25 March 2010

Prize Win for Sustainability Advocate

Tony Arnel is awarded Leadership in Sustainability Prize.

Current Global Chair of the World Green Building Council, Tony Arnel has been awarded the Australian Institute of Architects’ inaugural national Leadership in Sustainability Prize.

Presented at the first people-based Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards (AAAA), Arnel was awarded the prize by AIA National President Melinda Dodson for his “extraordinary leadership” over the past two decades “in the area of policy development and regulation at local, national and international levels, which has seen a dramatic improvement in the standards of sustainable building practice within the Australian building industry”.

Trained as an architect at Deakin and Melbourne Universities, Arnel went on to study a master of town planning at Oxford University, before becoming Director of City Planning at the City of Melbourne.

Tony became passionate about sustainability early in his career and was a founding Director of the Green Building Council in Australia.

He currently holds the position as Victoria’s Building Commissioner and Plumbing Industry Commissioner, where he is responsible for the regulation of the State’s building and plumbing systems and advises the Minister for Planning on building control and plumbing industry matters.

In addition to this, he is the current Chair of the Green Building Council of Australia and was elected as Global Chair of the World Green Building Council in 2008.

The AIA jury states: “There are individuals and groups showing leadership at local, national and international levels and this Prize acknowledges that the advancement of sustainability in the areas of architecture and urban design can, and is happening through a range of inputs, all of which play their unique and valuable part.

“It is a rare occurrence then that someone trained as an architect steps outside the conventional careers of either practice or academic work, to take on a leadership role in the wider construction industry.

“Tony Arnel, through his dedicated leadership over the last two decades, is a highly worthy recipient of the inaugural Leadership in Sustainability Prize awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects.”

Australian Institute of Architects
architecture.com.au