Loving Hearts Centre announced as Sustainability Award finalist

The Banksia Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation established in 1989, dedicated to recognising and supporting those who make a positive contribution to the environment, has named Queensland-based Loving Hearts Childcare Centre as a finalist in the 2019 Banksia Sustainability Awards, the longest running sustainability awards in Australia.

The prestigious awards are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global goals to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and protect the planet.

Loving Hearts, recognised in the medium business category, join major entities such as Australia Post, Coca Cola Amatil and Officeworks in the finals, which span 10 categories and celebrate sustainable development by businesses, communities, individuals and governments.

Banksia Foundation CEO Graz van Egmond said the number of entries in the 2019 pool which came from young people in small businesses who have embraced the SGDs was a highlight in the more than 30 year history of the Awards. 

Loving Hearts is the first early childhood education and care (ECEC) centre in Australia to achieve an Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) EnviroDevelopment rating. The centre also won the 2019 Queensland State Master Builders Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Management award.

The centre features over 42 eco friendly components, a number of which they claim “have never been incorporated into an early learning centre before”.

Prior to construction of the building, the owners employed an independent sustainability consultant to set and track sustainability goals, with the overall vision of demonstrating “nation leading childcare sustainable design and operations for the benefit of the whole community, and future generations”. 

Loving Hearts owners noted that the vision “goes well beyond all minimum levels of compliance required by government legislation, and will significantly exceed all energy and water efficiency benchmarks of centres of a similar size”. 

Winners in each Award category, including the overall Gold Award, and a special Minister for the Environment Award, will be announced at a gala ceremony at the Hyatt Regency, Sydney, on 3 December 2019.

More information about Loving Hearts may be found on their website, here.