GREEN PRECEDENT FOR DOUBLE BAY

Sydney’s swanky Double Bay is set to get a five-star environmentally rated building thanks to developer Joshua Berger, but not without some roadblocks from the local council and energy utility.

Mr Berger, through his company Fivex Commercial Property, is pitching the Green Starr rated building to environmentally aware tenants. The building will provide all its own water needs and sewage recycling, and will not be connected to the water mains or sewage system.

Mr Berger said he hoped the eastern suburbs building, at 376-382 New South Head Road, would “act as a precedent for future sustainable developments in Woollahra and Australia Wide.”

“Our project philosophy is simple: build a beautiful and prominent building in the heart of Double Bay’s shopping centre in an environmentally responsible way,” he said.

He also said the project would reinvigorate the retail area of Double Bay, which had been under pressure in recent times.

Designed by Eels Trelease Architects, the building features passive solar design, including flow-through ventilation that will minimize need for air-conditioning and have no on-site parking.

Sustainability consultant Michael Mobbs who designed the environmental components said benefits would include over 400,000 litres of stormwater no longer “polluting Double Bay and Sydney Harbour each year,” and more than 400,000 litres of water remaining in Warragamba Dam.

More than 700,000 litres of sewage would also no longer be “discharged into the Pacific Ocean each year.”

But the local Woollahra council is understood to have turned a deaf ear to benefits of the development and insisted on charging a $1.3 million developer levy to help fund extension to a council car park, despite the developer’s decision to exclude car parking on site in order to be more sustainable.

Energy Australia has also ignored the low anticipated energy load of the project and demanded the developer provide space for a sub-station-on an adjoining site- that will cost an estimated $700,000 in “lost capital value” to handle other future developments.

According to Mr Berger’s son Lesli Berger, who has been a local Councillor and has long been interested in sustainable developments, the idea of creating a green building has been under discussion for a long time.

“When I joined the family business I started discussing it with Joshua. He really liked the idea of giving something back to the community and doing something socially responsible,” Lesli Berger said.

There will be a ground and three upper levels, with about 470 square metres of retail space on the ground floor and 450 sq m of semi-retail or office space on each of the upper floors.

Leasing agent Stephen Bowery of Colliers International said he expected the commercial building to set new benchmarks in rental on completion, expected in the first quarter of 2007.

Tina Perinotto

‘The Australian Financial Review: 18th November, 2005’