Interior design
Creating excellent work environments, which include natural lighting and climate control.

Futuristic Architecture
Minimise Life cycle costs. This includes:

• Energy efficiency: minimize running costs of the building without compromising comfort levels through the provision of natural light and ventilation.
• Minimise maintenance through the selection of appropriate materials that have high energy efficiency, low maintenance ie. no external paints are durable, particularly in coastal environment, and ideally can be recycled.

Engineering & systems
Adaptable Building. The long-term use of the building will change, and the requirements for communications, security and accommodation will also change over time. We believe in creating a building that can be adapted, extended or upgraded with minimal interruption, loss of function or expense. This is done through the construction systems we employ, and the integration of services into the building so these can be upgraded over time without demolishing half of the building.

Policy & Accreditation
The company has a statement and policy that commits to environmental sustainability and reducing
environmental impacts, which has been our primary aim since the company was formed in 1997.
Our approach to reducing environmental impact and improving environmental sustainability is through careful selection of materials to minimise lifecycle costs, the options for recycling, and the form of procurement of those materials.
We are also interested in sourcing from local supplies if and when possible, in order to minimize transport costs, which feeds into the overall impact of construction.
The running costs of a building, including heating, cooling, lighting and maintenance can far outweigh the initial construction costs. We design every aspect of the buildings to minimise these costs. This was recognized in our winning an Architecture award for public buildings in 2012.

Monitoring Environmental Impacts
We measure all of the following elements of our work:

• Energy use (electricity, gas, transport fuel) is reviewed after construction to ascertain the actual performance of the buildings, rather than some theoretical use from a computer program.
• Waste to landfill: This is monitored during the construction in order to inform us for any improvements for the next project.
• Procurement of certified environmentally-sound products.

Managing Environmental impacts
Specific actions we take to minimise the environmental impact of our projects are as follows:

• Energy use (electricity, gas, transport fuel)
  These are reviewed after construction to ascertain the actual performance of the buildings, rather than some theoretical use from a computer program.
• Water use: Planting selection in landscapes, stormwater re-use and redirection are fundamental design criteria. The Bairnsdale Ambulance Station is an example where we eliminated most of the stormwater infrastructure though integration with the landscaping.
• Waste to landfill: This can be controlled in construction through modularized design and sizing.
• Procurement of certified environmentally-sound products (for example as a % of total spend) We see this as a fundamental design criteria.

Design & ESD Analysis
Buildings materially alter the environment. Our approach to this is to analyze and recognize the significance of the site, and to develop an architecture directly from the site. Environmental performance, selection of materials and life cycle costs are major determinants in the design process.
Our approach to energy consumption, environmental management and building performance is based on the world’s best practice. We can do this in the most economic way possible due to our long involvement in the construction industry, our in-house technical and engineering expertise, and our knowledge of local
capacities in the construction industry. A good example of this is the new Multi-purpose Hall at St. Mary’s Primary School in Bairnsdale, with an extremely low energy requirement in a building type that has notoriously poor environmental performance.

Engineering & Systems
Integrated design in structural & architectural results in energy efficiency strategies from inception etc.
The selection of materials and life cycle costs are major determinants in the design process.

We can do this in the most economic way possible due to our long involvement in the construction industry, our in-house technical and engineering expertise, and our knowledge of local capacities in the construction industry.

Our approach to reducing environmental impact and improving environmental sustainability is through careful selection of materials to minimize lifecycle costs, the options for recycling, and the form of procurement of those materials.

We are also interested in sourcing from local supplies if and when possible, in order to minimize transport costs, which feeds into the overall impact of construction.