Who needs Green Star training on your project team?
Why it matters
Train the people who make recurring Green Star decisions. Give everyone contributing to the project a clear briefing on their own requirements. Prioritise deeper learning for those who interpret requirements, coordinate evidence or lead submissions; tailor procurement and site instruction to the work those teams actually control.
Our recommendation is to allocate training by responsibility and expected use, not job title alone. An architect changing a specification, a buyer approving a substitute and a supervisor collecting installation records need different knowledge. They also need to know when to involve the project’s Green Star lead.
This guide sets out a recommended allocation for architecture practices, builders and owners. The scenarios are advisory examples, not client case studies or mandatory staffing rules. Confirm the applicable project, contract and scheme requirements before assigning work.
Skylights and glazing at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark. Photo: Ciara Ní Riain, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from original; colour adjusted. This adaptation is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start with the decisions, not the course catalogue
Before booking training, identify who decides, who supplies evidence and who checks the result.
Ask three questions for each role. Will this person use Green Star knowledge repeatedly? Will they interpret requirements or follow a defined instruction? What happens if they miss a requirement? The answers determine whether to prioritise formal training, supported project experience or a focused briefing.
A one-off contributor may need a clear evidence request and an escalation contact more urgently than an accreditation pathway. Someone making repeated design or procurement decisions needs enough understanding to recognise consequences that a checklist cannot anticipate. Formal learning and project briefings can complement each other.
Budget for the full commitment: course fees, staff time, practical application and any ongoing accreditation obligations. There is no project-count threshold that automatically makes training worthwhile. Consider the complexity of the work, continuity of staff and access to experienced support.
Name the submission coordinator separately from the training plan. GBCA recommends GSAP accreditation for the project contact, but the appointment still needs scope, time and access to evidence. A course booking does not assign that responsibility. [4]
Who in an architecture practice needs Green Star training?
Prioritise people who influence commitments or coordinate their delivery. Our suggested allocation is:
- Principals and practice leaders: understand the target, consultant appointments, fee and programme implications. A focused briefing may meet an immediate need; broader learning is useful when Green Star work becomes a recurring part of the practice.
- Project architects and design leads: build working literacy in how requirements affect design, specifications and evidence. Consider tool-specific training when they repeatedly interpret requirements or coordinate several contributors.
- Specification writers and package designers: understand the requirements that affect their assemblies and products, the evidence needed, and the process for checking changes. Escalate uncertain substitutions rather than infer equivalence.
- Graduates and other contributors: start with their assigned tasks and a named reviewer. Do not treat a course certificate as a reason to give an inexperienced person sole responsibility for a submission.
The submission lead needs deeper capability than the wider design team. If that role stays with an external consultant, train an internal design contact to coordinate with them. If the practice intends to lead submissions, plan for the relevant accreditation pathway, supervised delivery experience and technical review. [2]
Three ways to allocate training and specialist support
These scenarios help a practice decide what to develop internally and what to appoint externally. They are starting points: match the allocation to the actual scope, existing competence and project requirements.
Outsource defined specialist work, not the responsibility to provide accurate design information or respond to agreed requirements.
| Practice scenario | Train internally | Appoint or retain specialist support for | Reconsider the allocation when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occasional Green Star project | Brief the principal and project team. Prioritise foundational learning for the design contact who will use it. | Tool interpretation, technical assessments and submission coordination, as agreed. | Work becomes recurring, or the internal contact starts making unsupported technical judgements. |
| Recurring projects with an external Green Star lead | Develop project architects and specification leads. Consider tool-specific learning for the internal coordinator. | Agreed specialist modelling, credit interpretation, checking and submission tasks. | Repeated handovers cause gaps, or the practice wants to take on a defined part of the specialist scope. |
| Practice leads submissions internally | Develop the lead through the relevant training/accreditation pathway and supported delivery experience. Nominate cover for absences. | Specialist assessments outside in-house competence and review where needed or required. | The tool, project type or scope changes, or workload exceeds the team’s capacity. |
Write the division of work into appointments and the evidence plan. Specify who interprets each requirement, prepares the evidence, checks it and coordinates the submission. Keep specialist modelling and advice with competent providers, whether internal or external.
Taking work in-house should be a deliberate capability decision. Training is one input; staff capacity, experience, quality checks and the cost of maintaining competence also matter.
How do the courses and accreditation pathways fit?
