Insights and observations from our practice and elsewhere
A new office, from old beginnings
There are a lot of reasons to love Buildings Alive’s new head office. For a start, not much of it is new! Like many start-ups (after two years, are we still a start-up?) we were faced with a daunting array of choices and challenges when it came to accommodating our...
A brighter road for infrastructure
We all know what infrastructure is. It’s the big stuff in the economy like roads, railways, pipes, power lines and airports that help the little things—like people, parcels, electrons—get around. It’s good for the economy. And if infrastructure is good, more of it is...
Water – too precious to waste!
Approximately one third of the water that passes through a typical office building’s meter is lost through leaks. That’s a lot of wasted water! Many of these leaks are obvious, like toilets that won’t stop flushing, but there are lots of other kinds of leaks that are...
High and dry in NSW
Sydney’s recent hot and dry weather has been unusual – not only has October 2013 had days of extreme heat, which are usually associated with the peak of summer, but the moisture in the air has been strikingly low. This extreme combination presents challenges for the...
Run, Building Run!
A building’s energy use is normally invisible to the public. But for the next 30 days, five prominent high-performance buildings will be sweating it out in an unlikely race to beat their ‘personal best’. Building Run is the creation of artist Keith Deverell, winner of...
A New Take on Benchmarking
Buildings Alive sends Rapid Efficiency Feedback (REF) messages every day to the operators of about 60 buildings telling them how their buildings performed yesterday. The messages are pretty clear: energy performance was either as expected or better or worse than...
Coming to America
There is no escaping the fact that commercial buildings in Australia, by and large, have been becoming more resource efficient in recent years. This can be put down to greener technologies, greater transparency about performance, and industry dynamics that have...
Fire in the sky, but (thankfully) no smoke from the buildings
Australia recorded its all-time hottest day on Monday 7th January (40.33°C average across the continent) and in Sydney yesterday, a maximum over 41°C put office buildings to the test. We investigate whether operators were able to keep energy peaks under control on...
Six thousand tonnes of CO2 saved, for good
2012 has been an extraordinary year for Green Buildings Alive. In recent weeks we’ve been incredibly busy establishing our platform and we are now looking forward to a quick break before ramping up again in the New Year. Result: Through the efforts and commitment of...