Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool in sustainable design. It shines a light on the unseen, bringing to the forefront often overlooked aspects in the pursuit of conventional sustainability goals. This presentation from one of Australia’s foremost sustainability advocates, Melissa Gaspari, discusses how life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking can be used to pursue greater sustainability goals and make the complex simple. Real life examples are used to highlight life cycle assessment’s methodology, limitations, and potential. A range of generic building types are discussed to examine current trends, and call out some of the core actions and materials. The presentation will also include as an LCA case study the magnificent 25 King St (Qld), the tallest and largest engineered timber office building at 9-storeys, plus ground superstructure, which utilises a combination of cross-laminated timber (CLT) for the floors, lift shafts and escape stairs, and glued laminated timber (GLT) for the structural beams and columns.
SPEAKER
Melissa Gaspari | Lead Consultant Sustainability @Aurecon
Melissa Gaspari has over 10 years of experience in optimisation, project management and engineering. Melissa’s speciality is life cycle thinking and assessment, enabling her to find practical sustainability strategies that align with the aspirations of her clients. Her multidisciplinary background brings together engineering, life cycle thinking, climate change, greenhouse gas accounting and decarbonisation strategies; to facilitate sustainability strategies across all stages of design, construction and operations. Melissa has worked across several urban regeneration projects including Barangaroo South, Darling Square and Victoria Harbour and is passionate about expanding the use of life cycle thinking in the built environment.