Water use
We are directly responsible for the water supplied to the common (landlord-controlled) areas of our multi-let portfolio. This water is used for domestic facilities, cooling and landscape watering.
Figure 1 shows total water usage data for the period April 2005 to March 2006. Total water use fell compared with last year, largely reflecting a decrease in water use by reporting properties. Sold properties accounted for 0.2% and purchased properties for 3.7% of total water use.
| Figure 1. Annual water use | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total water consumption (m³) | Water consumption per m² (m³/m²) | ||
| 2005/6 | 2004/5 | 2005/6 | 2004/5 |
| 417,926 | 496,043 | 0.51 | 0.82 |
Figure 2 shows that approximately 60% of our total reported water usage is in offices and over 30% is in shopping centres.
Figure 3 shows the average intensity of water use per property type for 2005/6 and 2004/5. This standardised value indicates differences in intensity of water use between property types. Overall intensity of water usage has decreased from 0.82 m³ per m² in 2004/5 to 0.51 m³ per m² in 2005/6. In both years residential properties used water most intensely on a m² basis compared with other property types. Primarily this use was for domestic purposes. Intensity of water use rose significantly for residential properties this year. This is largely due to only one residential property, with a higher consumption per m², reporting in 2005/6.
The graph above shows standardised water use for each property type as average water use per unit of common floor area (m³/m²). This is calculated by dividing the total use for each property by its common floor area and then deriving an average of this for all the properties within each property type for which reliable common floor area data were available (25 of 30 properties). The average values shown in the Figure do not indicate variability that exists between properties within a property type in terms of use of water per m².
During 2006 we sold our residential portfolio and so our water management activities focus on our shopping centre and office portfolios. This reflects the ongoing trend for these properties to contribute the greatest total water use from the common areas and to have a relatively high intensity of use compared to other property types.