Tonsley was awarded a 6 Star Green-Star – Communities rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) for the adaptive re-use of the previous Mitsubishi site, which was the first mixed-use urban renewal project of its kind to achieve this certification. Sustainability recognition has since followed thick and fast, with the retention of the Main Assembly Building (MAB) providing a focal point in the master plan, and set the innovation district’s orientation to encourage innovation, collaboration and sustainability from a broad cross-section of industry, education, private and public enterprise.
More recently, at the 2017 National Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Awards, Renewal SA’s Tonsley project won the prestigious Urban Renewal category for its commitment to environmental, heritage and engineering considerations. The re-purposed MAB structure featured heavily in this submission. Now, it has caught the attention of one of Asia’s most awarded publications for commercial real-estate business and investment decision-makers throughout Malaysia and Singapore.
In the article, Green townships growing around the globe, The Edge Markets Editor, Shawn Ng, identifies Tonsley as one of only five ‘green townships’ from around the world that demonstrate how people, government, education and industry can create sustainable urban development for present and future generations.