The green building movement has been around for almost two decades now and we have learned a great deal. There is quite a bit of information out there about what green buildings are and what interventions should be considered, which technologies to evaluate, and which materials to include or exclude to create a green building.

Out of the 700 projects that have been Green Star certified by the GBCSA, there are only around 35 buildings that have achieved the highest 6-star rating – approximately 5% in total. If we aim to significantly advance the green building movement and also comply with the coming legislation, it will soon become the norm to design and build high performing 6-star buildings.

For the industry to achieve this, we need to critically look at how we are designing buildings and if we can find better approaches to building design. An innovative design approach is needed in which the team identifies and harnesses opportunities to achieve synergies across disciplines and building systems. Such an approach is called Integrated Design (ID), which is a method used for the design and operations of sustainable built environments.

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