Zero Emission Neighbourhoods

About ZEN

Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN) is a $6 million grant program which aims to assist the development of up to six precincts that aspire to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This will be achieve this through reducing the emissions from the way water, waste, energy and transport are used and managed within the ZEN precinct.

SV works in partnership with developers, local government, other government agencies and the community to design and develop solutions that move well beyond current best practice in residential development.

The program is funded by the Sustainability Fund and managed by SV.

Where we're at now

SV is currently working with a number of partners developing precincts around Victoria.

Workshops

Initial support has been provided by facilitating workshops with stakeholders from various sectors, including developers, local councils, government departments, utilities and the community. The workshops focused on:

• establishing partnerships between these stakeholders
• creating a shared vision of communities that are vibrant, diverse, resilient and affordable
• exploring the opportunities for precinct scale solutions.

To-date, workshops have been held with:

• Deans Marsh community
• Geelong City Council, Armstrong Creek
• Department of Human Services - Prahran Public Housing
• Knox City Council - Stamford Park
• Mornington Peninsula Council - Sorrento Main Street
• Melton Shire Council - Toolern
• Prudentia Investments - Wyndham Harbour
• Lend Lease - Armadale
• Vic Urban - Officer Town Centre

Research projects

After the workshops, some of the projects that continued in ZEN were offered further support to examine how they could reduce their project's greenhouse gas reductions and deliver more sustainable precincts on the ground.  

Five research and feasibility projects have been conducted with the following partners:

Precinct partner	Project
VicUrban	Research into the energy infrastructure options for the VicUrban Town Centre Precinct at Officer.
Lend Lease	A review of the sustainable infrastructure options for the Lend Lease precinct at Armadale.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council	An analysis of medium scale solar assessment for the Mornington Peninsula Council precinct at Sorrento.
Knox City Council	A risk analysis of alternative procurement options for the City of Knox precinct at Stamford Park.
Australian Ecovillages	Independent review of the Cape Patterson Sustainability Report including analysis of the assumptions underlying their mechanism to achieve zero carbon.

Tools and resources

A number of tools and resources have been developed by, or with the support of, SV's ZEN program, including

• SV's interactive portal, Sustainable Resource Locator is full of ideas to help Local Government become more sustainable
• Sponsorship and contribution to the development of the Urban Development Institute of Australia's (UDIA) EnviroDevelopment tool
• Sponsorship and contribution to the development of the Green Building Council Australia's (GBCA) Green Star Communities Framework and rating tool.
• Business Models for Enabling Sustainable Precincts Report and Case Studies - provides information to assist policy makers, local government and developers to create sustainable neighbourhoods across Victoria.
• ZEN case studies - different cities around the world have found smarter solutions to reducing their environmental footprint
• The Precinct Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculation Tool - calculates greenhouse gas emissions from the water, waste, energy and transport of precincts (in the ZEN program only)

For more information please email zen@sustainability.vic.gov.au or visit links: