Nurturing our planet for a brighter future

SUSTAINABILITY

We must live within the means of our natural resources, and use them more efficiently and responsibly to generate societal wellbeing alongside operational profits.

Sustainable Buildings Research Centre

At the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), researchers from a wide range of disciplines unite under a shared vision: to develop holistic approaches to making the buildings in which we live, work and play more sustainable and effective.

A Living Building

The SBRC Building at Innovation Campus goes way beyond ticking the boxes of the existing 6-star Green Star sustainability benchmark, inspiring the industry with a whole new standard of regenerative design. The building has a number of key features in line with the sustainable principles set out by the Living Building Challenge (LBC) regenerative design framework. A wide array of innovations ensure it gives back more than it takes.

Built-in Innovation

The SBRC Building is one of many testbeds of sustainable design excellence at Innovation Campus. Right next door as part of this sustainable precinct is the multi-award-winning Team UOW Illawarra Flame House, a state-of-the-art net-zero energy retrofitted home that showcases a radical yet affordable and achievable blueprint for transforming existing homes. Developed as part of the Solar Decathlon, the stunning home is open for bookings, and guests become participants in our Living Laboratory research program to better understand how people interact with advanced buildings.

The building is also become home to Desert Rose House, Team UOW’s silver medal-winning entry into the Solar Decathlon 2018. A practical collaboration between students and industry, the project is shifting the conversation on sustainable housing by building a home that is architecturally inspiring, innovative and adaptive to people’s changing needs as they age, making it a ‘house for life’. The innovative design forges bold new pathways for supporting independent living for people living with dementia.

Desert Rose

For people living with dementia, traditional housing designs simply don’t work. Desert Rose, a state-of-the-art home designed with the changing needs of ageing people in mind, takes a people-focused approach […]

Read More

Why is Sustainability Important?

Sustainability is critical to supporting our quality of human life on Earth, our ecosystems and the diversity of life on our planet. The things we do each day, every choice we make, can have a profound and lasting impact. SBRC is leading the way to a restorative future by pushing the boundaries of sustainable design.

The Three Pillars of Sustainability

Achieving true sustainability is a complex task. It can’t be done without seamless interconnection and balance between the three pillars of corporate sustainability: social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainability. We must live within the means of our natural resources, and use them more efficiently and responsibly to generate societal wellbeing alongside operational profits.

Building The Future

The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) at the Innovation Campus is leading the way towards a restorative future. Centre director, senior professor Paul Cooper reveals its incredible living building and […]

Read More

BE PART OF A BRIGHTER TOMORROW

Want to work with us, learn from us or find out more about our sustainability research and commitment? Contact us today.