Macquarie University is a leading Australian educational institution with a strong culture of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The University’s main Campus is a 126 hectare site in Ryde/Epping in Sydney and houses a variety of University, commercial, community and mixed use properties as well as a significant natural public realm and valuable ecological communities.
In order to quantify and communicate Macquarie’s sustainability approach for the Campus, the University adopted the Ecological Footprint as the method for measuring the embodied (building and infrastructure) and consumption footprints whilst setting a meaningful One Planet target for the Campus.
The Footprint Company have developed the Multi-Use and Campus Ecological Footprint Calculators for Macquarie University which are being embedded into the curriculum with undergraduate units doing faculty assessments using the calculators.
Macquarie University is using the calculators to firstly, do detailed ecological footprint assessments throughout the building development trajectory of feasibility, concept design, detailed design and as built; secondly, to set a Campus planet target and capture all non-capital expenditure and thirdly, to do models of the Masterplan to see how the growth is impacting the overall footprint and use it to guide design decisions.
“The key benefits over other approaches is that it gives a meaningful goal, it rewards the key goal of keeping buildings and consumables for longer rather than replacing and upgrading and allows you to manage if yourself (very simply). I am passionate about it as the perfect approach for Universities.”
Manager Sustainability, Macquarie University Property
View Macquarie University’s web-based Ecological Footprint calculators here
