Climate Resilient
Places

Climate Change Risk and Community Resilience

In FY19 Landcom continued to collaborate with consulting firm AECOM to enhance our current project portfolio’s resilience to climate related risks, and increase our internal capacity to ensure all future projects are resilient.

We complete climate change resilience assessments for priority and new projects. We use a consistent pro forma to assess Landcom projects, which was developed in 2018 in line with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) climate projections for 2030 and 2090.¹² We also use our Resilience-in-Design checklist to guide informed decision making for projects during the concept design of a development.

Seven of nine new projects, and all relevant legacy projects, now have climate risk assessments in alignment with the IPCC AR5 climate projections, and adaptation plans developed to reduce the physical risks of climate change to the asset and communities. The Sydney Metro North West Places (SMNW) program precincts of Kellyville and Bella Vista were new assessments during the reporting period.

Extreme heat was rated as an ‘extreme risk’ at all Landcom sites assessed, which is consistent with the top risks to Sydney identified by Resilient Sydney.¹³ This finding confirms the importance of Landcom’s priority to reduce or mitigate the effects of urban heat island and build community resilience to heat at all new projects.

For FY20 we have embedded the requirement for climate change and community resilience assessment and planning to be undertaken by the successful proponents in the sale of Norwest (SMNW Places). The Cherrybrook (SMNW Places) site planning will recommence in FY20, which will allow us to close out the assessments and plans for our current new projects.

^{12 What is the IPPCC AR5 Assessment Report? https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/}

^{13 City of Sydney Resilient Sydney (2018) http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/towards-2030/resilient-sydney}

Urban Heat Island Reduction

Heat continues to be a major stress for many cities across Australia, as confirmed by our climate change risk assessments. Landcom’s commitment to reduce urban heat island effect (UHI) will contribute to reduced risk of extreme heat at our projects. This will enhance the resilience of our communities and the residents who live there.

Landcom had no new projects in scope for this target in FY19, however all new project sites are forecast to achieve our UHI targets.

Biodiversity

FY19 is the second year Landcom will report the contribution we make to biodiversity and ecological systems. To support the business in measuring this, in 2018 we developed our Biodiversity Calculator based on the Green Building Council of Australia’s change in ecological value calculator provided in Green Star tools.

Landcom’s Biodiversity Calculator is designed to measure the change in quality and quantity of biodiversity at a given project site, from predevelopment to post development. The calculator goes beyond just assessing high-value and significant biodiversity (which legislation requires to be conserved) and factors a broader spectrum of biodiversity value into the assessment. Depending on the level of quality and quantity change, the calculator determines whether a net positive or net negative impact has been achieved. It is possible to have a net positive outcome in biodiversity, despite a reduction in physical area — if the quality of that area has been significantly improved.

The scale provided by the calculator is as follows:

We acknowledge that land development and retention of biodiversity are sometimes at odds. Despite our best efforts to retain existing flora and fauna at all our sites, sometimes this is not possible. However, we do aim to always have a net positive outcome at our projects. Some methods we may use include biodiversity offsets¹⁴, and restoration works such as improving eroded riparian corridors to full health.

For projects in scope for FY19 reporting (SMNW Places¹⁵, Macarthur Gardens North and Edmondson Park), 67% are currently making a net positive biodiversity contribution. Once complete Kellyville, Bella Vista, Edmondson Park and Macarthur Gardens North will all reduce the overall area of onsite biodiversity from pre-development to post-development, but return net positive outcomes due to the preservation of significant habitat of good quality. At each of these projects native habitat offsets will be employed to manage the reduction in habitat area. Overall 23.75ha of biodiversity will be protected and restored by National Parks, local councils or other entities aligned with legislative guidelines.

The remaining sites assessed form part of the SMNW Places program. Each of these sites is co-located with a metro station being delivered by Transport for NSW (TFNSW). TFNSW is also the land owner of these projects, and Landcom has been appointed as the master developer for the surrounding communities.

Of the SMNW Places sites assessed, Kellyville and Bella Vista are forecast to contribute a very good (net positive) change in biodiversity value, whereas Tallawong and Showground are forecast to have a poor (net negative) change in biodiversity. As Landcom is not the land owner of the SMNW Places sites, management of biodiversity offsets and other approvals is beyond our operational control, and is undertaken by TFNSW. Landcom will continue to review opportunities to elevate the performance of SMNW Places sites through project divestment and delivery strategies.

