Lendlease's Barangaroo precinct sets example for sustainable development

Lendlease says its  Barangaroo precinct is one of the world's most sustainable developments and is a clear example for the building and construction industry of what it takes to meet sustainability commitments. 

Digital Nation spoke to Monica Graham, General manager, origination, podium services, at Lendlease about the key technologies that the multinational construction, property and infrastructure company has deployed to achieve its big, hairy, audacious goals.

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The organisation has set both net zero carbon and zero carbon targets, which it aims to achieve by 2025 and 2040 as well as waste and water usage targets.

“We have had some pretty substantial sustainability goals within Barangaroo, we basically have 80 per cent of our waste diverted from landfill. We have a few but what we call Net Zero Waste is one of our targets, we're really, really proud of that.”

When it comes to the construction and development industry’s move towards sustainability, Graham says the sector is moving in the right direction.

In a recent interview Lendlease group Co-CIO, Harvey Worton. told Digital Nation Australia that the company's Podium platform is already enabling it to capture significant savings, Worton said,

“We were able to see reductions in electricity of about 34 per cent and gas of about 31 per cent. Just through the automated building and the Podium process and platform that we've put in place. So I think that's a fantastic outcome.”

Autonomous buildings

Lendlease’s focus now is on building autonomous buildings, which Graham describes as the next tier of smart building management.

The solution to minimising human intervention and creating a self-regulating and self-managing environment is found in the efficient and purposeful use of staff.

“It's really then about using staff for high value-adding activities like servicing customers, as an example, making sure that tenants are happy so that tenants stay in our offices.”

“For us, it's all about, you know, how do we turn the dial away from just being focused on operations to actually focus on really matters, which is your tenant and customer satisfaction.”