$1M FINE FOR BEING GREEN

It’s Sydney’s first ‘green’ office building – so sustainable it isn’t connected to the mains water supply.

But Woollahra Council has taken a dim view of the Double Bay building’s lack of a car park – taxing developer Fivex Commercial Property $1.2 million in infrastructure fees for parking improvements in the area.

Fivex general manager, former Woollahra Councillor Lesli Berger, said parking was excluded to encourage tenants to use public transport.

However the council claims it will have to supply an extra 32 car spaces to cater for the new 2000sq m building on the corner of Knox St and New South Head Road, Double Bay.

To do this it plans to add another level to a nearby public car park in Cross St.

But research conducted by Mr Berger’s company showed the Cross St car park was only 50 per cent full on average during weekdays.

“We are encouraging tenants to use public transport, but if they have to drive to work, there is more than enough parking available nearby,” Mr Berger said.

“The council is publicly saying they’re going to build a white elephant.”

The sustainable features in the building – grey water, low wattage lighting, energy efficient air conditioning, solar panels, louvers and large opening windows – have added 10 per cent to the cost.

But tenants aren’t willing to pay more to rent office space in a ‘green’ building, Mr Berger said, which takes away the incentive for developers to pursue environmental projects.

“We have exposed a market failure. As a community, we need more buildings like this one, but governments – local and state – are going to have to support them,” he said. “We didn’t go into it for profit and I’m proud we’ve managed to build it because we’ve come up against insane obstacles.

“It’s not buying or installing the technologies that are difficult – it’s dealing with inflexibility.” Mr Berger put forward a car sharing proposal to the council, but it was rejected.

A council spokeswoman said Mr Berger was aware of the council’s section 94 plan.

“It values a car space at $38, 496. $1,231,872 is the amount attributed to Mr Berger,” she said.

The Daily Telegraph: 26 ^th December, 2006’

By Larissa Cummings