^{14 Through schemes such as the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Biodiversity Offset Scheme and BioBanking Trust.}

^{15 Tallawong, Kellyville, Bella Vista and Showground}

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction

Our emissions reduction target seeks to minimise stationary and transport emissions through the adoption of energy efficient design, renewable energy infrastructure, transport mode split and parking strategies, and uses incentives to encourage efficient building systems and appliances. The emissions reported are the predicted operational emissions of a master plan at completion and are calculated using the sustainability modelling tool PRECINX and a NSW metro average baseline of 2016. The global warming potential account factors align to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act.

During the reporting period no new projects were sold with agreed contracts of sale to the private sector, therefore we continue to report the projected reductions for our portfolio. For completeness, we are also reporting the achievements of legacy projects underway before the adoption of the Sustainable Places Strategy.

New projects, or individual precincts within ongoing projects currently in the planning and design stages are in scope for FY19 reporting¹⁷ and now account for almost three quarters of Landcom’s overall predicted emissions (see Figure 3). New projects reported include SMNW Places (Tallawong, Showground, Kellyville precincts), Edmondson Park and Lachlan’s Line.

Figure 3

Contribution of each portfolio to total predicted emissions

Figure 3 Contribution of each project portfolio to our total predicted emissions, showing that the quantum of emissions from our new project portfolio is more material than our legacy projects, due to the proportional size of each portfolio.

The weighted average GHG emission reductions expected across the new projects in scope for FY19 is 40% (see Figure 4).¹⁸ During the reporting period new precincts included in our emissions reductions calculations were predominantly high density. High density projects have greater limitations for emissions reductions, driving a 6% shift in our performance between FY18 and FY19.

Figure 4

Predicted community GHG emission reductions against 2016 Sydney Metro average

Figure 4 Predicted GHG emissions reductions from Landcom project portfolio, against FY16 baseline, modelled using PRECINX. Results show our ‘new’ projects which are in scope for reporting during FY19, and for completeness our ‘legacy’ projects, which are out of scope for reporting.

New higher density projects present Landcom with the greatest challenge to meet our targets, due to the reduced site area and roof space available to incorporate renewable energy technologies in a cost effective way. This is apparent in the responses we have been receiving to the expressions of interest for the sites we have gone to market with during the reporting period.

Landcom is committed to pushing for greater GHG reductions in these sites, however as we do not have operational control over the specification of the final built form we anticipate a potential for further tempered results in projects divested to third party land owners.

For fully Landcom-owned projects that will join our development pipeline, we will seek to exceed the GHG reduction targets to regain the on-balance portfolio performance for this target.

In FY19 residential dwellings continued to be our most material emissions source (see Figure 5) and are forecast to achieve a 42% reduction across new projects, while transport emissions are the second most material with a predicted reduction of 44%.

Non-residential land uses are expected to achieve an 18% reduction, which is a 10% improvement over the FY18 forecast. However this only accounts for 15% of overall emissions across our new project portfolio. In FY20 we will continue to focus on opportunities to further reduce residential and transport emissions.

While our emissions target is designed to address new projects, in FY19 we sought to make a meaningful impact at projects that have already moved through the planning and design phase. We launched Landcom’s first Sustainability Rebate at Macarthur Heights in April 2019. This is an incentive for residents building a new home. It is designed to be a market-based lever to lower emissions and improve the cost of living in established communities, while driving sales at this point in the market cycle (see our Sustainability Rebate Case Study).

Figure 5

Predicted forecast emissions from each source at new projects

Figure 5 Prediction GHG emissions by source for new projects, compared to the FY16 reference case.

^{17 Performance is based on projected performance for all new Landcom projects, until such time as the delivery or divestment strategy for each project is confirmed. At this time, results will become ‘actuals’.}

^{18 Reduction from the reference case. Landcom chooses to use its PRECINX tool for modelling potable water and GHG emission reductions. 2016 reference case is defined as the normalised relevant metropolitan average applied to a masterplan.}

Onsite Renewable Energy

In FY19 Landcom had no projects in scope for reporting the inclusion of onsite renewable energy. This is due to no new projects having been acquired for delivery by Landcom, or sold with agreed contracts of sale to the private sector during the reporting year.

Landcom’s onsite renewable energy target is for 5% of total site demand at the precinct scale to be delivered by onsite renewable energy. This extends beyond the inclusion of solar panels on residential homes, and requires a strategic precinct scale response. The intent of this target is to drive innovation and large scale integration of renewable energy sources at the project site.

Green Star Certification

Green Star, administered by the Green Building Council of Australia, is Landcom’s preferred independent and voluntary rating tool for precincts and built form. Landcom is committed to achieving ‘Australian Best Practice, 5 Star Green Star’ project certifications for all new projects.¹⁹

In FY19 Green Square Town Centre was awarded a 6 Star Green Star Communities rating in 2019. Attainment of this rating was achieved collaboratively between Landcom, City of Sydney and Mirvac.

