Stokehouse Precinct Receives Five Star Green Rating for Sustainability Initiatives

The Stokehouse district of St Kilda has been awarded the Green Star Design & As Built 5 stars “Australian Excellence” by the Green Building Council Australia.

The City of Port Phillip worked with owner Frank van Haandel and the Stokehouse team to help restore the building to contemporary form after it was devastated by fire in 2014. During its reconstruction in 2016 , the aim was to restore the restaurant to its former glory while becoming one of the first 5-star green star buildings of such design and construction.

van Haandel says: “I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in terms of sustainability in the new Stokehouse neighborhood, and what we have learned. We hope to motivate and help many other hospitality places in Australia to follow and achieve a similar result.

“Due to the large number of people frequenting our restaurant, it obviously uses a high volume of energy including gas, electricity and water, which makes a 5-star green rating an incredible achievement. . “

For Stokehouse Precinct, sustainability is integral to the design, construction and operation of the site. Features include:

• A geothermal-hybrid system to heat and cool the installation using the constant temperatures of the underground earth
• Wells from 50 to 60 meters for refrigerant to circulate in 18 units, which is more efficient than traditional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
• A 28 kW solar system on the roof facing east and west as well as Solarban 60 glazing on its windows to minimize heat and reduce the costs of heating and cooling the restaurant
• A state-of-the-art waste management system with a range of innovative technologies and procedures to maximize the amount of reuse and the development of a circular economy
• An ORCA aerobic biodigester unit for food waste processing that works like a stomach to break down organic food extremely efficiently
• An on-site glass crusher that reduces glass bottles to granular form. The granules are then stored in a bin for collection and reprocessing
• The flooring is milled with wood salvaged from a windbreak from a farm in Gippsland, which had partially fallen and was nearing the end of its life cycle
• The Accoya cladding being chosen as a lighter wood than traditional Australian woods. This resulted in savings in external fixings for the design of the wide-opening screen doors and the dynamic louver system that uses Accoya fins. Accoya wood siding is 100% non-toxic and contains no biocides or harmful chemicals
• Boral Envisia Concrete to reduce the amount of Portland cement concrete by 65%, resulting in a lower carbon material for the same strength as conventional concrete. Efficient recycling of water during concrete pouring also meant that 90% of the water was collected or reclaimed in the process.

The restaurant is formally committed to maintaining or improving the following stipulated benchmarks for local food and beverage sourcing for at least ten years of operation:

• 10-20% of produce sourced from local organic farmers in the Victorian era
• 70% of the produce comes from farmers in Victoria and 100% from Australia
• 100% of seafood comes from Australia, 40-50% of which comes from the Port Phillip Bay area
• 100% of the house beer is Australian.

The restaurant is working with suppliers on their own sustainability programs, including Clamms Seafood, which has changed its business practices to shut down the supply of polystyrene fish. Stokehouse is also part of the “Shuck Don’t Chuck” initiative through The Nature Conservatory.

Image courtesy of the City of Port Phillip

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