17-1114 v3.0/Confirmation of Distances for Remote Location 3.x

QUESTION

We currently using LBC version 3.1 for our project, which is located in Australia. We would like to request the use of the remote location exception for the sourcing of materials.

Previous remote location exceptions for Australia and New Zealand (Post ID 2508 & 2488 respectively) were based on the previous LBC guidelines (version 2.0). We are requesting the same rules to be applied under LBC version 3.1, as the market has not changed substantially since the original exceptions; if anything, sourcing locally has become more difficult due to increasing shut down of local manufacturing plants and increasing import of materials.

The sourcing distances we wish to re-confirm are as follows:

A minimum of 20% of construction budget from within 2000 km

A minimum of 30% of construction budget from within 5000 km

A minimum of 25% of construction budget from within 11000 km

A maximum of 25% of construction budget from beyond 11000 km

Note - irrespective of the above, we will always seek to source locally where feasible.

ANSWER

Because of Australia's remote location, Australian projects pursuing v3.0 or v3.1 of the Living Building Challenge may adhere to the following I13 Living Economy Sourcing requirements (all distances are from the project location):

20% or more of the materials construction budget must come from within 2,000 kilometers.
An additional 30% of the materials construction budget must come from within 5,000 kilometers.
An additional 25% of the materials construction budget must come from within 9,000 kilometers.
25% of materials may be sourced from any location.
Consultants must come from within 2,500 kilometers of the project location.

All currently approved remote distances are shown in the attached table. Teams should make every effort to source locally and advocate for more local production in their region, but Due Diligence documentation is not required to use these expanded zone distances.

Remote Zone Radii Table