^{19 In some instances, Landcom may seek to use, or require the use of, the Green Star Design & As-Built rating tool.}

NABERS Certification

Landcom adopts the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS)²⁰ as its preferred independent and voluntary rating system to validate the operational sustainability of eligible nonresidential built form. NABERS measures a building’s operational energy efficiency, carbon emissions, water consumption and waste production on an annual basis, and awards a star rating out of six.

Landcom is committed to requiring a NABERS rating at new projects that include office, retail or hotel built form. A NABERS rating can only be ensured at Landcom projects through collaboration with future building owners and operators through conditional requirements within contracts of sale to future site owners.

As Landcom had no new projects released to market and sold within the reporting period, this target is not in scope for FY19.

Aligning with the NSW Government Resource Efficiency Policy (see NSW Government Resource Efficiency Policy (GREP)), Landcom maintains a NABERS rating for our head office tenancy in Parramatta. In FY19 we achieved a 6 Star NABERS Energy Rating representing a ‘Market Leading’ performance.

^{20 What is NABERS? (2018) https://www.nabers.gov.au/about/what-nabers}

BASIX Certification

We measure the energy and water efficiency of homes built by Landcom in accordance with the Environment and Planning Assessment Act Building Sustainability Index (BASIX).²¹ BASIX is administered by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), applies to residential developments, and aims to deliver equitable, effective water and greenhouse gas emission reductions across NSW.

BASIX targets are calculated as a percentage of savings against the NSW average benchmarks (being the average per-person water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions levels across the state). These percentage savings are then expressed as a target, i.e. BASIX 50 represents a 50% saving against the benchmark. BASIX assesses a proposed dwelling based on these benchmarks, and taking into account regional variations such as soil type, climate, rainfall and evaporation rates.²²

BASIX certificates are generated in accordance with the design of a new residential development, based on the specifications of that building. A BASIX certificate must accompany any development application or complying development application before approval for that building is provided. Once construction is complete a BASIX completion receipt is issued, if an independent certifier confirms the home has been built in accordance with the BASIX specifications. Landcom uses the BASIX completion receipt to validate the percentage of homes within our portfolio designed and delivered in accordance with our targets.

In FY19 Landcom had no new projects issued with BASIX certificates since the adoption of the Sustainable Places Strategy.

For completeness we are disclosing the performance of delivered dwellings within the reporting year. These dwellings are not subject to Landcom’s targets, as they were designed and issued with BASIX certificates before the adoption of our Sustainable Places Strategy.

Figure 6

Average BASIX Water score for legacy projects

Figure 6 Trend for BASIX Water, including legacy projects, showing consistent results year on year.

Figure 7

Average BASIX Energy performance for legacy projects

Figure 7 BASIX Energy scores of legacy projects, showing year-on-year variation in detached dwelling scores. FY18 performance is higher due to high BASIX performance of Group Homes constructed during that reporting period.

A total of 52 single-dwelling, 12 multi-dwellings and 30 units in residential flat buildings completed construction in FY19, yielding a combined weighted average²³ BASIX energy score of 43, and water score of 40.

The multi-dwelling and residential flats were all subject to Integrated Development Assessment (IDA) pathway approvals. Where an IDA is sought the masterplan and all dwellings are approved under the one development application. As part of the IDA process consolidated BASIX certificates were issued per project (or project stage), which averages the BASIX performance across all dwellings and typologies. Multi-dwelling BASIX requirements are lower than those for single-dwellings. Therefore, the combined average BASIX certificate is not reflective of the different standards between typologies. Thus, results can be positively or negatively weighted, depending on the make-up of that community.

^{21 What is BASIX? https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/planning-tools/basix}

^{22 https://www.basix.nsw.gov.au/iframe/basix-help-notes/190-target-review/481-what-are-basix-points.html}

^{23 Weighted by occupancy.}

Waste

Landcom continues to place a high value on transparently reporting our impact on local environments. We are advancing our approach to focus on how we can achieve net positive environmental outcomes, including zero waste communities.

In calculating our waste diversion from landfill target we exclude hazardous waste and contamination volumes from the figures to align more closely with the standards set out in the Green Star rating tools.

In FY19 Landcom had no new projects within scope for reporting against our waste diversion target. Existing Landcom projects that generated waste in FY19 reported a 93% diversion from landfill. The majority of waste was generated at Edmondson Park, Lachlan’s Line and Macarthur Heights, with fill (soil) and concrete being the most significant recycled materials. As these projects are operating under contracts that pre-date the adoption of our Sustainable Places Strategy, they are technically out of scope, however we are disclosing their waste diversion attainment in FY19 for completeness.

