Melbourne, Australia – Frasers Property Australia's quest to create the world’s most sustainable shopping centre at Burwood Brickworks has been fulfilled. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI), the global authority which administers the Living Building Challenge® (LBC®), announced Burwood Brickworks has formally achieved Living Building Challenge® Petal Certification.

The LBC® is the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment. It requires developments to have a net positive impact by challenging them to operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture. Using the motif of a flower, the LBC® is organised into seven performance areas called Petals.

The Petals independently audited and now achieved by Frasers Property for this Certification refer mainly to the built form of Burwood Brickworks – namely the Place, Materials, Health & Happiness, and Beauty Petals.

The remaining three Petals – Water, Energy, and Equity – relate to the centre’s operation over time, and these have been impacted by COVID-19 trading restrictions and lockdowns.

These Petals must also be independently audited, based on 12 months of operational data, for the centre to achieve full Living Building Challenge® Certification. 

Assuming an undisrupted 12 months of 'typical’ operation, Frasers Property is targeting achieving Certification for the three remaining Petals in late 2022.

No other retail centre development globally has ever attempted the LBC®, making Frasers Property the first organisation in the world to achieve Living Building Challenge® Petal Certification for a retail centre.

“This was a benchmark-altering aspiration that we knew would push us, and the industry, to create buildings that deliver a net benefit to the environment and the community. Reaching Petal Certification was certainly challenging and the pathway to achieve the remaining three Petals, and therefore full Living Building Challenge® Certification, will continue to challenge us, as it should,” said Anthony Boyd, CEO, Frasers Property Australia.

“We’re grateful to our family of retailers at Burwood Brickworks for embracing the LBC®. For some retailers, the requirements of the LBC® necessitated a complete re-imagining of their fitout and operations and then, a few months after the centre's opening, COVID-19 hit,” he added.