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Doncaster Hill Green Civic Precinct

Manningham City Council

Overview

Funding	$1 500 000
Location	Melbourne, Victoria
Estimated annual savings	Water: 8 million litres Energy: 2 065 000 kilowatt hours CO2 emissions: 2 360 tonnes

Located in the metropolitan suburbs of Victoria, the Doncaster Hill Green Civic Precinct project has developed a Sustainability Education Hub. The Sustainability Education Hub incorporates a new state of the art multipurpose community centre, which also houses a regional library.

Linked to key education and building industry institutes, the Sustainability Education Hub provides ongoing opportunities to actively engage the wider community to educate and encourage the uptake of water and energy measures.

• Doncaster Hill Green Civic Precinct: Sustainability Education Hub - Final report (PDF - 911 KB) |  (Word - 780 KB)

Key initiatives

Key initiatives of the Doncaster Hill Green Civic Precinct project included:

• introducing water sensitive urban design for
  • rain garden bio-retention systems
  • rainwater and stormwater harvesting tanks
  • innovative rainwater capture system
  • water efficient fixtures.
• installing renewable energy generation technology including wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels and a solar thermal system
• introducing passive building design features for energy efficiency
• the provision of power, heating and cooling from a cogeneration plant and trigeneration absorption chiller and solar air conditioner
• installing greywater and blackwater recycling systems
• installing a building management system including interactive elements for tenant and community training.

Community engagement

Community engagement and education has also been an important element of the project's sustainability initiatives. A sustainability education hub within the MC² Library was a key element of the Green Precincts Program grant funding and provides community education programs, particularly for local school students, access to online sustainability resources and dedicated spaces for educational seminars.

The sustainability initiatives of MC² are a leading example for the local and wider community on how we can dramatically and cost-effectively reduce our carbon footprint and work towards a more sustainable future.

Resources

• Manningham City Council 
• Green Precincts funding for high-profile Victorian projects - media release 14 July 2009