A Beautiful Transformation - Inside and Out

The Living Building Challenge is one of the toughest international sustainability benchmarks, organised into seven performance areas (Petals). 

Different to most council buildings. Merri-bek City Council had a vision that a best practice community building should be inspired by nature as the foundational design – both beautiful inside and out.

Glenroy Community Hub has a library, kindergarten and maternal and child health clinic in a single building, alongside opportunities for recreation and lifelong learning. Designed to generate 120% of its energy needs, the Hub has Zero Energy certification and was the first public building in Australia to achieve the Passivhaus energy efficiency standard.

It has now achieved Living Building Challenge ‘readiness’ in three Petals: Energy, Beauty and Equity. This latest achievement is testament to Merri-bek City Council’s vision of creating a best practice community building, inspired by nature.

It was a pleasure to collaborate with Merri-bek City Council, DesignInc Melbourne and Building Engineering on this world class project!