6 Star Green Rated Building in Sydney

This media release was emailed to me for consideration for my Wedding Planning Tips blog.  It  is about Doltone House’s newest function centre.  For those not living in Sydney and may not be familiar with the brand Doltone House, they have a number of wedding reception / function venues in Sydney.

Why am I posting this on Greener Me?  I am interested in my readers response to the claims in the media release about the building being 6 star green rated.  I have to admit that I am unfamiliar with the rating and what it means but I found this release to be really interesting.  Have a read and let me know what you think.

Here is the media release:

Situated on the stunning Sydney waterfront, Doltone House’s newest venue Darling Island Wharf has been crafted by green-minded industry experts to become part of the first six-star green-star rated building, workplace6, in New South Wales. Workplace6 is only the second building in Australia to obtain this coveted certification, and this six-star green-star rating represents the world’s best practices in sustainability.

Darling Island Wharf incorporates a fresh food and wine emporium complete with open kitchen, a buzzing café, intimate meeting rooms and an 800 seated capacity event space – an inspirational and unique project from the team at Doltone House. Paul Signorelli, Managing Director of Doltone House, was inspired by the environmental initiatives of Workplace6. “Our plans for the internal fit out were specifically created to complement those of the building. By adopting and expanding on the green philosophies of the building itself, Doltone House aims to lead the way into the future by providing the greenest venue in Sydney.”

Workplace 6 reduces greenhouse emissions by 70% compared to a normal office building. In harmony with this, the interior of Darling Island Wharf is clad in a variety of ‘environmentally honest’ and durable materials: recycled, green-minded, low-toxin emitting and built to last. Eco-ply flooring and stone are the obvious green materials used throughout the site –yet even the carpet in the event centre has green credentials. The event centre bar is made from a durable marble with a high quality finish, while a counter crafted from recycled Ironwood from Queensland is the focal point of the bluestone-clad cafe downstairs.

On a structural level, Workplace 6 is Australia’s first building to use concrete manufactured from recycled products. The high performance insulation used throughout the building is green-certified as manufactured without the use of ozone-depleting gases. Details such as custom-fitted carbon dioxide sensors and variable speed fans are employed in Darling Island Wharf to reduce the toxin emission and air pollution normally associated with buildings of this scale. As a result, fresh air supply is increased by up to 50% making it a healthier, safer space for the public.

Energy reduction is a significant factor in being green, and Doltone House have tackled this issue head on. In the kitchen, gas combi ovens that run on natural gas, have been installed while fridges and freezers will be insulated with thick panels to reduce energy consumption. Perhaps the most iconic innovation is the ‘watercool’ system, which captures heat rejected from Sydney harbour and transforms it into usable energy for the building’s water-cooling system. Environmental initiatives also extend to the site’s every day operation, including re-using blackwater for parkland irrigation and a tri-generation energy system – where heat, power and chilled water for air conditioning are produced by one single unit. While ‘greening’ a site of this scale adds an extra 15% to construction and fit-out cost, embracing the green approach at this level signifies Doltone House’s serious commitment to environmental and social responsibility.

Have a look at the artists impressions.

Offsetting Your Wedding Carbon Emissions

Regular readers of ‘Greener Me’ may know that I also write for the blog ‘Wedding Planning Tips’.  ‘Wedding Planning Tips’ are my inside the wedding industry secrets from a professional wedding photographer’s perspective.

 

Many of my wedding couples are not only sharing my concern for the environment but also share my desire to actively do something about it.  I have been impressed and inspired by many couple’s knowledge, actions and decisions in regards to having a ‘green wedding’.

 

I mentioned in a recent post ‘A Green Wedding’, a couple I photographed last year at Balmoral Sydney.  Instead of paying money for guest bomboniere, they donated the money to ‘Climate Change’.

