Sustainability Corio Campus Masterplan

Sustainability emerged from the stakeholder engagement process as one of the five key design principles of the Corio Campus Masterplan. Sustainability was identified by our community as integral to the vision and future of the School, with an emphasis on moving ‘beyond sustainability’ to create the greatest potential positive impact and progress the School’s purpose of ‘shaping a better world’. Consequently, the development of the draft Masterplan has been underpinned by the One Planet Living sustainability framework, with sustainability concepts and methodologies informing building design, landscape treatment, retention and re-purposing of assets, ecological restoration, orientation and siting, as well as informing educational opportunities.

The focus on sustainability provides not only a chance to upgrade resources and facilities to best practice by embedding efficient and sustainable systems, but to also enliven education through student agency in the change process. With landholdings that border Limeburners Lagoon, which forms part of a Ramsar wetlands of international importance, the Corio Campus is a 230-hectare site of enormous environmental and ecological potential. The draft Masterplan begins to shape a vision of that potential as a focal point of innovative land management, activated by student agency in regenerative farming that connects to the School’s rural/agricultural roots. It also highlights opportunities to generate renewable energy, to capture and re-use water, and to enhance biodiversity, with particular reference to Corio’s unique coastal environment.

In total, the draft Masterplan identifies five key focus areas:

• Net Zero Energy;

• Circular Waste;

• Water-Wise Campus;

• Transport and Movement; and

• Ecology.

Sustainability Policyy

In October, the School Council endorsed an inaugural whole of school, multi-campus Sustainability Policy. Developed in collaboration with the School’s Sustainability Manager, Dale Martin, and the student-led Environment Action Team (EAT), the Policy sets in place clear, measurable and ambitious sustainability targets to work towards, with an overarching goal to embed effective practice sustainability initiatives, targets and decision making across all campuses, curriculum and community. “At GGS, the vision of sustainability is to coexist with our environment, meeting our current needs without compromising the needs of future generations,” Chair of Council, Paddy Handbury (M’72), explained.

The policy outlines the School’s commitment to four action areas:

• Governance and Community;

• Energy and Transport;

• Waste and Circular Economy; and

• Biodiversity, Agriculture and Water.

Each action area includes set targets to report against and work towards. The School will provide year-on-year updates reporting progress towards delivery of these targets from the 2021/22 baseline. By setting clear targets, managing resources efficiently and embedding sustainability into education, the whole School community can embody what it means to live sustainably.

The policy builds on existing sustainability initiatives, including lighting upgrades and solar panel installations. For example, as part of the School’s efforts to reduce emissions from electricity consumption, the Toorak Campus underwent a LED (light emitting diode) lighting upgrade which involved the replacement of over 500 lights and fixtures. This is expected to reduce the School’s electricity consumption by over 60,000kWh each year, which represents almost 10% of the campus’s electricity consumption. At Corio, 100 kWh of solar capacity has been installed on the roof of Elisabeth Murdoch House.