Consistent and accurate waste reporting remains a challenge across the development industry. In FY19 we commenced the process of moving our data collection for waste from a manual ‘paper based’ workflow, to an online portal. We will continue to deliver this new in initiative in FY20 to improve consistency and accuracy in reporting.

Figure 8

Breakdown of waste streams diverted from landfill

Figure 8 Breakdown of waste streams diverted from landfill in FY19.

Materials

In FY19 there were no projects in scope for reporting against our target for 100% Chain-of-Custody Certified timber, as no new projects were sold during the reporting year.

Landcom expects to report our performance against this target in FY20.

Water Sensitive Urban Design

Landcom views Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) as integral to the sustainable water cycle management of our projects. WSUD can include the rehabilitation and protection of natural waterways, design elements such as wetlands, rain gardens, water harvesting and storage and efficient fittings, and alterative water sources such as recycled or blackwater.

In FY19 SMNW Places was in scope for reporting against our WSUD target, including the Tallawong, Kellyville and Showground precincts. MUSIC modelling was undertaken for Tallawong as part of the planning approval process, which showed all stormwater pollution categories met Landcom targets. Both gross pollutants and suspended solids reductions exceeded our targets (SS87, P65, N45, GP100). Kellyville and Showground have been through Expression of Interest processes during the reporting period, with all proponent submissions received accepting Landcom’s prescribed WSUD targets, and are therefore forecast to meet the target.

Potable Water Reduction

Our potable water reduction target seeks to reduce the use of unnecessary potable water and improve the efficiency of potable water that is used. The potable water consumption reported is the predicted operational consumption of a community at completion and is calculated using the sustainability modelling tool PRECINX.

New projects, and individual precincts within ongoing projects currently in the planning and design stages, are in scope for FY19 reporting.²⁴ These projects account for 76% of Landcom’s predicted overall consumption (see Figure 9) and include SMNW Places (Tallawong, Kellyville, Showground), Edmondson Park and Lachlan’s Line.

Figure 9

Total predicted potablewater consumption

Figure 9 Comparison of legacy vs. new project predicted potable water consumption. Landcom’s new project portfolio has a more material consumption, compared to legacy projects.

Figure 10

New project potable water consumption compared to the benchmarks

Figure 10 Predicted potable water use in committed new projects compared to the 2016 Sydney metro average benchmarks for each land use type.

Our weighted average potable water consumption reduction projected across new projects in scope for FY19 is 50%²⁵ (see Figure 11), which is in line with FY18. The typical strategies used to achieve the target is to maximize the water harvesting, and adopt higher efficiency appliances and fittings in built form.

In FY19 the residential component of our new project portfolio is forecast to achieve 51% potable water reduction (consistent with FY18 forecasts), and non-residential water reductions are 23%. Despite this, non-residential land uses for new projects account for only 4% of overall potable water use which means our focus remains on implementing results in the residential sector.

New projects without access to recycled water present Landcom with the greatest challenge to meet our targets. Without access to recycled water infrastructure, potable water reductions greater than 50% at the precinct scale become technically challenging, and infrastructure such as private grey and blackwater treatment systems can ultimately have a negative impact on cost of living for residents. Despite the challenges this presents there are also opportunities for innovative design, partnership and technology solutions.

For completeness we have also presented the potable water reductions achieved by our legacy projects that are still in delivery (see Figure 11). These projects include Bonnyrigg, Claymore, Airds, Macarthur Heights and Renwick.²⁶ When calculating our performance inclusive of new and legacy projects, Landcom’s weighted portfolio achieves 47% average potable water reduction.

Figure 11

Predicted community portable water reductions against 2016 Sydney Metro average

Figure 11 Potable water consumption reduction of Landcom’s project portfolio, modelled using PRECINX. Results show our ‘new’ projects which are in scope for reporting during FY19, and for completeness our ‘legacy’ projects, which are out of scope for reporting.

^{24 Performance is based on projected performance for all new Landcom projects, until such time as the delivery or divestment strategy for each project is confirmed. At this time, results will become ‘actuals’.}

^{25 Reduction from the reference case. Landcom chooses to use its PRECINX tool for modelling potable water and Greenhouse Gas emission reductions. The reference case is defined as the normalised relevant 2016 metropolitan average applied to a masterplan.}

^{26 The stages of legacy projects include those which are still in delivery. This is Bonnyrigg Stages 6 and 7, Claymore Stages 3 to 6, Airds Stage 6, Macarthur Heights Stages 4 and 5, and Renwick Stages 400, 500 and 700. Landcom was awarded the contract to deliver additional stages at Bonnyrigg and these stages did not present any opportunities during the reporting year to enhance the sustainability of the overall project, which has reduced the legacy project portfolio’s performance compared to FY18.}