This year's Victorian Premier's Sustainability Awards have identified the best the state has to offer in terms of environmentally-conscious design and building practices.
Sustainability Victoria’s interim chief executive, Stephanie Ziersch, said the awards showed how management of environmental issues was of growing importance for not just individuals, but businesses.
Ziersch said the projects nominated were examples of developments that would have positive long-term effects on society, cities and our way of life.
“Each year, the Premier’s Sustainability Awards continue to discover Victoria’s best and most inspiring Victorian individuals, organisations and businesses which are developing and implementing new sustainable practices."The Nightingale development by Breathe architecture was recognised for its committed to sustainable design, taking out the built environment category for its first iteration of the Nightingale model: Nightingale 1.
[Related reading: Nightingale Licenses Collaborative Model To Private Developer]
Nightingale 1: Bonnie Herring (Director at Breathe Architecture), the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Lily D’Ambrosio and Angela Perry (Director at Nightingale Housing)
[Related reading: Deliberative Development And The ‘Uberisation’ Of Housing Markets]The Nightingale model cuts out the traditional developer, limiting investor profit margin in an architect-led model which seeks to transform the way urban housing is conceived, funded and designed.
Melbourne company, eWater Systems, won the Premier's recognition award for developing water splitting technology which is used to clean and sanitise facilities such as hospitals, schools, manufacturing businesses and restaurants chemical free.
Exemplar Health walked away as winner of both the large business category and the Premier’s Regional Recognition Award for developing the new Bendigo Hospital, Victoria’s largest rural hospital, and integrating sustainability into all elements of the site’s design, construction and systems.
Exemplar Health was recognised particularly for how they balanced the hospital's design response with cost effective initiatives, resilient infrastructure, significant energy efficiency in operation and ease of on-going maintenance. The project integrates sustainable thinking into all elements of the site’s design, construction and systems to create a healing and therapeutic environment.
The Premier’s Sustainability Awards, now in its 15th year, recognise and celebrate Victorians who are leading the way to a sustainable future.
The awards offered 10 award categories to enter in 2017.
Main image: Render of Exemplar Health's new Bendigo Hospital.
