling the wastewater produced from the building. Hence it has a well developed waste collection system as well.

The energy system of the the building is such that the cooling, heating and power generation combination is used, called Tri-generation. Vacuum tube solar collector achieves the onsite electricity (Hewitt 2012).

The building is made of glass materials mainly that enhance its appearance and the central atrium is of good height making the entire place exposed to daylight. This allows natural ventilation to the building and makes it hold a natural environment. It has a parking space with showers that imparts to its eco friendly nature making it a sustainable construction (Ingenhoven, Reute and Dieckmann 2014).

1. land use (zoning): The building site lies within the zone of Mixed land use zone. It also comes under policy area 19- west end policy area. Mixed use zone accommodates a combination of several activities like shops, banks, hotels, warehouse, educational institutes, residential complex as well as commercial area. The policy 19 has a set of requirements in context of the land use. It should consist of industries, various service centers, retails, showrooms, educational, cultural, clinical along with cultural and a diverse range of activities that add to the environmental development. In the west end area, artistic activities and accommodation for students are encouraged to supplement the various educational facilities. It also includes shops, cafes, shops and hotels providing various activities that create interest in the frontal side of the street that contribute to the environmental and sustainable development (Thom et al. 2016).
2. character areas: The desired character requirements as per the policy are met by the proposed building plans. According to the policy of West end and land use, it requires transformation of a low scale township into a medium scale building and replacing the poor environmental amenities by effective using the land. The proposed building plans meet the requirements as it eliminates 106 car-parking areas and transform the area by constructing high quality building that improves the amenity of the location. The building site does not include any such heritage area but its proposed office is a heritage building used for legal studies. The development control has two principles regarding the heritage site. The development should be such that it does not affect the cultural heritage of the site and the ethnicity is maintained well. The other norm says that the balcony or other areas should maintain a consistency with the neighborhood building and the scale of the street should also be equally consistent with the street.
3. setbacks: The ground level of the building to the frontal part of the street should be in such a proportion that the setback level prevails at zero or rather no such level exist. It also includes set back at the upper levels of the podium. The continuity can be maintained with the street frontal part by the facade line continuation of the street. The set back should be incorporated such that it follows the regular pattern of the other prevailing buildings of the locality that would help in meeting the desired criteria (Rauscher and Momtaz 2015).
4. scale: As per the development control principles the development would be of such scale and height that it is reflected to the street which it fronts. It should be consistent in terms of parapet lines, height and floor levels of the other buildings of the zone. It should be consistent with the display patterns of the frontal side with other neighborhood buildings and huge unbroken facades must be avoided. The university building proposed plan complies with the above mentioned criteria (Hartill 2012).
5. built form: The building is proposed to be built with a height of 35.5 meters, it is planned such that its height is 33 meters in the Hindley street area and at the eastern side of the front area is tapered down to 26.1 meters. As per the guidelines, the ideal height should be 28 meters in height at the most and the lower limit is 17 meters. However, there are certain exceptions according to which a building exceeding the prescribed limit is not contemplated in view of the development that it adds to the locality and besides contribute to the sustainability aspect (Dovey 2014).
6. water: The water management is planned such that the sustainability is maintained. The rainwater is used for harvesting and a storage reserve of 50litres capacity is proposed which is located below the lawn area for flushing water to maintain hygiene the toilets. It will also be used for the purpose of water testing for protection from fire. The storm water will be channeled from the courtyard to the base of the tree for bio filtration and the filtered water to be used for irrigation and nutrition of the nearby vegetation. In this way the water management plan meets the requirement and water is proposed to be reused in this manner to retain sustainability (Furlong et al. 2016).
7. wastes: The waste management scheme proposed by the building plan is in accordance with the development policy. The policy suggests that the development should be such that the waste products are managed properly, proper deposition of the waste matters, waste bins, recycling of storm water, waste water or grey water and dedicated area will be made so that the wastes do not add to the environmental contamination. The waste bins will be frequently emptied into the waste collecting vehicle and a waste management contractor will be consulted for ensuring proper waste management procedure. will be Moreover, the wastes from the construction site, building materials and others are also considered to be deposited in a separate area for minimizing pollution and maintaining the ecological system (Zaman 2014).
8. energy (including passive and embodied): According to councils provision for energy efficiency, the development should be such that they ensure sustainability for long period and are compatible with the environmental backdrop. It encourages utilization of alternative sources of energy and promotes minimization of the renewable sources use. The building attempts to adopt the energy efficiency initiatives to achieve five star rating necessary for sustainable buildings and constructions. Hence, the designs for efficient energy usage will be provided in the display and the residents will be provided with proper education and knowledge for efficient use of energy resources. There will be monitoring system for checking the energy consumptions of the building. Mechanical plants are proposed to be used for reducing the green house gases effect. Air conditioner with low energy will be installed. The magnetic bearing compression system will be used for chilling and providing high performance output. Solar system for hot water will be designed to meet 70% of the hot water requirements. The façade systems used will be designed such that they improve 20-25% of the energy efficiencies are attained. T5 lights, low switched areas and other such systems will be incorporated along with day light compensation checks to ensure that the energy sources are utilized appropriately (Nair 2014).
9. biophilic/biomimicry systems: Biophilia is defined as love and affinity towards the living system. The planning of the building complies with the biophilic system. It has a natural surroundings, trees and greeneries are proposed to be maintained. The courtyard will have abiofiltration system for irrigating the adjacent agriculture. It emphasizes on maintaining the greenery and contribute to ecological balance. This will help in conservation of the energy and other non-renewable sources. The solar system for hot water supply has been proposed This would act as an alternative to non- renewable resources. The control principle 170 statesthat the development with high buildings should be designed such that they are energy efficientand should not have any impact on climatic conditions like wind, temperature, daylight and sunlight. The building is planned to have 4 levels of well shielded upstream facilities. Hence, theplanned site complies in context of the biophilic system (Newman 2014).

