Yarra City Grant Achievements 

Team Lead: Sandra 

Members: Aaron, Adrian, Fraser, Hannah, Minda, Peter, Renee, Sonia, Steven, Trish

Check out the sustainability challenges undertaken by our residents here

Moving from fossil fuel to an electric vehicle reduces transport emissions by over 1 tCO2e per vehicle garaged each year. Most people who purchase an EV have a strong preference to charge their vehicle at home for convenience and cost. Retro fitting EV charging infrastructure for apartments is difficult and costly. Enabling the charging of EVs and e-Bikes by apartment residents is key to rapid uptake of sustainable transport options. Likewise, enabling residents to garage mobility scooters improves disability access and allows aging in place. 

What we said we would do:

Scope infrastructure needed at The Rochester for Electric Vehicles (EVs), e-Bikes and mobility scooters – what is needed and how to do it.

What we did: 

• Formed a working group of residents with skills in automotive engineering and transition to net zero economy.

• Reviewed the safety requirements for charging of e-bikes and identified the safest area in the building for charging to occur (in a secure area that has a fire door and internal sprinklers).

• Two residents attended two national Expos on EV and EV infrastructure to build knowledge.

• Contacted two providers of EV infrastructure for site visit and subsequent price estimate for installing backbone wiring to every car park bay

• Obtained key electrical details from the building design engineer e.g. maximum demand, rating in amps for connection and internal wiring for the building.

• Obtained Gate Meter data from embedded network provider to track current whole of building demand for electricity.

• Consulted with local real estate agents and researched the likely price premium for apartments with EV charging infrastructure.

• Surveyed our residents to test their current thinking on EVs, plans to purchase and appetite for a special levy to raise funds for the backbone infrastructure.

• Designed and circulated an information pack on EV infrastructure and listed on the agenda for the Owners Corporation 2023 AGM for discussion 

Over a year the typical carbon footprint for residents in The Rochester is 13.6 tCO2e/person/year. Adding in common area emissions (heating, hot water, lights, lifts) bring this up to 27.3 tCO2e. In terms of carbon budget to meet 1.5oC temperature rise by 2050, overshoot day for The Rochester is 23 Feb!

What we said we would do:

Help individuals to reduce their carbon footprint by identifying actions, benchmarking, setting goals, and following up on targets achieved.

What we did:

• In consultation with our project partners Lifecycles and Hip V.Hype, we designed an Apartment Sustainability Benchmarking Pack to cover Waste, Thermal Performance, Electricity and Water, Transport, Food Choice, and Buying Patterns (See Appendix B).

• Launched the Sustainability Benchmarking with a workshop led by Gavin Ashley, Head of Better Cities & Regions, Hip V.Hype

• Rolled out the Bencmarking with the participating apartments (12 of the 24 apartments signed up).

• Identified that the domestic hot water thermostat was set too high and had the OC Committee get the service contractor to adjust it down.

• Put up posters in the lift and common areas to cover off the sustainability focus for that month to encourage other residents to join in on less formal basis 

• Tested the prototype for YourCarbonChoice (personal carbon footprint calculator) with the team at Lifecycles, incorporating results into benchmarking material and giving feedback on the ease of use of the tool to the development team.

Acting on sustainability issues can bring together apartment dwellers into a community of action, providing points of engagement that are focused on their building and its operation. Having a practical, joint purpose provides a platform for greater community connection, yielding both positive climate and social sustainability outcomes.

What we said we would do:

Undertake social sustainability activities that build a community who “cares”.

What we did:

• The first action was to call for volunteers to forma a Grant Team to oversee the roll out of activities. Nine residents volunteered including both owners and renters. The Grant Team met seven times over the life of the project. 

• The Grant Team undertook a survey of residents to determine which sustainability activities had the most interest. The top priorities were – revamping the garden, growing terrace plants for food and biodiversity, community swap meet to share goods, and learning some DIY skills.

• The Grant Team self-identified the areas they felt they had the most to contribute and formed sub-teams to address the following – Waste, Garden, Communications & Events, EV Infrastructure, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Benchmarking.

• The Waste Stream Team worked with Reground to undertake an audit and improve bin room layout and introduce additional recycling streams, meeting 3-4 times with key staff, briefing the OC Committee on recommendations and assisting with roll out of new bins and communications for residents. We started with two bin rooms and the reorganisation of the bin rooms freed up a room for community use. The Waste Team also organised the Grand Bin Room Opening in May 2023 to engage residents and project partners in a social event to celebrate progress.

• The Garden Team commissioned professional garden advice to resurrect our failing common area gardens, organised working bees to repair garden bed leaks, bring in new soil and compost, adjust and manage the irrigation. To supplement project funds, a call out was made to residents to sponsor a plant which allowed $500 worth of new plants and mulch to be bought

• The Garden Team also organised an inhouse workshop on terrace gardening for food and biodiversity delivered by Cultivating Community and invited residents from neighbouring apartment buildings in Fitzroy.

• The EV Team prepared the EV Information Pack, met with the OC Committee to step through the process of installing charging infrastructure, attended trade events on EVs, and responded to residents’ questions on EVs.

