Living Building Challenge
Green Building rating tools and schemes assess the sustainability of buildings, infrastructure, materials and consumer products. Steel manufactured by BlueScope in Australia can assist in gaining credits for some of the main schemes in Australia, including the Living Building Challenge.
The Living Building Challenge (LBC), is one of the most rigorous benchmarks of sustainability in the built environment. It assesses living buildings that are:
- Regenerative buildings that connect occupants to light, air, food, nature, and community.
- Self-sufficient and remain within the resource limits of their site.
- Create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them.
The LBC consists of seven performance categories, or ‘Petals’: Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Each Petal is subdivided into Imperatives, for a total of 20 Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence.
How can steel manufactured by BlueScope in Australia assist in achieving LBC Imperatives?
| LBC Imperative | Applicable requirements |
|---|---|
| Core Imperative 07 – Energy + Carbon Reduction |
BlueScope's products with EPDs may help new and existing projects demonstrate a 20% reduction in the embodied carbon of primary materials compared to an equivalent baseline. The LBC requires that product data for the embodied carbon assessment should be as accurate as possible, prioritising product-specific and geographically relevant data, such as EPDs. EPD's are available for the following BlueScope products:
Please refer to BlueScope's Environmental Product Declarations for further information about our EPDs. |
| Imperative 13 – Red List | Compliant products must not contain products listed in the 'Red List' chemical classes:
|
- At select base metal thicknesses (BMTs). Please refer to the corresponding EPD for the full details of the products covered.
- At zinc coating classes Z100, Z200 and Z275 and select base metal thicknesses (BMTs). Please refer to the GALVABOND® steel EPD for the full details of the products covered.
Further information:
To find out more about how BlueScope steel products may enable certification for Green Star™ or other green building rating tools or schemes, please complete the form below or call Steel Direct on 1800 800 789. You can also visit the Living Building Challenge website.
Further information is also available in the following articles:
- Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
- Achieving sustainable outcomes with steel
- BlueScope's sustainability certifications and credentials
Read about other Green Building rating tools and schemes: