by Shane Henson — August 3, 2012—Australia’s Kilsyth South McDonald’s is serving its signature Happy Meals and fries in a building that was recently awarded a 4-Star Green Star—Custom Design rating, the first Green Star for a restaurant in Australia, for developing a new benchmark for the design of environmentally sustainable restaurants. Green Star is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating system, overseen by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), that evaluates the environmental design and construction of buildings and communities.
According to the GBCA, Kilsyth South McDonald’s achieved its custom-built Green Star certification by including a range of sustainable initiatives, including energy-efficient lighting and mechanical systems, a rainwater capture system for irrigation and to flush toilets, solar panels, and the use of more sustainable building materials, including recycled concrete and steel. The restaurant also features low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints to improve indoor environment quality and drought-tolerant landscaping.
Establishing best practice benchmarks for the industry, McDonald’s worked closely with the GBCA throughout the design and construction of the Kilsyth South restaurant to develop a specially tailored custom Green Star rating tool. According to the GBCA, the custom design rating can be applied to any future McDonald’s development, but will not be available to market.
