Question Time

SA WATER BUILDING

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question about South Australia's first six-green-star rated building, being the SA Water building.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Today the Premier issued a press release entitled 'South Australia's First 6 Green Star Rating Announced', which states:

SA Water's new headquarters under construction in Victoria Square has today been granted 6 Green Star Rating—the first building in South Australia to gain such a ranking.

He then goes on to talk about a number of the attributes of this green-star building, including an on-site cogeneration plant to decrease peak electricity; 100 per cent fresh outside air under most seasonal conditions, promoting a healthier work environment; and a range of others. However, one in particular that was of interest to me was the collection of rainwater 'and treatment of the building's sewage for reuse in toilet flushing'. This particular aspect has cropped up on a number of occasions in press releases on the Sensational Adelaide website, and on Adelaide's premier development construction site it talks about recycling and treatment of waste water for irrigation and external landscaping. In its detailed report to the Public Works Committee (which I will not go through in detail), it talks about the environmental benefits of this project and it lists a number of them, including the use of class-A recycled water for toilet flushing, irrigation and cooling towers.

On the website of the Premier and Cabinet of 28 November 2006 it again talks about all the benefits and the use of recycled water for toilet flushing and the use of waterless urinals. As the minister and a number of members know, I have spent a lot of time discussing construction matters with the building industry and, in fact, some weeks ago I caught up with a number of people, including some involved with this particular project. In particular, we discussed the environmental benefits of it and the sewage recycling. I am sure not everyone in this place has an understanding of sewage, but recycling of sewage from public buildings—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Members opposite probably have a greater understanding than my colleagues behind me. However, the recycling of sewage from public buildings is an extremely difficult challenge because it does not contain shower water or washing machine water, and so more solids are contained in public building waste water. Then it talks about the use of waterless urinals which further exacerbates the problem. In fact, the advice we have received is that none of the grey water or black water in the SA Water building could be recycled because there would be too many solids in the product. In fact, they were going to be using recycled water piped in from Glenelg. My question is: is the press release of the Premier accurate when it says that they will be recycling the building's sewage for toilet flushing, or is that just another lot of Bottrall spin?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:35): I have had the opportunity of looking at Australia's first six-star building in Swanson Street, Melbourne. The Melbourne council mines the sewage that goes past the building, and that is what is used to supply that particular building. I have also had a look at another six-star building, which is a refurbished building and the headquarters of Szencorp, out on St Kilda Road, Melbourne. I would encourage anyone visiting Victoria to have a look at those buildings. I am very pleased to say that those technologies are now being adopted in this state, and we will have our own six-star building for the first time. I know that the first six-star building cut its water use compared with a similar building by something like 70 or 80 per cent and by a similar per cent in relation to energy consumption. Whether the SA Water building is mining or recycling, or some combination of both, the sewage that goes past—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I suspect that what SA Water is doing is mining the sewage like the other six-star buildings are doing, but that is a matter—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I would have thought that members opposite would welcome the fact that we are up there. Australia's very first green star building was opened only about a year ago, on 20 August 2006. The fact that we are now following on from Melbourne, where they have refurbished a building to a six-star rating, is something everyone should be very pleased about. I am not aware of any other such buildings in any other Australian capital. I am certainly very pleased about it. That is why I took the opportunity when I was in Melbourne for a ministerial conference to look at this building, and I would encourage the shadow minister to do likewise. I am sure that people would be pleased to show him around because they are obviously proud of it.

Interestingly enough, because of the improved air flow in these six-star buildings and the fact that they are not as reliant on the sort of airconditioning we have, that is one of the economies of these buildings. It is attractive to tenants because you do not have the sick building syndrome like so many of our buildings. It was interesting to see that the attendance record, certainly over the first 12 months or so, was three or four per cent better than would otherwise have been the case. So, there are productivity benefits from having this six-star rating.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Everyone likes something new.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, it is not just the newness; it is also the fact that, in relation to the airconditioning, you do not have the 'flu going around the building as rapidly as you do with some of the traditional airconditioning systems. I think we should be congratulating SA Water and the state on the fact that we now have our first six-star rated building. Whether it taps the sewage going past the building and recirculating its own, or whatever the source, I am sure that this building, if it is six-star rated, will use about 80 per cent less water than comparable buildings that do not have the six-star rating, and I think we should all welcome that.