Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC)

Buildings have major economic, environmental and social impacts on our community and the planet. The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) is a multi-disciplinary facility that brings together a wide range of researchers to holistically address the challenges of making our buildings sustainable and effective places in which to live and work.

The building itself is making a difference as it produces more power than it consumes and will harvest and distribute water beyond its own needs. It also has natural ventilation design with task-based, passive conditioning using various methods (including ground source heating and cooling, solar walls and earth to air heat exchanger. The SBRC has an integrated power grid capable of simultaneous testing of multiple renewable energy generation sources and storage systems, as well as a fully integrated Green IT building management system, wired to measure and report on all aspects of sustainability (including workgroup power consumption, water use, and printing statistics). Furthermore, the building houses a grey water separation and natural treatment system which enables the export of grey water to nearby buildings, and also supports Australia’s native flora with permaculture and Australian native food gardens across the SBRC site.

To take a tour of this world-leading facility or learn more about its environmental impacts. And don’t miss the Illawarra Flame House, an award winning, net-zero energy demonstration home created by University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra students.