Green buildings in Australia: explaining the difference of drivers in commercial and residential sector
(2020)
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- Authors
- Abstract
- Green Building (GB) projects can positively affect society, the economy, and the environment. They are being adopted by different sectors of the building industry, including the office and residential sectors. As each building sector has a unique development environment, GBs in each sector are developed with particular drivers. Understanding the different drivers of GB development, the differences across sectors of building industry, and the reasons for those differences should give greater insight into how GB development might be promoted. An investigation of the GB development-related drivers is conducted in Australian context with a focus on commercial-office and residential sectors. Interviews are conducted with Australia-based GB experts. These interviews are qualitatively analysed and explained. Overall, experts agreed that the commercial-office sector is highly driven towards GB development, while the residential sector lags behind in this regard. Some prominent GB drivers in case of commercial-office sector in Australia are found to be the high commercial value and marketability of these office spaces, regulatory requirements imposed by local authorities, health and well-being, energy efficiency, and the organizational Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In the residential sector, the main drivers are the sustainability awareness of the client and energy efficiency. Along with the drivers, this paper also presents the attributes of development environment in each sector, which are the core reasons for difference of GB development across the two sectors. These attributes discussed in this paper include the regional context, business case of GB development, risk driven motivations, and ownership structure, as well as organizational and individualistic thinking. The understanding of GB development-related drivers across the residential and commercial sector can provide support to the policy frameworks involving these sectors. In the paper, only a comparison of residential and commercial-office sector is provided. Future research should also provide a comparison across additional sectors of building industry, for instance retail, health care, hospitality, and the educational sector.
- Affiliations
The University of Melbourne Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Citations
Tayyab, A., Aibinu, A. A., & Stephan, A. (2020). Green buildings in Australia: explaining the difference of drivers in commercial and residential sector. Smart and Sustainable Built Environments Conference, 2018 (SASBE), p. 10.