Sustainability is at the heart of the vision that is driving the Ginninderry project.

Our vision is to create a place underpinned by leading-edge design and development practices, as well as enhanced environmental awareness. This will enable us to create the best in contemporary and affordable sustainable living.

The goal has always been to “mainstream” sustainable urban development practices, and to carefully construct a sustainable community of scale that can be replicated throughout Australia and internationally.

Ginninderry is a Green Star Communities pilot project. This means that it has signed up to a comprehensive Green Building Council regime of scrutiny against a wide spectrum of criteria designed to ensure the project achieves sustainability outcomes which are world best practice.

Sustainability objectives:

The project has five fundamental objectives that underpin the sustainability vision:

• it is designed to be sustainable over time; socially, economically and ecologically with a low and reducing ecological footprint;
• it will respond to both the local and the global environment;
• it will provide for future beneficial change to occur in design, infrastructure and regulatory mechanisms;
• it will be cost effective, replicable and measurable, and
• it will act as a new model that others can follow.

Guiding principles:

Additionally, the project has committed to a set of five further guiding principles that will direct decision making by any individual or agency involved in the delivery and development of the site.

• Partnership principles underscore the project’s commitment to collaborate with public agencies, the community, research and educational institutions while fostering a sense of community ownership and supporting affordable and community housing.
• Evaluation principles guide the monitoring and accountability of the project; from independent peer review practices to encouraging a culture of continuous improvement.
• Ecology principles include acknowledging the intrinsic value of all species and the special role and regional significance of the Murrumbidgee River Corridor and Ginninderra Creek, as well as a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimising resource, water and energy consumption.
• Social and cultural principles ensure that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultural, historical and spiritual values are respected and honoured throughout the project.
• Economic principles include a commitment to deliver a sound financial return to the ACT government.

Through the implementation of actions derived from these principles we are working hard to ensure that sustainability is fully integrated into all aspects of the Ginninderry project, rather than treated as an afterthought.