Recorded webinar: Delivering sustainable, healthy and resilient hospitals

We recently partnered with the team from the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) to present a webinar on delivering sustainable, healthy and resilient hospitals.

Wednesday 09 September 2020

1.00 am - 2.30 am

Webinar

This webinar attracted more than 100 attendees and covered:

the latest sustainability standards and expectations for all public healthcare capital works in Victoria
insights into the development and use of NABERS for hospitals.

Learn more about our work on environmental sustainability via our dedicated page.

Topics and presenters

All presenters wish to express their sincere gratitude to all that attended for their active interest and support in improving the environmental sustainability of our health system.

Watch the entire recording below or use the time codes to skip to a specific topic.

WATCH THE VIDEO	SESSION
00:00:02	Context, principles and climate resilience Tiernan Humphrys, Manager Environmental Sustainability Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority
00:12:33	Business as usual requirements, new focus areas, 2.5 per cent sustainability allowance and design targets Julian Freeland, Resource Efficiency Lead Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority
00:25:19	Waste provisions and circular economy Rachel McConville, Waste Education Officer Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority
00:31:02	Background of star rating scale Monique Alfris, Head of Operations and Standards NABERs
0033:54	Rating product development Rob Hughes, Ratings Manager NABERS
00:36:23	How ratings work Monique Alfris, Head of Operations and Standards NABERs
00:39:28	NABERS Energy and Water for Public Hospitals tool and next steps Rob Hughes, Ratings Manager NABERS
00:42:07	The future of NABERS Energy Monique Alfris, Head of Operations and Standards NABERs
00:46:19	Question and answers

Questions and answers

A comprehensive Q&A session followed the presentation. Questions focused on:

solar photovoltaics and on-site power regeneration
passive design
the application of the 2.5 per cent sustainability allowance
recycling targets
adapting NABERS for the private healthcare sector.

NABERS for hospitals

NABERS is a national government program that provides environmental performance ratings for buildings.

During the webinar, Rob Hughes from NABERS presented on the NABERS Energy and Water for Public Hospitals tool.

The tool rates the efficiency and environmental impact of entire hospital campuses with certified ratings for a total of 281 hospitals across Australia.

'There are certified ratings for a total 281 hospitals across Australia over a number of years that relate to 1,257 ratings in total; 830 for energy and 427 for water.'
Rob Hughes, Project Lead, NABERS Energy and& Water for Public Hospitals

The tool was developed in collaboration with all health departments across Australia.

Learn more about the Energy and Water for Public Hospitals tool on the NABERS website.

Guidelines for sustainability in capital works

The webinar introduced the recently released Guidelines for sustainability in capital works. Published in May 2020, the guidelines incorporate changes to building code practices and information on climate adaptation, aligned with community and stakeholder expectations.

Tiernan Humphrys, Manager Environmental Sustainability at VHHSBA, spoke on a key principle of the guidelines – that hospitals are healing environments:

'Hospitals are built to make ill people well and not to make well people ill so hospital design must focus on indoor environment and have a connection with nature and support an active lifestyle as best they can.'
Tiernan Humphrys, Manager Environmental Sustainability, VHHSBA

Learn more about the Guidelines for sustainability in capital works in our Resources section.