Article 10
Sustainability adding Value.
Satyananda Ashram - Eco Audit 2007
Written by John Brodie
This large spiritual Yoga Ashram is situated in a deep valley adjacent a river in Mangrove Mountain in NSW, just north of Sydney.
The Ashram is a spiritual learning centre and contains a variety of accommodation for around 250 attendees. There is also a variety of different offices, shops, library and large eating, meditation and meeting halls.
The Ashram has been constructed over a period of thirty years and during that time there was, understandably, little attention paid to sustainability. Sustainability of design, the built environment or sustainability of operations.
The running costs of the Ashram are high and management has identified that in order to remain cost effective and relevant into the future they need to understand where value can be added. Sustainability is a major tool for adding value to any operations. This can be achieved by significantly improving environmental outcomes and offering improved residential comfort, through changes to the built environment, operational performance and a revised business vision that addresses future relevance.
The Ashram approached Vim Sustainability Consulting with their concerns.
Vim Sustainability Consulting undertook an Eco Audit which examined all their current building designs, operational procedures and services infrastructure from a sustainability view point.
We also analysed the future vision of their business to ensure that our sustainability proposals would add value for the longer term viability of the Ashram.
The results of the analysis were interesting and informative. They formed a detailed 50 page report. The Ashram has been given a raft of costed options relating to built environment and infrastructure improvements, operational policies and procedures as well as the outline framework for a sustainability Master plan to assist with focusing the operations into the next 30 years. These outcomes and many others become a range of tools that if used will significantly improve the sustainable future of the facility and the organisation as a whole.
Parramatta Aged Care Facility. Eco Audit 2007
The Parramatta Aged Care Facility is a 152 bed high care facility that was constructed in the early 1990s.It is located in Parramatta, NSW.
The management of the facility has identified there are running costs expenses and operational inefficiencies that will only increase as the costs of water and power increase rapidly over the next few years.
In addition the management required advice on how to improve their sustainable outcomes to increase benefits to residents by further improving their already high levels of comfort.
Nearly every building or facility Vim Sustainability Consulting investigates has major deficiencies from a sustainability aspect. Sustainability as a concept was not current at the time of design or construction for most facilities so inevitably nearly all buildings are not designed for a sustainable outcome.
Vim Sustainability Consulting undertook a detailed Eco Audit of the existing facility. This included services infrastructure and built environment analysis, management procedures and policies as well as operational diagnostics.
The outcome was a detailed 60 page report. This report recommended a range of operational infrastructure and built environment changes.
The report also provided a framework for analyzing the long term vision of the facility and provided a raft of recommendations for operational and policy changes.
If these recommendations are implemented they will significantly improve running costs, comfortability of occupants and profitability while also ensuring the facility remains relevant and current into the future in the rapidly changing Aged Care environment.
