Bird de la Coeur Architects was founded in 1996 by Neil de la Coeur and Vanessa Bird, and is located in South Melbourne on Boon Wurrung land. Bird de la Coeur have received industry, Institute, and government awards with our many repeat clients. Over a 25-year period, the practice has grown from a 3-person studio to a firm with a portfolio of completed medium to large-scale buildings across Australia. However, our studio-based practice has remained the same. We value our team of mostly women architects, our relationships and development of our team, delightful outcomes for our clients – and city-making. We have a passion for design research, which comes from the directors’ personal involvement with each project, made possible by limiting the size of the studio.
The compelling idea for each project stems from conversations with our clients. Asking questions and listening remain basic architectural devices. Through discussion with our clients, we advocate for buildings that radically reduce running costs, that reuse, reduce, and are effortlessly comfortable and connected to nature. It is through the design process that the largest impact can be made on operating cost, which can account for 85% of the total lifetime cost of a building.
We specialize in housing, including multi-residential housing ranging from high-end apartments for the private sector to social housing for government organizations, one-off houses, and high-end Aged Care housing. The buildings we design make a difference to the lives of the client and the planet. As a signatory to Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency movement we committed to addressing our own practices to become certified carbon neutral by 2021.
We work and learn on the land of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge their continuous connection to land and water and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
What does NoCO2 Certification mean?
By meeting the requirements of the NoCO2 Program, Bird de la Coeur is certified as a Carbon Neutral Business by CRI; can be promoted and marketed as such, and can display the NoCO2 Logo issued by CRI. To achieve this status and become carbon neutral Bird de la Coeur undertook the following process:
- Commissioned a NoCO2 audit from CRI to measure their carbon footprint for FY2020. CRI’s NoCO2 audit follows the standards outlined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (1), in addition to the international standard ISO 14064.1 (2).
- Have committed to offset their unavoidable emissions through the purchase of units in approved projects under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Gold Standard, and
- Committed to ongoing annual auditing of their emissions.
What Carbon Credit Projects does Bird de la Coeur purchase offsets from?
India Clean Energy from Biomass
The aim of Biomass projects is to utilize agricultural waste or other non-renewable biomass residues as fuel to generate power and to lower the plants’ dependence on the local grid for electricity. Before the implementation of the project, the electricity needs of such plants were met by power from a coal-dominated grid. To meet the rising energy demands in production, a new efficient biomass boiler was installed together with a steam turbine, producing both steam and electricity. The new boilers are fuelled with locally available agricultural waste instead of traditional, emission-intensive coal.
Before the start of the project, these agricultural residues were not used. They were either burned without harnessing the resulting thermal energy or simply left to decay, thereby generating methane emissions. The plant’s steam and electricity requirements can be now supplied by the new cogeneration unit. The investment required for the installation of the new cogeneration unit could not have been raised were it not for the revenue from sales of carbon credits
