Green Star rating
6 Star Green Star – Buildings v1
Location
Kaurna Land, Port Adelaide, South Australia
Certification
2026
Type
Community building
Owner
City Of Port Adelaide Enfield (PAE)
- Kaurna Custodians
- PAE Aboriginal Working Group
- Ashley Halliday Architects
- WAX Design
- Brave and Curious
- Sarah Constructions
6 Star Green Star – Building v1
Yitpi Yartapuultiku is a first in many ways.
At home on the banks of the Yerta Bulti, the Port River, is the 6 Star Green Star Building called Yitpi Yartapuultiku, meaning Soul of Port Adelaide.
Developed in collaboration with Kaurna Custodians and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield (PAE) Aboriginal Working Group, PAE staff and its Elected Members, Ashley Halliday Architects, WAX Design and Greg Grabasch from Brave and Curious, the project is the largest ever undertaken by Council.
Shaped by a true co-design process the project design was driven by Kaurna histories, experience and knowledge, with an authentic, place-based co-design partnership with the local Kaurna community. Together, the traditional owners and PAE developed a series of cultural principles and direction for the design and operation of the project. Critically, these cultural principles act as performance indicators to ensure the project was held to the highest level of design integrity, cultural representation and expression.
It is the first project in South Australia to achieve the rating, and equal second nationally, a validating feat for a team that has been collaborating, problem solving, committing to the process of a genuine co-design through this whole project, explained PAE’s Director of City Assets Fiona Harvey.
“It is incredibly rewarding to be the first project in South Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star Buildings rating, more importantly, it shows that projects grounded in Country, culture and community can also set the benchmark for environmental performance. That combination is what makes the achievement so meaningful.”
The project has been in the minds and hearts of the community for a long time, and from early on the team at PAE, alongside the Kaurna Custodians, wanted this project to embody leadership from a cultural, environmental, and social perspective.
Purpose in a shared space
Designed as a shared place for people to come together, Yitpi Yartapuultiku celebrates and preserves Kaurna heritage while creating opportunities for education, storytelling, and community participation. This project supports the PAE’s commitment to reconciliation, by providing a welcoming and culturally safe space where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people can build understanding and respect, while promoting environmental care and sustainable use of the local landscape.
“For the community, Yitpi Yartapuultiku represents much more than a physical space, it is a symbol of unity, identity and long-held aspirations. Developed through collaboration with Kaurna custodians and the local community, it reflects a shared commitment to honouring culture, strengthening connections and healing. It serves as a place of belonging where people can gather, share stories and celebrate heritage, while also creating social, cultural and economic benefits for the region,” said Fiona.
The value in healthy social and environmental outcomes
The goal was to deliver a project that created lasting cultural, social and environmental value.
Socially, this meant creating a place that is inclusive, accessible and importantly a place for shared healing and storytelling.
Environmentally, it meant aiming high on energy, water, materials, biodiversity and resilience. Embedding stewardship of Country into how the site is cared for over time was also key for the project and was central to the development of the sites ten year Healthy Country Plan.
“We wanted the project to leave a positive legacy through local participation, First Nations procurement and a stronger model for future projects that bring together sustainability and cultural leadership,” said Fiona.
Sustainable and healthy buildings matter for a number of reasons, including the environment, occupant’s wellbeing, and for saving money long term.
For the team behind Yitpi Yartapuultiku, it was particularly important that the building supported wellbeing.
“This was achieved through natural light, good indoor environmental air quality, strong visual connections to the outside, and a culturally safe environment.”
A balancing act: challenges and triumphs
All projects come with their challenges, and for Yitpi Yartapuulitku that challenge came in the form of balancing a highly ambitious Green Star target with a beautifully complex cultural brief, site conditions and the realities of construction and a budget.
To achieve the strong performance outcomes they desired, the project required close coordination across architecture, landscape, services, materials and contractor delivery. This was particularly important in the face of sustainability upgrades coming late in the timeline.
“Those challenges were addressed through integrated design, early testing, strong collaboration with consultants and builders. But importantly it was done with a willingness to keep refining solutions without losing sight of the cultural principles that shaped the project. This joined-up approach was critical to maintaining Green Star criteria while protecting the integrity of the design,” said Fiona.
Sustainability and impact
It’s hard to choose only a few standout features from a project that was groundbreaking in not only its design, but the way it was designed. This is in part because sustainability was integrated throughout the whole site, from day one, rather than being treated as an add-on.
Features include:
- An all-electric building powered by 100% renewable energy with rooftop solar and battery storage
- A high performing building envelope, efficient systems and mixed-mode ventilation to reduce energy demand.
- Low carbon material choices in the build.
- Indigenous habitat restoration and increased biodiversity on the site after many years of industrial degradation.