 

On my personal journey to live a greener life, I have been investigating the carbon offsetting scheme that many companies offer.  From my basic understanding, the scheme works by honestly answering a number of questions about your life i.e. how much petrol you spend each week, what is your power bill etc etc etc.  Then these companies calculate how much carbon emissions per year your lifestyle and business are creating.

 

This emission figure then translates to a money figure that you can pay.  These companies will then plant the number of trees needed to cover the amount of carbon emissions being emitted from your lifestyle / business.

 

I have to admit my knowledge on these schemes is at present limited (still researching), however even though my current personal opinion is that the idea isn’t bad; I feel I could do better.

 

I would rather try to eliminate the carbon emissions in the first place rather than simply offsetting them.  Therefore instead of paying $200 a year because I run a heater all day during winter, I would rather put on another jumper and turn the heater off.

 

However in saying that I have decided to do both.  My goal is to pay less money each year for offsetting because I am not having a lifestyle that is emitting as much carbon as the previous year.

 

So for couples trying to organise a ‘green’ wedding, perhaps their thinking may be the same.  In my post ‘A Green Wedding’, there are some more information, links and ideas about how to have a wedding that will create less carbon emissions. 

 

To be fare it is probably highly unlikely that couples will be able to have a wedding that is totally carbon natural without offsetting (unless you plan to stand naked in the forest and forage amongst the trees for berries to eat at the reception).

 

It is my great pleasure now to direct you to a website that I stumbled across only recently.  Sally Miles, is a Sydney lady who recently held a carbon neutral wedding.  She has created a website dedicated to Australian Brides wanting to do the same.  She named her website the ‘Green Wedding Guide’.

 

She offers ideas and also the option to calculate your wedding’s carbon emission and even offsetting them.

 

I will be personally contacting Sally to congratulate and encourage her new green wedding venture.

 

 

A Green Wedding

For Earth Hour 2008, I was photographing a wedding in Balmoral Sydney.  At 8pm the bride and groom, requested all lights to be turned off while dinning at the reception.  With an added thoughtful gesture the MC announced that instead of purchasing bomboniere, the bride & groom are donating the money to the cause ‘Stop Global Warming’.

 

As a wedding photographer, I have noticed the subject of planning a green wedding is becoming a concern with many more couples.

 

Ali who is getting married at the end of the year and who has been reading both my blogs Greener Me & Wedding Planning Tips emailed me about her green wedding concerns:

 

“Oh I found something you might be interested in this. I can’t afford to hire china plates etc for our wedding (and can’t be arsed washing them up after) and I didn’t want plastic ones as they are so bad for the environment… so I found a cool alternative – I love them!!! ”

 

Check out ‘Non Toxic Life’

 

I did check out this website Ali – thank you so much for emailing me the link.  I am going to add them to my Australian website blog roll.  My only concern was they used palm leaves to make the disposable plates. I knew from my friend Laura that you need to be careful on where palm leaves and palm oil comes from.  We don’t want to destroy any more orangutan forest or habitat. 

 

See Laura’s email in my post.

 

Laura emailed them on my behalf to ask the question of where the palm leaves comes from.  Here is their response back:

 

 

“Hi Laura

The bioplates are made from the fallen palm fronds of the Betel Nut tree. In the village where they are made, the trees are everywhere naturally, they are not harvested at all.  We are simply finding a use for the fronds that just create a mess as there are so many trees in the area.

 

The wooden cutlery is made from fast growing plantation timber, grown on a four year rotational cycle, especially for their manufacture.

 

Kind Regards

Melissa Kerr

www.nontoxiclife.com.au”

 

Thanks Laura for your help on this post.  Please leave a comment about any more information you would like to add about saving the organgutan.

 

 

Here are some links to other blogs, posts or websites talking about green weddings for your reference:

 

 

http://www.greenweddingguide.com.au/web/pageid/1266

 

http://greatgreenwedding.com/blog/

 

http://www.polkadotbride.com/wp/index.php/category/eco-friendly-weddings/

 

http://www.yourweddingwardrobe.com.au/blog/?p=10