Government departments or agencies that commission or construct new buildings must do a life cycle costing assessment of building options to include energy use requirements and outcomes for the building occupants.

This also applies to departments or agencies negotiating leases on new or existing buildings.

Sustainability Victoria is developing a Practice Note on the application of life cycle costing/assessment to help departments and agencies assess existing buildings and new designs for low energy building options.

Life cycle costing is most important for new construction projects where the capital costs of incorporating energy efficiency and the ongoing operating costs of the energy being used must be considered.

This assessment varies according to building type. While more energy efficient office buildings can be constructed with little or no additional capital costs, projects like hospitals may require additional capital investment but can provide significant paybacks due to their high operating costs.

As well as these assessments, departments or agencies must ensure that new buildings or buildings that are the subject of new leases achieve at least a 4.5 star Building Greenhouse Rating (not including any Green Power purchases).

Sustainability Victoria administers the Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme which is used to assess the greenhouse performance of an existing building and to identify how this performance can be improved.

For all new property leases through the Victorian Government Property Group, refer to the Office accommodation guidelines.

For further information on the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating see guidelines for further details.