WWF-Australia HQ gets Green Star rating for natural interior

WWF’s Australian headquarters, located in a former wool store in inner city Sydney, has been awarded a 5 Star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of Australia for its interior space.

The office interior is designed to replicate elements found in nature, including its lighting and open-plan spaces, which feature plenty of plants, wood, bark and natural colours.

The Green Star – Interiors rating tool assesses the sustainability of indoor fitouts across nine categories, including energy and water efficiency, carbon emissions and quality of the indoor environment.

 “We are delighted to receive this vote of confidence from the Green Building Council of Australia,” says WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman. “It reaffirms WWF’s commitment to environmental sustainability, not just in the work we do but also how we operate. “This has been a very worthwhile investment for the organisation as it reduces our ongoing overheads and increases our effectiveness, while demonstrating our commitment to environmental sustainability.”

Other features include lots of meeting rooms and breakout areas to encourage collaboration amongst staff, state-of-the-art ventilation systems to maximise the flow of outside air, recycled office furnishings, and FSC-certified timbers throughout.

The 5 Star rating demonstrates ‘Australian Excellence’ and was awarded to WWF after a major re-design of the office space that began in 2013, when the organisation moved into the 95-year-old building.

“This historic wool store is nearly a hundred years old, which goes to show that even old buildings can be made environmentally sustainable,” Mr O’Gorman adds.

The Green Star rating recognises that a sustainable office interior is not just good for the environment but also for people and productivity, with positive impacts on health, wellbeing and staff performance.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the GBCA, Romilly Madew, the WWF’s Green Star rating demonstrates enduring environmental leadership.

“Encouraging people to minimise their own environmental impact demands that we each take control of our own, which is exactly what WWF is doing with this Green Star-rated fitout,” Ms Madew says.