A plethora of environmental rating tools always provides a point of discussion and debate among designers, specifiers and developers. While such tools can offer a more objective assessment of buildings, products and materials, they can also result in confusion and disharmony about relevance and rigour.

A recent article by Lynne Blundell, on the  sustainable property website – The Fifth Estate – profiles a range of sustainability assessment tools, as well as interviewing Australian practitioners involved in tool design and deployment. Blundell’s story also reviews a new study of over 50 tools conducted by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. The article includes a profile of WSP Digital’s new web-based ecodesign tool – Product Ecology. The importance of integrating Life Cycle Assessment into the product design process is discussed and features comments from John Gertsakis, WSP’s Senior Sustainability Associate. Readers can request a 14 day trial account via the Product Ecology site or by contacting the WSP Digital team directly:  info@productecologyonline.com