How the location of your building will impact its emissions
How the location of your building will impact its emissions
When it comes to low-carbon buildings, smart design plays a big role—but not always the starring one. Because long before you nominate low-carbon concrete or specify a simple structural grid, there’s a more fundamental force at work: location.
As Tom Dean, Director of Carbon Planning at Slattery, puts it:
“We put so much focus on what we build. But where we build is shaping those decisions before we even start.”
Where your building is located matters. In fact, it may be the single biggest influence on your project’s emissions. From building regulations and ground conditions to planning rules and construction methods, your postcode can, and often does, predetermine the carbon performance of your building.
Here are three ways location sets the carbon agenda:
1. Local regulations drive design
Australia’s construction codes may seem consistent nationally, but localised requirements can have a meaningful impact on design and materials, and ultimately emissions.
In cyclone-prone northern regions, buildings need much stronger roof structures to withstand extreme wind loads—more mass, more bracing, more materials.
In southern states, earthquake provisions, introduced after the Newcastle earthquake, require additional detailing and reinforcement in line with seismic loads.
Fire protection standards also vary by region, driving decision-making on materials, facades, insulation, and systems.
These aren’t design preferences, they’re legal obligations. And they come with unavoidable embodied carbon.
2. Ground conditions determine your foundation
Many emissions are locked in before the building even rises above ground. One of the biggest variables? What’s under your feet.
Sites with firm bedrock allow for minimal excavation and the use of shallow pad footings; less material, less machinery, lower emissions.
Softer or unstable ground often requires deep piling, involving large volumes of high-emissions concrete and steel.
And these conditions don’t vary just state to state. They can change within a single city or even from one street to another, significantly altering the structural baseline of otherwise identical buildings.
3. Planning overlays shape geometry - and emissions
Even with a simple, efficient concept, planning constraints can push designs toward more complex and carbon-heavy outcomes.
Setback controls limit how close a building can come to site boundaries.
Overshadowing restrictions can lead to angular shapes and unusual massing to preserve light access to neighbours.
To maximise yield within tight envelopes, designers often shift toward L-shaped or articulated forms, increasing façade area, structural spans, and material use.
Simply put: more complex geometry = more structure = higher embodied carbon. And while these design changes may be unavoidable from a planning compliance perspective, they may come with significant sustainability implications.
The bottom line: You can't design away your postcode
Every site comes with its own carbon context. From what codes require, to what the ground can support, to how local builders deliver. Design makes a difference, but it operates within boundaries defined by location.
That’s why true low-carbon construction starts with understanding not just the building you’re designing, but the place you’re putting it.
