Will the Urban Heat Island Effect ever be taken seriously by local policymakers?
It was great to see NCC Section J 2019 significantly reduce the maximum Solar Absorptance for roofs in commercial buildings, helping to reduce the urban heat island effect in our cities.
It is however a shame that in the current climate, residential sustainability policy in NSW allows key design features to be completely overlooked, allowing huge developments to be constructed with black roofs, large areas of exposed concrete with little greenery to provide shade.
Research has shown that carefully designed developments in Sydney’s West can be as much as 8C cooler than poorly designed suburbs – literally the difference between life and death. This highlights the huge difference a number of simple design considerations can make to peoples lives, both economic and societal.
Aspire Sustainability Consulting is glad to be part of such a critical piece in Sydney’s future, providing strategic master planning, climate risk & adaptation advice as well as a variety of modelling services that help our clients achieve high performing, comfortable developments, enhancing the liveability of a future Sydney.
