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The Fifth Estate
Green buildings and sustainable cities – news and views
Macquarie inks $650 million sustainability-linked loan
A Macquarie-bank owned data centre has issued the first sustainability-linked loan tied to water and energy efficiency targets, in an Asia Pacific first.
AirTrunk has raised a $A650 million loan, bringing to $A5 billion the total of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) financing. Proceeds from the loan will be used to expand its TOK1 data centre in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo by adding a 55MW building to its existing 300MW campus. Deutsche Bank, Credit Agricole CIB and MUFG Bank acted as joint sustainability structuring agents.
AirTrunk inked its first sustainability-linked loan in 2021 with a $2.1 billion corporate facility, and followed it with an undisclosed loan to back its 100MW West Tokyo data centre. The company is targeting net zero emissions by 2030.
The loan contains KPIs linked to the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of the data centres – a metric for measuring energy efficiency. Design PUE is a theoretical measure used when designing data centres, while operating PUE measures actual energy efficiency. Data centres consume large amounts of water for cooling.
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Canada’s PSP Investments acquired an 80 per cent stake in AirTrunk in 2020. Founder and chief executive Robin Khuda holds the remaining 20 per cent.
North Carolina tests autonomous vehicle in city park
Autonomous vehicle operator Beep will operate a pilot project in Cary, North Carolina in the US as after signing a partnership with the state’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT).
One of its vehicles will be trialled on a four-stop, two-mile route within the 310 acre (125.5 hectare) Bond Park, as part of Cary’s Smart and Connected Communities Program.
Autonomous shuttles promise to relieve roadway congestion and help address carbon emissions, noise pollution and road safety, while extending mobility access, Beep CEO Joe Moye said in a statement.
NCDOT and Beep said they planned to establish more test locations in North Carolina.
Bodies collaborate on new carbon accounting rule
Three global accountancy and ratings bodies have collaborated on new technical guidance on greenhouse gas accounting and reporting.
Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) and GRESB have released harmonised accounting procedures for a range of technical, data and standards that property owners must contend with when reporting GHG emissions from their buildings.
The guidance will be useful for both financial institutions and real estate asset managers. Specific advice for equity and debt, full owners and joint partnerships, as well as direct and indirect investors are included in the guidance.
PCAF published the first ever global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the financial industry in 2020.
HDR boosts defence industry capabilities with new hires
Architecture and engineering services firm HDR has appointed a senior leadership team to focus on delivering accommodation projects for the Department of Defence.
Stuart Aslett, Maurice Valentinuzzi and Alex Wessling have been appointed directors. Michelle Addley, Michael Shelley, Huey Moo, Brendan Grayson and Simon Fleet will support the directors. The team has more than 100 years of collective experience.
HDR is developing data-driven tools for Defence Estate facility projects, using information such as meal pass data to design mess halls. Not only does this assist us in organising a Defence facilitiy’s operation, but it ensures the space is highly adaptable and can be reconfigured for future use or expansion,” Stuart Aslett said in a statement.
HDR has previously delivered the Riverina Redevelopment Program, Robertson Barracks Base Improvement Program, RAAF Base Tindal Redevelopment Stage 6 and US Force Posture Initiatives, plus many others.
Big River Industries names new CEO
Timber and building products group Big River has appointed John Lorente as its new chief executive officer, replacing the outgoing Jim Bindon.
Lorente has served as a senior executive of Big River since 2018 when he joined as general manager, sales and marketing. He was previously with GWA for 11 years in a variety of roles that included state and executive manager positions.
“John’s understanding of our business and the broader industry is extensive. In addition to the many years of experience working in the sector, he has had an extremely successful track record with Big River over the past five years. John’s appointment to the CEO role will ensure a seamless transition, and I am very confident of the ongoing success of the business,” Bindon said.
Bindon is retiring after 18 years as CEO and leaves the timber and building products manufacturer in a strong position, with average EBTIDA margins of more than 10 per cent, and a backlog of residential housing activity in the pipeline.
Kaushik Sridhar joins Swedish retirement village operator
Swedish private equity backed Levande, a retirement village operator, has hired Dr Kaushik Sridhar for the newly created role of head of sustainability.
Dr Sridhar, a sustainability expert with more than 16 years of experience, is charged with implementing an ESG function across Levande’s 55 retirement villages that house 10,000 residents nationally and align is plan against existing Resident Wellbeing and Net Zero KPIs.
Previously Dr Sridhar established an ESG reporting strategy and framework, including net zero targets, at Evolution Mining. During his 2.5-year tenure, he co-ordinated ESG reporting and disclosures, including instituting a modern slavery program. Before that he held roles with Regis Healthcare, KPMG, EY and Unisys.
He will begin with Levande – a Swedish word meaning “vivid” and “full of life” – on April 17.
Dr Srishar has held non-executive director roles at Bioregional Australia, Climate Alliance, Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. He is an adjunct lecturer at the Australian Institute of Business and has previously taught at Kaplan Business School, Monash University, University of Melbourne and RMIT University.
Property industry salaries grow at 15-year high
Salaries in the property industry grew five per cent in 2022, the highest increase since 2007 and well in excess of the 3.6 per cent seen across the broader economy, according to the Avdiev Property Industry Remuneration Report.
The building and construction sector notched the highest increases at an average of 5.8 per cent for senior staff and 6.8 per cent for mid-level employees. In the year ahead, the design and building consultants sector is predicted to outstrip this with a 7 per cent average salary growth.
More than a third of property companies nominated staffing as the top challenge for the year ahead, as they navigate wage growth, talent retention, skills shortages and staff turnover. Twenty-one per cent of respondents named escalating labour and building materials costs as their number one issue, and 8 per cent pointed to the rising cost of debt finance.
Well-built: WELL Building Institute awards recognise Aussie developers
Lendlease’s One International Towers at Barangaroo has been recognised at the International WELL Building Institute’s 2022 Awards.
The awards celebrate buildings with high WELL Building Standards and WELL Scores which measure a property’s contribution to the health and well-being of its inhabitants. Lendlease was among a handful of global real estate owners and managers including Investa, Jones Lang La Salle CBRE, Colliers International, Kerry Properties and the Lendlease-owned Australian Prime Property Fund that won awards.
Among the gongs Lendlease took out at the awards were the Global WELL Leadership Award, the regional WELL leadership award for Oceania, the WELL Concept Leadership Award for sound and the Health and Safety Award.
The WELL Score is a number out of 100 that reflects WELL strategies incorporated across all of an enterprises locations, weighted by the number of people impacted by the achievements. Combined, the WELL programs now span nearly 4.6 billion square feet across 125 countries.
All award winners will be recognised at the upcoming WELL Summit, to be held in Washington, D.C. on September 25-26, 2023.
Regional cities establish workplace hubs
Five of New South Wales’ 15 regional cities have established workplace hubs which bring government departments and services into a single central location.
Coff’s Harbour, Gosford, Orange, Dubbo and Newcastle have opened or are in the process of setting up Workplace hubs, which are designed to reduce duplication and increasing collaboration between departments and allow public servants to live in the communities which they serve.
In Coff’s Harbour, the NSW government announced a $55.1 million investment into a 6900 square metre facility in 2021. When complete in 2024, the hub will co-locate 26 government offices and 643 regional public servants into a single modern and energy efficient premises.
Regional Cities of NSW chair Councillor Matthew Dickerson, who is also the Mayor of Dubbo, said the body is aiming to roll out at least two new Workplace Hubs in regional NSW cities annually for the next five years so that by the end of 2028 there is one in all 15 of the state’s regional metropolises.
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