Natural Resources

Water

Drought is a common feature of the Australian landscape. Water restrictions are in place in many regions of Australia due to the chronic shortage of water resulting from low rainfall levels. We recognise that in the long term we need to reduce water consumption and maximise water efficiency. To improve water efficiency we:

• Use the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) to measure water consumption in our existing office buildings. For the 2008 calendar year we achieved our 3.5 Star NABERS Water portfolio average target for Stockland managed properties with a 3.6 Star average. Our medium-term target is to achieve a 4.0 Star NABERS Water portfolio average rating by FY14,
• Carried out water efficiency projects in 16 of our retail shopping centres in FY09 to identify water-saving opportunities,
• Consider water flows, site water balance and water quality for our residential and retirement living projects, with a focus on appropriate water-sensitive urban design to manage our impacts on water flow and quality.

Water usage in our office portfolio

In FY09 our office sites reduced water consumption by 28 per cent compared to our FY06 benchmark. This has been achieved through the implementation of submetering, water-efficient fittings and waterless urinals throughout our properties. In FY09 we received grants from Sydney Water to modify taps and toilets at 110 Walker Street, 133 Castlereagh Street, 75 George Street, 77 Pacific Highway and 222 Pitt Street.

Water usage in our shopping centres

In early 2008, we examined water efficiency at 16 of our retail shopping centres. Each site was independently assessed by Ecosave, a water conservation organisation, and water-saving solutions were proposed for each site. The predicted target water saving was 78,927kL or 16.6 per cent against the usage recorded in FY07. The project commenced in FY08 and verification of the savings was finalised in FY09.

The water reduction from March 2008 to March 2009 was 14.5 per cent. When a full year has passed we expect to meet our target.

Smart water meters

We have installed an online data logging system that records water usage every five minutes, 24 hours per day. These 'smart' water meters are connected to every main billing meter for our retail sites, plus a number of Stockland-owned submeters, at 33 Stockland retail sites. Overall, 148 meters are connected to the 'smart metering' systems. In FY10 meters will be extended to six additional office assets where submetering for water is not already in place (a portfolio of buildings had submetering implemented in FY07 and all new office developments are fitted with third party managed metering).

Alarms are set off when water usage exceeds a selected amount during certain hours of the night, as high water usage when the building is unoccupied in most cases signals a leak.

A high water usage alarm went off at Stockland Nowra shopping centre in New South Wales on 21 February 2009 when water usage exceeded 150 litres between 10-11pm. An investigation found a leak in a cooler connection and the problem was rectified on 23 February. If this leak had gone undetected, 2,600 litres of water an hour would have been wasted.

Reviewing water consumption metrics in our Commercial Property business

Our Commercial Property business reduced its water usage substantially between FY06 and FY09. This was a result of 'easy-wins' being made with the introduction of waterless urinals, low flow tap reviews, sub-metering and bathroom upgrades in a large part of the portfolio.

Retail sites reduced their usage and their intensity by over 5 per cent. Our office portfolio met its NABERS Water portfolio average target, but did not reduce its financial year intensity.  We have restated the intensity figures for our office portfolio to include water consumption associated with retail areas within our office buildings. We believe that its inclusion best represents the true performance of our portfolio. Due to the low proportion of our office portfolio included in our FY09 intensity metric, we anticipate that we will restate this figure in our FY10 report, when we have more complete data for our entire portfolio.  The sharp drop in the overall water consumption of our office portfolio can be partially attributed to the sale of a number of properties over the year.

In future we will set intensity and overall targets.

Commercial Property water metrics

The water we use is sourced from municipal or city water supplies.

Boundary: For FY09 we are reporting according to our 'operational control' boundary under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (NGERA). For FY06, the figures exclude our industrial site at Yennora. Figures include tenant use.

Water consumption - down 12%

Boundary: We report against the same operational control boundary for our intensity figures as for our absolute figures. Intensity figures are derived from the total water consumption for each asset class over the year, divided by the total floor area. Only assets with a full 12 month data set are included. We measure against area in m² as this is the metric used by NABERS to benchmark office property efficiency.

Office water intensity - 0%

Retail water intensity - down 7%

Water usage in our Retirement Living villages and in developing our Residential communities

We have collected data on water use from our projects (44 per cent) in Residential Communities, Apartments and in the four Retirement Living projects where we have control over water use for the first time this year. The total potable water consumed across the year was 73,066 kL, while 279,771 kL of non-potable water was used. Potable water therefore makes up 26 per cent of total reported water use.

Water in Residential Communities is typically used by civil and landscape contractors during site development and construction. This includes water for site dust management, road laying and landscape watering. This is typically where non-potable water would be used but when this is not available, or too expensive, potable water will be used. There are also project site and sales offices that use potable water. Apartment projects will typically access municipal or city water suppliers for construction usage. The exception to this was our Islands project in Western Australia which was able to source over 90 per cent of its requirements from non-potable sources. We collected data on water use for three of the four Retirement Living projects where we control water use and the majority of water used (97 per cent) was potable via the city water supply in Melbourne.

We will improve data accuracy in FY10 by including water reporting requirements in the monthly health, safety and environment report that is completed by contractors on our sites and by improving the accuracy of data collected for direct Stockland activities.

Residential and Retirement Living water data

Boundary: Water use data is a mix of data supplied by contractors and water consumed directly by Stockland operations. Data is obtained through a combination of invoices and estimates. Data has been reported for 44 per cent of projects.