Greenwalls Defeat Vandalism

The strata sector is achieving beneficial social, environmental and financial results by applying sustainability lessons brought by some of the dominant commercial property investment trusts in Australia. ​​

According to Micelotta, the MICM Property general manager strata management, “sustainability is becoming a critical part of a company’s unique selling proposition.”

One of the initiative that the strata sector in Melbourne took was the installation of green walls. The suggestion came upon to raise the issue of graffiti vandalism in Melbourne CBD. For instance, one of the buildings in the north of the CBD was constantly vandalized. 
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​The owners typically used graffiti removal services that were provided by the council and repaint the wall every six months. However, When the building went with the green wall as a solution, not only did it stop the act of vandalism, but it also upgraded the property’s value due to the improved aesthetics. In addition to that, cooling benefits were also delivered as an impact of having a green wall, it blocks the heat coming from the sun since the wall is facing the north façade of the building.
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​Another example of sustainability application to strata communities are embedded networks. “An Embedded Network (EN) is the infrastructure that allows electricity, hot water or gas to be on-sold to multi-unit developments.” (SAVANT Energy Power Networks, 2016).

The advantage of having an embedded network is that it allows the bulk purchase approach, hence lowering the prices of the bills. So instead of having separate arrangements with different electricity retailers between the owner and the tenant, they bundle their consumption together to achieve discounted rates usually between 10% and 12% for the residents.  Moreover, the owners will receive a reduced tariff and quarterly additional financial reports etc…
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Furthermore, rainwater tanks are also becoming more widespread according to Micelotta, the water stored are usually used for pool tops and the irrigation system.

For further reading try Fifth Estate and Savant Energy. Strata Energy News previously covered Green is the New Black on green roof projects.
 
Lamees Alkiyumi 
Contributor, Strata Energy News 

Strata managers can now register buildings in the City of Sydney and in Melbourne for a fully funded electric vehicle recharge assessment. Registrations for Brisbane have closed. However, if you're interested in learning more contact Scott Witheridge on (02) 9977 1801. Read more about the program here.
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