The Sydney City Council’s planning for net-zero buildings could be easily replicated elsewhere, judges said in honouring it with a national planning excellence award.
The council’s new performance standards framework won the “Climate Change and Resilience Category” award at the Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) 2022 National Awards for Planning Excellence held this week.
Judges said the project enabled “step-change improvements” in building energy performance and could be used as a template across Australia.
“The City has provided outstanding leadership with this initiative, the evidence behind the justification as to why developers should plan for net-zero buildings and leading the approach to strategic and the statutory planning framework,” they said.
The Shire of Broome’s Guwarri Town Beach Project, delivered in association with Josh Byrne and Associates, won the recognising “A Great Place, Street or Neighbourhood” category.
The judges said the project used the land and the sea to preserve and build on “Broome’s rich and complex cultural heritage while providing a multi-purpose landscape with a range of recreational opportunities”.
The Town of Victoria Park’s draft transport strategy and parking management plan took out the “Strategic Planning Projects” award category.
“The unique feature of this project has been to integrate a Transport Strategy focussed on local accessibility with a Parking Management Plan, both developed in the light of community aspirations in the form of ‘user mindset analysis’,” the judges said.
The East Gippsland Shire Council and Brimbank City Council shared the “Improved Planning Processes” category award for their project to share resources after the Black Summer Bushfires and through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of Hobart’s project to deliver smart bus shelters took out the Technology and Digital Innovation award category.
Click here for more on the award winners and commendations.