Sustainable Development at 376-382 New South Head Road, Double Bay
To Whom It May Concern,
Sustainable Development at 376-382 New South Head Road, Double Bay
As a long-term advocate of managing our precious water resources, it was my pleasure to officially open Australia’s most sustainable office building in the heat of Double Bay.
It is an extraordinary outcome to build a multi-tenanted office building in the heart of Sydney without providing any connection to mains water and sewage. The building harvests its own rainwater for potable water uses and recycles and treats all on-site sewage for toilet flushing purposes and irrigation of the productive roof garden. As far as I am aware, this has never been done before for an Australian office building in an urban environment.
As a society, if we are going to take the issue of water management seriously, we need not only Governments to play their part, but also private developers like the Berger family to do their bit in conserving water. If all buildings in Sydney harvested their own rainwater and didn’t flush potable water down their toilets, we would not be facing a water crisis in Sydney today.
The building has no on-site parking to encourage the building occupants to take advantage of the excellent public transport that serves Double Bay. The building uses passive solar design so that even in the heart of the building, most office users, for most of the day, will not need to switch on the lights. The windows are open-able to give occupants control over their own work environment and to discourage air conditioning use. I applaud these initiatives.
While some people cannot come to terms with the past, let alone stand the present, this building represents the future and we need Governments to create a set of riles that encourage developers to follow the lead of this development and build a truly sustainable future.
I fully endorse the environmental systems employed in this development and I endorse the wonderful architectural design of this building.
Yours truly,
Alan Jones AO
ALAN JONES – 2GB 873AM
25 April 2007