Restoring the shoreline
To restore the area to be a more resilient, a living shoreline to bring back native mangroves, saltmarsh and coastal plants was established during the project process. The living shoreline is designed to help stabilise the coast, support local wildlife and improve water quality in the long run. The project is not only located beside the river; it actively responds to it and supports its long-term health in the face of a changing climate and erosion.
“The landscape response was designed to work with the site’s ecology. We have created a natural shoreline that allows the full rise and fall of the tide and will support mangroves and saltmarsh habitats.”
The saltmarsh restoration trial started in mid-2025, using coir mats to slow water flow and help saltmarsh plants establish, has so far been successful with the team already seeing plants like Beaded Glasswort beginning to grow. While early mangrove plantings faced some challenges, new mangrove seedlings are now appearing naturally along the shoreline.
It’s all in the numbers
While the team doesn’t have performance data for a full year of operations yet, based on the original modelling the project, we can expect to see some strong outcomes.
Compared to a standard build, Yitpi Yartapuultiku’s design achieved:
- 61% reduction in operational energy
- 99% reduction in potable water use through rainwater and recycled water for irrigation
- 33% reduction in upfront carbon
- 98% waste diversion from landfill during construction.
As the building continues to operation, ongoing monitoring will help the team understand how design outcomes translate into day-to-day performance and further cost efficiency.
True co-design with Kaurna Custodians
Yitpi Yartapuultiku was delivered through a genuine partnership with Kaurna Custodians and the PAE Aboriginal Working Group, built on decades of relationship-building and a commitment to listening and learning. Perhaps the most pivotal decision made was from the outset, Custodians were recognised as the cultural authority and positioned as co-decision-makers, ensuring the project reflected community aspirations. This was true co-design in action.
A co-design and shared governance model guided all stages of planning, design and construction. Extended engagement, cultural immersion and iterative design reviews allowed trust to develop, while cultural mapping ensured Kaurna stories, knowledge and heritage were embedded into the built form and landscape meaningfully.
The PAE team ensure that every project team was carefully selected for their willingness to work within this culturally led approach, adapting processes and construction practices to respect cultural protocols and enable ongoing Custodian involvement throughout delivery.
Sustainability was also integrated through this partnership, with Kaurna ecological knowledge informing key features such as the living shoreline and a Healthy Country Plan that guides long-term stewardship. These elements, combined with a 6-Star Green Star sustainability ambition, ensure the project is environmentally resilient and grounded in Caring for Country principles.
Together, this approach ensured the project not only met community needs, but created a culturally authentic, sustainable and enduring place, supported by ongoing Aboriginal leadership beyond completion, including Cultural Rangers working onsite.
For the team at PAE, this collaboration was groundbreaking, leaving them with a shared governance and co-design model, where Kaurna Elders and the PAE Aboriginal Advisory Panel were equal decision-makers, not just advisors.
This established a clear framework for embedding cultural authority into future projects and showed how councils can move beyond consultation to genuine partnership.
It also led to the development of cultural protocols, including approaches to cultural mapping, monitoring and managing cultural knowledge with respect and integrity.
Lessons learnt
For the team at PAE, a takeaway was to remember that Green Star outcomes are strongest when sustainability is integrated into every decision rather than checked at the end. And, set up strong documentation processes early and keep open communication between client, designers, consultants and contractors.
“For us, one of the key lessons is that the best outcomes come when environmental performance is not treated separately from culture, community and place. If those things are aligned, certification becomes a reflection of a genuinely better project,” explained Fiona.
Community response to Yitpi Yartapuultiku
Yitpi Yartapuultiku is a space for the community, so it was important that it was driven by the community too. And the team is happy to report that the community response to the Yitpi Yartapuultiku project has been overwhelmingly positive – a reflection of long-standing advocacy and strong ongoing engagement.
The project was driven by more than 30 years of community advocacy, particularly from the local Aboriginal community, demonstrating that it directly responds to a clearly identified community need and has deep community ownership. Since opening, public interest has been exceptionally strong, with more than 10,000 people attending the launch event and continued high levels of visitation, participation in cultural activities, and use of the space for events, education and community gatherings.
It’s clear that Yitpi Yartapuultiku is seen as more than just a building. It’s a shared cultural and social space that supports learning, connection and reconciliation for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
Feedback from stakeholders, including Aboriginal Elders, highlights its importance as a space for cultural expression, truth-telling, healing and pride, reinforcing its significance to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.
“Overall, the project has been embraced as a valuable community destination that delivers broad social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. Its strong and sustained community use, combined with growing interest and ongoing programming, shows us that is continues to meet community expectations while fostering a sense of connection, identity and shared ownership, concluded Fiona.
