In Australia, it’s possible to live in a five-green-star-rated building that’s entirely made of concrete and glass.
In Australia, it’s possible to live in a five-green-star-rated building that’s entirely made of concrete and glass.
By Bianca Hall
March 19, 2025 — 10.30am
One of Australia’s top property developers, a self-described “tree hugger” behind a $3 billion racecourse redevelopment, is leading a national charge for at least 30 per cent green space in new developments and for ecology to be at the forefront of new builds.
Paul Hameister, executive chairman of Hamton, said Australia’s ecologically sustainable development (ESD) guidelines – which have been included in dozens of disparate pieces of legislation – were sorely lacking.
“Not one of Australia’s ESD rating tools has a mandatory requirement for any living landscape, which means you can have a five-star, green-star-rated building that’s concrete and glass,” he said.
“There’s this disproportionate focus on the reduction of carbon emissions using grey technology, and not enough emphasis in our ESD rating tools on nature as a solution to environmental issues.”
Australian developers are increasingly coming under scrutiny for promoting green spaces within new projects only for the final products to come up short.
University of NSW professor Philip Thalis, who was last year’s Australian Institute of Architects gold medallist, said developers knew green spaces appealed to buyers, but the renders used to advertise them often bore little resemblance to reality.
He cited one example in Box Hill, in the north-west of Sydney, in which an artist’s impression of a new townhouse development portrayed the homes as being bordered by trees and landscaped shrubbery.
The resulting development bore little resemblance to the artist’s impression, with no trees or shrubbery, no shade, and strikingly different renders. Developer Bathla was contacted for comment but did not respond.
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“A lot of planning is just about the metrics of development, and high floor-space use,” Thalis said.
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“Landscape is the other key metric which is totally missing.”
Hameister, whose company is redeveloping the Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, established not-for-profit Nature Based Cities three years ago to push for living landscapes to become part of every new development.
The organisation will launch new voluntary design guidelines this week and an accreditation tool that developers can use to give buyers certainty that 30-40 per cent green space will be included on new developments. It hopes the guidelines are eventually adopted across the industry.
Hameister, whose Scotch Hill Gardens development in Hawthorn, in Melbourne’s inner east, will include at least 40 per cent gardens, says buyers are willing to pay for green space.
“When you consider green space as a finite resource in our cities – which it is with the growing population – it’s a no-brainer that it’s going to go up in value, and the value that people place on trees, for that matter, is going to go up.”
Earlier this month, 12 industry peak bodies rallied behind the cause of urban greening, releasing a joint position paper supporting urban green infrastructure. They called for greening principles to be built into urban planning and infrastructure development at all levels, and national standards to promote them.
Professor Sebastian Pfautsch, who also acts as deputy president of the Australasian Green Infrastructure Network and was instrumental in developing the position paper, welcomed the new voluntary guidelines.
“It’s exactly where we want to head so that … those larger ideas that influence entire cities and how they function, they are implemented right at the start and at the very top level of planning and design,” he said.
“It’s also very clear that if you don’t provide greening, you build ghettos.”
Thalis said that without guidelines to promote greening, Australia would get more of the same.
“Just look across the barren new suburbs in Australian cities in western Melbourne and western Sydney … there’s basically zero canopy, zero opportunity to introduce canopy, and there’s also zero will of home owners to put in canopy,” he said.
“I think the disappointing reality is we are a country with too many tree haters.”
Hameister acknowledged Australia was years behind other countries in mandating green spaces for new developments, but he said change was coming.
“In the UK, there is a mandatory requirement to demonstrate the biodiversity net gain on every development in urban areas,” he said.
“I don’t even think biodiversity is in the language of developers in this country. But there’s global momentum to green our cities. And if developers want to future-proof their projects, they need to get on board and get ahead of it.”
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Bianca Hall is The Age’s environment and climate reporter, and has worked in a range of roles including as a senior writer, city editor, and in the federal politics bureau in Canberra.Connect via Twitter, Facebook or email.
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