Sustainability
NIGHTINGALE’S COMMITMENT TO CARBON
TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE The Housing Choices Board has endorsed a refreshed and holistic development of a long-term Sustainability Strategy based on leading best practices. Part of this concerted drive will be the appointment of a Sustainability Manager in the coming financial year. This position will champion the development of a National Sustainability Framework including governance, policy, strategy, procedures, specification, and guidelines, aligned with best practices and standards, for a whole of business approach. The National Sustainability Framework will aim to build the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of our operations and provide leadership and technical expertise for education and training to ensure sustainability is consistently and transparently integrated across all business areas. Some of the major projects will include: • Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG): understand and measure where emissions are the result of Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (indirect-owned or controlled) and Scope 3 (indirect-value chain) sources. • Energy procurement: identify and investigate opportunities and solutions for bulk sustainable energy procurement for Housing Choices and our residents. • Embodied emissions: measure embodied carbon across the whole lifecycle of assets, from raw materials, construction and operation through to divestment. • Asset efficiency rating: establish baseline measurements for thermal and energy performance across the portfolio to assist in creating energy efficient, resilient and comfortable homes for the future that cost less to run. • Natural hazards climate impacts: review of natural hazards and impacts to the portfolio, now and into the future based on climate change scenarios. • Home Heating and Cooling Upgrade program: upgrade gas and electric heaters with energy efficient reverse-cycle air conditioners.
Our partnership with Nightingale Housing continues to grow; this year saw the completion of carbon neutral developments in Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide, creating homes for more than 50 Housing Choices residents. Nightingale’s triple bottom line, homes that are financially, ecologically and socially sustainable, dovetails with our own, as does their commitment to create a world in which housing in contemporary urban environments is built to support wellbeing, community and liveability. Nightingale buildings are fossil fuel free in operation, with rainwater harvesting and solar, feeding back into the building. They have a minimum 7.5-star NatHERS rating, ensuring high thermal insulation which enables the buildings to have no air conditioning, low-energy use and low-toxicity. High-use shared facilities, like communal laundries and productive gardens also contribute to lowering energy consumption and reducing waste. Nightingale’s holistic approach to sustainability, follows basic principles of passive design and material reductionism, working hard to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions and waste in the construction, operation and maintenance of each Nightingale building. In addition, Nightingale buildings are located close to public transport, cycling paths and incorporate share-car services. In this way ecologically sustainable design goes beyond the building, through the transit schemes residents embrace in their daily lives.
Pictured: The beautiful exterior of Nightingale Ballarat.
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2021-22 annual report
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