Fundamental to our design principles is to work with our environment to ensure our impact leaves this world in a better state for our children’s children. In Australia there is a huge opportunity to work with projects that are consistent in giving back to the community, be it on a social, environmental, economic, community or all levels.
The Green Dot communicates that we are happy to work with all assessment tools as each tool should be used where it is best suited and allows us to provide advice on principles rather than output.
Passivhaus (Passive House)
Passivhaus is a building physics standard used widely and internationally to assess buildings from an energy usage point of view. With 90% of our time spent indoors and 60% of our energy consumed in space heating and cooling, we understand Passivhaus to be very effective in quantifying and demonstrating any reduction in energy.
We are certified to design Passive Houses and are able to help other Architecture firms and clients to achieve this standard in their project.
Green Star
Green Star is a rating system designed by the Green Building Council of Australia. One of our contributors is an Accredited Professional in the Green Star Performance Standard and have experience in Green Star submissions on some commercial works. Green Star is also releasing a standard for homes soon.
The fundamentals of Green Star is to look at all aspects of the built environment and create targets which projects can achieve to gain further recognition in the industry for building a project which is responsible in the way it interacts with its environment and building users.
NatHERS
The Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme is the tool required to meet the NCC requirements of 6 Stars. This ‘Star’ is a different tool from a ‘Green Star’ (which is required for Class 2 to 9 buildings in the new NCC 2019).
We are accredited to perform NatHERS assessments and our AAO is Design Matters. Our registration profile is here.
We use HERO and FirstRate5 for our ratings.
BASIX and BESS
In New South Wales and Victoria planning tools exist to help architects design and implement sustainable measures to their developments at the planning stage.
BASIX exists in New South Wales and BESS exists in Victoria.
We have worked on a number of projects, both residential and community with the BASIX and BESS tools and are able to assist your architectural firm in producing reports for these tools for planning and subsequent building pemits.
Other Tools
We also collaborate with professionals experienced in NABERS, Living Building Challenge and LEED strategies. These tools aim at a holistic measurement of building performance, reaching beyond just energy and energy efficiency.
What we offer
Our clients come to us mostly through our work with energy efficiency and understanding of alternative construction systems available in Australia. We've built a body of work to showcase the smallest projects up to some medium sized community projects. Feel free to get in touch or book a chat to see how we can help you.
Architectural Design
We have extensive combined experience in the residential sector. Our experience also includes schools, churches and other community buildings.
Our services range from Concept Sketch to Contract Administration and you are able to pick and choose from most of these. Ideally however, for design consistency working with us throughout all stages is preferred.
The Green Dot
We have an underlying interest in sustainable design and have worked with mutiple tools to ensure buildings meet standards of energy, economic, environmental and social efficiency.
For us it is not about labelling a building. There are some things you need to do to pass building requirements and others you do just to make sure you are doing the right thing.
Please click for more.
Construction and Workshop Detailing
We office share in Melbourne with Global Consulting Engineers and work with them and software designed to communicate and finesse structural solutions to help you realise your project before construction commences.
With detailed workshop drawings and construction advice, you can be more certain that there are going to be less issues on site. This service is particularly helpful with Passive House consulting to mitigate poor planning of airtightness.
Please click for more.
Peer Review
Providing peer review for small and sole practices allows us to collaborate together and potentially seek additional advice on project specific queries.
Sole practitioners and small companies often find the collaboration aspect of the design process difficult to undertake. If you are in this situation and would like to talk through your solutions, feel free to get in touch.