• The Energy Efficiency Team scoped the type of meters required to monitor energy use on key circuits and liaised with the OC Committee to have the regular electrician install and commission the meters.

• The Sustainability Team promoted the benchmarking activity to residents, coordinated workshops and posters, and gave regular feedback to the community on each month’s topic. Two community swap events were held to build the “sharing” economy within The Rochester.

• The Communication Team built a website for The Rochester community that covers practical information for residents on moving in and out, use of the car lifts, recycling performance, Rochester and community events, how to buy local to minimise packaging

• The Communication Team organised a sign for the front door to explain and acknowledge The Rochester sustainability achievements to give our residents a sense of pride in our home. 

• The Communication Team surveyed residents on the use of the proposed Utility Room that was freed up during the bin room rearrangement and helped fit out the room with equipment to support the most popular use from the survey. 

• The Communications Team regularly produced posters for common areas and the lift to keep residents updated on activities and events as well as updating The Rochester website. 

Many apartments are locked into using private waste contractors due to constrained access that precludes Yarra City collections. These apartments miss out on key improvements in waste stream management (e.g. purple bin and organic waster collections) as private contractors tend to lag innovation that is additional to mandated waste management requirements. Exploring how apartment residents can better stream waste, within the constraints of their own building, will empower OC Committees to take a proactive approach to introduce more sustainable waste management.

Implementing successful energy efficiency measures  for common property requires, in the first instance, to know what circuits are using the most electricity. Once benchmarking is done actions can be identified to reduce energy demand.

What we said we would do:

Identify and implement actions that can be taken to improve the sustainability Common Property management and services.

What we did:

• Sought 3-4 quotes for a new waste manager and changed waste managers (the original company was putting all Yellow and Red bin contents into the same truck). Briefed the new contractor – Waste Ninja, on our requirements.

• Participated in the Better Practice in MUDs waste project sponsored by Yarra City and delivered by Reground. Met with Reground team 3-4 times for initial and final audits, marking up of bin rooms and progress checks. Organised caddies for green waste for each apartment.

• Rolled out building signage on each floor and education on new recycling streams.

• Increased the number of recycling streams from one (yellow bin comingle) to nine (co-mingle, clean cardboard, glass, e-waste, charity clothing, batteries, food organics, soft plastic, foil pill packs)

• Added a CDS 10c bottle collection stream to the bin room with a volunteer dropping off bottles and the funds directed to community activities e.g. Lobby Garden maintenance.

• Sealed floor of bin room to allow effective cleaning.

• Developed a Sustainability Plan to guide the OC Committee on future improvements.

Check out our case study report here

What we said we would do:

Share knowledge and experiences with other apartments, community groups and like-minded citizens through active and broad partnerships built by the project.

What we did:

• Linked up with the Nightingale group to look at their bin room, waste services and hot water for heating and domestic use to help guide our actions.

• Linked up with Hip V.Hype and visited the Ferrars and York apartments to see how they are using meters on individual electrical circuits to monitor and improve energy efficiency, and how EV infrastructure has been installed for their car parks.

• Invited residents from neighbourhood apartments at 237 Napier Street, 420 Gore Street and 341 George Street to join in the Terrace Gardening Workshop and end of project celebrations at our Garden Opening and Lobby Mingle.

• Invited residents from the above neighbouring apartments to tour our revamped bin room.

• Held a Grand Bin Room Opening in May 2023, which was attended by Yarra City Councillors, Manager of Waster Ninja, the teams from Reground and Lifecycles. Our revamped bin room featured on a number of social media posts from that night.

• Linked up with Jo Buckle on Gore Street for advice on reconstituting the soil in the Lobby gardens with good compost.

• Three residents participated in a Yarra City tour of the Australian Waste Management MRF at Truganina

The 12-month project provided a strong focus for residents to gather and plan activities together. Friendships and developed though the year and several of the teams will continue to lead initiatives at The Rochester, less formally as sub-groups over seen by the OC Committee. 

These cover:

• Lobby Garden maintenance and development

• Terrace gardening knowledge and produce sharing

• Education to improve recycling

• Equipping the new Utility Room

• Monitoring the electrical meters and reporting to the OC Committee on efficiency measures.

• Providing expertise on EV infrastructure to support installation phase

• The Rochester website that will support on-going communications by the OC Committee.

We also have resources that can be used in the future – the Sustainability Plan to guide building improvements and the Benchmarking Pack to assist residents reduce their own carbon footprint.

"Our amazing bin room!"

"Plan for phasing in EV charging endorsed by the Owners Corporation."

"We have dialled down the temperature of hot water at the tap into a safe range requiring less energy."

"Meters have been installed on high use electricity circuits to help improve efficiency and manage power use."

"Our Terrace gardens are flourishing with plants to eat and sustain biodiversity."

"Swap Meet and sharing networks."

"The new website enhancing building communication"

"Our front gate sign instills a sense of pride and belonging"

"Fixed our Lobby Garden"

"Ongoing nine waste streams, electricity meters, EV charging, garden team"

"Ultimately we are most proud of bringing people together and creating a sense of community."