The world’s most sustainable shopping centre, Frasers Property Australia’s Burwood Brickworks, has added another environmental credential to its lengthy list having formally achieved a 6 Star Green Star Design & As Built rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.

Contributing to the 6 Star rating, the highest possible, is the centre’s embedded thermal and electricity network which includes a 1000kW solar PV array, meaning it generates more energy than it uses over the year.

Additionally, the centre uses responsibly sourced, low-VOC and Red List-free materials, dramatically enhancing its indoor air quality, and an innovative water management approach which captures and uses all water which falls on the site.

Reducing embodied carbon was another focus for the development. The embodied carbon emissions for Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre were approximately one-half of those emitted by a comparison building and this was achieved through reviewing Environmental Product Declarations, extensive use of salvaged and high-recycled content materials and a focus on locally-sourced materials. The remaining emissions were offset.

“Frasers Property has committed to a minimum 5 Star Green Star rating for the retail assets we create and we will continue to draw on the knowledge we’ve gained through the Burwood Brickworks experience to deliver world-leading sustainable projects in retail, and other asset classes, in the future,” says Mark Gleeson, Executive General Manager Investments, Frasers Property Australia.

Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre is one of the most-awarded developments in Australia. It redefines sustainability in retail.

The centre picked up the major awards at the Property Council of Australia’s 2021 Innovation & Excellence Awards, including the Australian Development of the Year award, the People’s Choice Award, as voted by the industry and public, the Award for Best Sustainable Development – New Buildings and the Award for Best Shopping Centre Development.

In April 2021, the International Living Future Institute, the global authority which administers the Living Building Challenge® (LBC®), announced Burwood Brickworks had formally achieved Living Building Challenge® Petal Certification. The LBC® is the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment and the announcement confirmed Burwood Brickworks is the world’s most sustainable shopping centre. No other retail development globally has achieved Petal Certification.

The list of accolades for Burwood Brickworks shopping centre also includes the Built Environment Award at the 2021 Premier's Sustainability Awards, and the Excellence in Sustainability and Development of the Year – Retail awards at The Urban Developer Awards.

At the Sustainable Building Awards 2020, Burwood Brickworks shopping centre won the Commercial Architecture (Large) Award for its design, along with NH Architecture and Russell & George, and the Best of the Best Award, the major award on the night.

Also at the Sustainable Building Awards 2020, acre Farm & Eatery, the first shopping centre rooftop urban farm and restaurant in Australia at Burwood Brickworks, won the Commercial Architecture (Small) Award, collected by NH Architecture and ZWEI Interiors Architecture.

Additionally, Indigenous design studio Balarinji won the Architectural Design Urban Design and Public Spaces category at the Good Design Awards for its innovative work, along with Wurundjeri-willam artist Mandy Nicholson, on the ceiling mural and outer facade artwork at Burwood Brickworks.