At a meeting of State and Territory Finance Ministers, Mr Holding challenged his fellow Minister’s to provide leadership in sustainability to the construction and commercial industry.

“Collectively, State Governments manage 4 million square metres of office space and there is an increased urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve water and energy and provide healthier buildings that impact less on the environment,” Mr Holding said.

“By working towards a National Framework for Sustainable Government Office Buildings, we can ensure time and cost savings, as well as increased benefits for the environment.”

Victoria’s office accommodation portfolio totals 664,500 square metres, comprising 104,000 square metres in 22 Government owned buildings, and a leased space size of 560,500 square metres.

Mr Holding said the Brumby Government had set the benchmark for sustainability very high.

“Victoria’s large portfolio of office buildings has the potential to consume significant quantities of energy and water, however, we are leading the way in a number of green initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint,” he said.

To date, Victoria has:

• Consolidated several departments into two buildings - 121 Exhibition Street and 50 Lonsdale Street - to allow departments to work towards a 5-Star rating for the tenancy fit-out for each building;
• Reviewed and updated a set of guidelines for all Government accommodation that requires an increase in the Green Star rating from 4 to 5 Stars through sustainable design;
• Used the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating for the monitoring of ongoing energy performance in existing buildings and tenancies;
• Committed to reducing energy consumption in all Government office accommodation by 20 per cent by 2010. 15 per cent reductions were already been achieved between 1999 and 2006;
• Refurbished St Andrews Place to increase its energy rating from 1 Star to 4 Stars;
• Reduced water consumption in Government owned office buildings by installing flow restrictors and efficient showerheads, waterless urinals, efficient cooling towers and rainwater harvesting;
• Committed to increasing its purchase of green power from the current 10% to 25% for all Government accommodation by 2010;

“Victoria has already made a significant contribution to making its office space cleaner and greener and we welcome moves to work together with other States and Territories to build on this success,” Mr Holding said.