Use GBCA’s current course and accreditation pages to match the learning to the role. The broad distinction is: [1, 2]
- Foundations provides an introduction. Advanced learning focuses on a particular rating tool. The Contractors workshop focuses on practical documentation. Check prerequisites and the scope of the particular course before booking. [1]
- Green Star Associate (GSA) is the contributor pathway. Green Star Accredited Professional (GSAP) is aimed at leading project teams and submissions and includes an exam. Both have course and CPD requirements; completing a single course does not automatically confer accreditation. [2]
- Choose training for the project’s actual rating tool and version. Building design, existing-building operations, fitouts and precincts are different assessment scopes. Check the current tool and transition guidance with GBCA rather than relying on an old course title. [5, 6]
- Accreditation, experience and appointment are separate checks.
- When appointing a lead, ask them to explain comparable work, their own role, how they manage missing evidence and how they resolve a technical question. An answer can demonstrate their approach without disclosing confidential client information.
Project certification is separate from personal accreditation. Registered projects may communicate that they are targeting a rating under GBCA’s marketing rules; that is not the same as being certified. Check the permitted wording for the actual project stage. [3, 7]
Course availability, fees, prerequisites, examinations and CPD obligations can change. Use the linked GBCA pages for current details. The durable decision is which responsibilities your team needs the person to fulfil.
What training do builders and site teams need?
Treat the builder as several roles, not one learner. Our recommended allocation separates coordination, buying and site delivery:
| Builder’s role | Recommended learning and application |
|---|---|
| Project manager | Understand the target, contractual scope, evidence programme and escalation route. Consider formal training for recurring Green Star work. Maintain an assigned evidence register. |
| Design manager | Develop working knowledge of the relevant tool and the effect of design changes. Consider Advanced learning where interpretation is a recurring responsibility. Coordinate technical reviews with the Green Star lead. |
| Procurement staff and contract administrators | Prioritise relevant contractor learning and a package-specific briefing. Put evidence requests into procurement documents and obtain technical review before accepting a substitute that may affect a targeted requirement. |
| Site supervisors and site engineers | Brief them on the actual records, photographs, inspection points and installation requirements assigned to them. Consider broader contractor training when they repeatedly coordinate this evidence. |
| Subcontractors and suppliers | Give clear package requirements, evidence examples, due dates and an escalation contact. Request confirmation of understanding. Do not assume every contributor needs professional accreditation. |
Owners and development managers need a shorter but important briefing: what outcome they are buying, who leads it, what evidence the team must provide and when decisions become difficult to change. Consider Foundations for recurring involvement; appoint specialist support for technical interpretation and delivery.
If the immediate task is a planning ESD report or building-code evidence, confirm that scope first. Green Star training is not the assessment itself. For example, Victorian CASBE/BESS guidance distinguishes an SDA from an SMP and states that a BESS report alone does not satisfy an SMP under the local policies. [8]
Test the allocation with a substitution
Illustrative scenario: a supplier proposes a substitute facade product after the design has been assessed. The procurement team requests the required product evidence. The design manager coordinates a check of design suitability. The appointed Green Star lead reviews the effect on the targeted requirements. The site team receives the accepted specification and records what is installed.
This is a suggested handover, not a universal approval procedure. Adapt it to the appointments. If nobody can say who checks the substitute or who updates the evidence, fix that gap before ordering another course. Training should help people recognise the handover; the project process must make it happen.
Training-allocation worksheet
Complete one entry for each role—not one for the organisation. Use this at a project kick-off or when planning staff development.
Role and named person: [name]. Decision or deliverable they control: [task]. Frequency of use: [one-off / recurring]. Consequence of error: [describe].
Current capability and gap: [experience / missing knowledge]. Learning choice: [project briefing / Foundations / tool-specific learning / contractor learning / accreditation pathway]. Confirm current prerequisites with GBCA.
Work retained internally: [tasks]. Specialist support appointed: [tasks and provider]. Reviewer and escalation contact: [names]. Cover during absence: [name].
Application and review: produce [evidence register / annotated specification / submission plan] by [date]. Review it with [name]. Allow [staff time and budget], including ongoing obligations where relevant.
Success check: can this person explain the requirement, identify acceptable evidence, recognise a consequential change and involve the right reviewer? Record unresolved gaps and the next action.
Makao’s ESD consulting can help define the required assessments, specialist inputs and evidence responsibilities. Bring the project brief, any registration or planning requirements, and current drawings. We agree the scope and fee before work begins.
Scope and sources
This is Makao’s recommended training-allocation framework, not a measured study of training returns or a mandatory staffing model. Course and accreditation facts are sourced to GBCA; the scenarios and worksheet are advisory. Use current primary guidance for changing course details and the requirements of the actual project.
[2] GBCA — CPD and accreditation pathways
[3] GBCA — Assessment and certification
[4] GBCA — Roles and resources overview
[5] GBCA — Rating system overview
[6] GBCA — Fitouts development and transition
Questions or corrections: contact Makao.