1. developer contributions: The developer’s contribution in the building site are also in compliance with the guidelines. The building site is planned and proposed in consistent with the norms and the development control principles to attain the green star scoring and add to the sustainable development of the locality.
2. builders’ responsibilities: The builder’s contributions comply with pre set standards. The materials, waste disposal, energy management, recycling of water and other natural sources are taken into account in accordance with the building plans.
3. conditions of development control: The development control principle 36 includes the public notification for the developments that take place. The category 1 involve all development except the one which exceeds the pre set limit, the development that is in close proximity of a residential zone and the development which are not complying with the set guidelines by the concerned authority. The category 2 includes the development which exceeds the prescribed limit. The subject site complies with the category 1 development control which implies no public notification, nut it exceeds the prescribed height. As a result it comes under category 2 and requires public notification. It requires notification of the residents and the owners (Chhetri 2013).

Conclusion

The proposed building is consistent with the Adelaide development plan guidelines both qualitatively and quantitatively in respect to land use, appearance, heritage, car parking, crime prevention, and wind impact, contamination of the site, noise and waste product management.

The development plan varies with the guidelines in context to the proposed height of the building.  However, the proposed plan with the deviation from the prescribed measure is considered if it does not have any off site impact that harms the green and sustainability criteria and comply with the desired character as laid by the development control guidelines. Moreover, there is no overshadowing of the daylight to the buildings in neighborhoods (Nelson 2016).

Hence, the desired requirements are maintained reasonably in this context. According to the other policy areas guidelines of height that comes under Mixed-use zone, the height of the building should be 40 meters to be regarded as a medium scale development. The proposed building has a height lower than that but still reasonably comply with the desired characters of height a medium scale development in the context of CBD as per the requirements of the Policy area 19. Hence, it can be concluded that the planning system in South Australia is capable of providing sustainable development.

References:

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